{"id":100156,"date":"2025-05-09T11:43:04","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T15:43:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=100156"},"modified":"2025-05-09T11:43:04","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T15:43:04","slug":"cubs-call-up-top-pitching-prospect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/05\/09\/cubs-call-up-top-pitching-prospect\/","title":{"rendered":"Cubs Call-Up Top Pitching Prospect as Injury Woes Continue"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to Tommy Birch of the Des Moines Register<\/a>, the Chicago Cubs are promoting top pitching prospect Cade Horton to make his MLB debut against the New York Mets this weekend. Horton is currently ranked as the Cubs’ No. 2 prospect and the No. 46 overall prospect in all of baseball.<\/p>\n

Cubs Call Up Top Pitching Prospect<\/h3>\n

Horton<\/a>, who was drafted seventh overall in the draft, has impressed in his years in the minor leagues. His pitch mix is headlined by a fastball that sits in the mid-90s. He owns a 70 grade on his slider, which is his best pitch. He boasts a career 2.79 ERA in 36 starts, with 190 strikeouts and opponents hitting .192 off him.<\/p>\n

In the early 2025 season, Horton has been dominant. He has pitched to a 1.24 ERA in six games with Triple-A Iowa, striking out 33 batters in 29.0 innings. He has struggled with walks this year, but he has more than earned his spot in the Cubs rotation.<\/p>\n

Pitching Injury Woes Continue for the Cubs<\/h3>\n

Horton’s call-up comes on the back of Shota Imanaga<\/a> heading to the 15-day injured list with a mild strain in his left hamstring. There is currently no timetable set for Imanaga’s return.<\/p>\n

The Cubs are already without Justin Steele<\/a>, who underwent reconstructive elbow surgery and will miss all of 2025. Javier Assad has been dealing with an oblique issue since spring training and still has no timetable for return.<\/p>\n

Ben Brown and Colin Rea have slotted into the rotation with Steele and Assad out and have pitched well so far. Rea owns a 2.43 ERA in five starts and three relief appearances this year, and Brown<\/p>\n

Imanaga’s injury paved the way for someone to earn a spot in the rotation. The club opted to go with Horton over veterans such as Chris Flexen, Michael Fulmer, and Jordan Wicks.<\/p>\n

Could Horton Stick in the Major Leagues?<\/h3>\n

After his strong start in Triple-A, Horton will look to build on his success in the majors. With Steele out, there is a real chance that Horton can earn a spot in the rotation. Even if Imanaga and Assad return, he will pitch well. Horton sticking in the rotation would likely mean one of Rea or Brown would head to the bullpen.<\/p>\n

Horton is only eligible to reach a year of service time by finishing second in the National League Rookie of the Year race, so a strong start may give the Cubs no choice but to keep him on the big league roster.<\/p>\n

If Horton doesn’t start strong, the Cubs may also be willing to make a move in the trade market for a starting pitcher. They have recently been linked to Sandy\u00a0<\/a>Alcantara\u00a0<\/a>and<\/span> tried to make a move for Dylan Cease in the offseason, but came up short.<\/p>\n

Main Photo Credits: Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to Tommy Birch of the Des Moines Register, the Chicago Cubs are promoting top pitching prospect Cade Horton to make his MLB debut against the New York Mets this weekend. Horton is currently ranked as the Cubs’ No. 2 prospect and the No. 46 overall prospect in all of baseball. Cubs Call Up Top […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5469,"featured_media":100170,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[5881,3671,5020,3886,1524,28469,5882,5933,88,1818,28268],"class_list":["post-100156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cubs","tag-ben-brown","tag-cade-horton","tag-chris-flexen","tag-colin-rea","tag-dylan-cease","tag-javier-assad","tag-jordan-wicks","tag-justin-steele","tag-michael-fulmer","tag-sandy-alcantara","tag-shota-imanaga"],"modified_by":"Evan Mazza, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5469"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100156"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100172,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100156\/revisions\/100172"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}