Because of the injuries to Javier Assad and Brandon Birdsell, because of the Dylan Cease rumors, because of the lack of an impact starting pitcher signing/trade after Matthew Boyd, and because of the natural ramp-up to the season, I have had the Cubs’ starting pitching group on the mind a whole lot lately. That means, in turn, I have had a number of opportunities to say things like “the Cubs’ front four of Justin Steele, Shōta Imanaga, Jameson Taillon, and Matthew Boyd, with Javier Assad, Ben Brown, Colin Rea, and Jordan Wicks behind them, and then guys like Brandon Birdsell, Connor Noland, Caleb Kilian, and Cade Horton behind them.”
Having Horton in that last group has always been much less of a product of his talent – he’s the top pitching prospect in the system for a reason – and more just about how far down the list he is right now, realistically, in guys who could actually break camp with the big league team if there were a need, or who might appear as a fill-in starter in the first few months of the season if needed.
I don’t think it’s any great mystery why that is. Normally, an organization’s top pitching prospect who has already reached Triple-A is extremely on the radar for making big league starts in a given season, and that may well prove true in the end for Cade Horton. But, I suspect, because of the lead up to last season, the hopes for a big league impact last season, and then everything being dashed by a months-long lat/subscapularis injury, nobody wants to risk thinking of things in the same way. We hope Horton breaks out and finds a way to be a stud in the big league rotation as soon as this year, but we have convinced ourselves we have to treat it like a potential cherry rather than a scoop of ice cream. I get it. I do it. I am doing it even as I type this sentence.
All that said, the way we think about Cade Horton and the 2025 season isn’t solely the product of fans being fans. It’s also, in some parallel ways, how the Cubs are thinking about Horton’s season.
“The thought of Cade Horton being in the big leagues this year?” Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said to The Athletic. “I just want Cade Horton to have a great year. Sometimes, guys try to have these timelines. But if Cade Horton has a great year, he’s going to be contributing for the Cubs. He’s got the talent.
“But I want him to do it the right way. We fell into a trap early last year. He had a great ’23. We saw some mechanical issues in spring training in ’24. But we tried to rush it because he wanted to get ready for that season. And then we kind of got behind the eight ball.
“Now he better understands what his goals are. In camp, for us, it’s similar. Get the experience. Be around the guys. Be around the major-league staff in more of a daily capacity and continue to learn and ask questions. He’s an uber-talented kid. He’s going to contribute at a high level. What level is that? And how is that all going to work out? We’ll see.”
There are gradations here, so I don’t want to go too far in saying that the Cubs were JUST LIKE US in wanting to see Cade Horton explode into the big leagues almost immediately last year, but Hottovy does admit that his potential impact on the big league team was a factor in how they prepared him for the season. That isn’t to say it caused his injury, but it definitely does underscore how it’s not unreasonable to step back this year and not have any of those expectations.
Barring a cascade of injuries, and also maybe some spring sessions too over-the-top-good to ignore, it’s fair to expect that Cade Horton will open the season in the Iowa Cubs’ rotation. In fact, because of last year’s injury, it remains possible that the Cubs are even more methodical than that, and Horton doesn’t immediately open the season in Iowa, but hangs back at extended Spring Training for a more deliberate stretch out. We’ll see on that front.
But either way, I think the most reasonable hope for the first half is simply that Horton shows up to Triple-A looking like the guy that had him ascending the prospect charts after the 2022 MLB Draft. You figure out the rest later, if you’re the Cubs. And you keep thinking about him like an unfinished, but uber-talented, prospect for the time being, if you’re a fan.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Hopes Remain High for Cade Horton, Even As Patience is Required )
Also on site :
- 2025 Canadian Swimming Trials: Day 2 Prelims Live Recap
- Cleaning expert reveals 80p Sainsbury’s buy to get BBQ sparkling for summer – plus common error that poses hygiene risk
- Kylian Mbappe scores landmark goal as France finish third in Nations League