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Cade Horton

Cubs Promote Cade Horton

By Anthony Franco and Darragh McDonald | May 10, 2025 at 3:40pm CDT

May 10: The Cubs have officially selected Horton’s contract, according to a team announcement. Left-hander Tom Cosgrove was optioned to Triple-A to make room for Horton on the active roster, while right-hander Eli Morgan was transferred to the 60-day injured list due to an inflamed ulnar nerve in his right elbow.

May 8: The Cubs are promoting pitching prospect Cade Horton, per reporting from Patrick Mooney and Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic. Tommy Birch of The Des Moines Register first reported this afternoon that Horton was traveling to New York in advance of this weekend’s series against the Mets. The young righty is not yet on the club’s 40-man roster, so they will need to open a spot for him.

Chicago’s rotation has taken a few notable hits recently. They came into the season with Justin Steele and Shota Imanaga as a one-two punch atop the rotation. Unfortunately, Steele required UCL surgery last month, putting him out of action for the rest of the year. Imanaga suffered a hamstring strain a few days ago. He is surely facing a far shorter absence than Steele but has been placed on the 15-day IL, meaning he’ll miss at least a few turns through the rotation.

Those are the two most obvious losses, but the clubs has also been without Javier Assad all year. He started the season on the 15-day injured list due to an oblique strain. He started a rehab assignment last month but re-aggravated the same muscle, suffering a Grade 2 strain.

Those injuries have created an opening for Horton to make it to the majors for the first time. The Cubs have “TBD” listed as their starter for Saturday’s game at Citi Field, which will seemingly be when Horton takes the ball. It seemed the decision on Imanaga’s rotation spot came down to promoting Horton or stretching out veteran swingman Chris Flexen.

Horton is the higher-upside play. Chicago selected him out of Oklahoma with the seventh overall pick in 2022. The 6’1″ righty has been the organization’s top pitching prospect over the past few seasons. His arsenal is headlined by a mid-90s fastball and a slider that grades as a plus pitch. Horton’s fastball velocity had dipped slightly to the 94 MPH range last year but has rebounded to sit at 95.8 MPH on average with Triple-A Iowa this season.

The 23-year-old has been out to an excellent start in Triple-A. Horton carries a 1.24 ERA while striking out nearly 31% of batters faced through 29 innings. He’s issuing walks at a lofty 12% clip, but the high-octane stuff will get him an opportunity to step into Imanaga’s rotation spot. If Imanaga makes it back within a few weeks, it might be a brief call-up, but the Cubs could theoretically push Ben Brown or Colin Rea to the bullpen if Horton forces their hand with a strong showing over his first few starts.

It’s too late for Horton to reach a full year of service time the traditional way. He meets the necessary prospect criteria to qualify for the Prospect Promotion Incentive, however. That means he could earn a full service year if he finishes in the top two in NL Rookie of the Year balloting. The Cubs would not receive a bonus draft choice if that happens because they didn’t promote Horton early enough to spend 172 days in the majors.

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Chicago Cubs Newsstand Top Prospect Promotions Transactions Cade Horton Eli Morgan Tom Cosgrove

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Poll: Should The Cubs Call Up Cade Horton?

By Nick Deeds | May 6, 2025 at 8:39pm CDT

When Justin Steele went under the knife for UCL revision surgery last month, ending his 2025 season early, the pressure of carrying the load at the front of the Cubs’ rotation went from being shared between two All-Star southpaws to falling entirely on the shoulders of Shota Imanaga. Imanaga’s first eight starts of the year have generally gone quite well, as he’s pitched to a 2.82 ERA despite his peripherals regressing significantly (4.52 FIP, 4.69 SIERA) relative to last year’s dominant rookie campaign.

Unfortunately, his own season was at least temporarily derailed yesterday when Chicago placed him on the injured list due to a strained left hamstring. Fortunately, the Cubs and Imanaga appear to view the strain as a fairly mild one. Manager Craig Counsell suggested during his postgame interview yesterday (h/t Marquee Sports Network) that the outcome was “pretty good news” and that it was at least possible that Imanaga wouldn’t take much longer than a minimum stay on the shelf to recover. Even so, another starter will be needed to join Jameson Taillon, Matthew Boyd, Ben Brown, and Colin Rea in the rotation.

Perhaps the Cubs need look no further than the hurler at Triple-A who was already on the same schedule as Imanaga prior to the injury. Top pitching prospect Cade Horton, selected in the first round of the 2022 draft, has been nothing short of dominant so far this year. A consensus top-50 prospect in the sport, Horton has made six starts for the club’s Iowa affiliate this year and has posted a sparkling 1.24 ERA in that time with a strikeout rate of 30.6%. It’s the sort of dominance that will naturally lead to fans calling for a big league debut, and those calls have only grown louder in the aftermath of Imanaga’s injury. It’s hard to argue any pitcher currently on the big league roster has a higher ceiling than Horton, who sports a mid-90s fastball that touches 98 and a plus slider as part of a strong four-pitch mix.

For his part, Counsell told reporters (including Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun Times) that Horton is “an option” to replace Imanaga in the rotation. With that being said, Counsell also noted that veteran right-hander Chris Flexen remains stretched out after recently having his contract selected from Triple-A ahead of a uniform opt-out opportunity in his contract on May 1. Flexen threw 54 pitches in three scoreless relief innings last week and sported a 1.16 ERA with a 22.3% strikeout rate in 23 1/3 innings of work at Triple-A before his contract was selected. A veteran of eight MLB seasons who also briefly pitched for the KBO League’s Doosan Bears, Flexen has generally been a roughly average swingman since he returned from South Korea with a 4.56 ERA (90 ERA+) in 582 2/3 innings of work.

His numbers fell off substantially over the past two years, but it’s hard to deny that he’s looked impressive since joining Chicago on a minor league deal. Still, there’s no question that Horton is the more talented pitcher with much higher upside. Horton seems likely to have a very successful career with the Cubs in the coming years, but there are other considerations that could tip the scale towards Flexen. The Cubs’ bullpen, which ranks bottom ten in the majors with a 4.37 ERA, has already been stretched somewhat by short starts from Rea and Brown this year. Horton would add another hurler who can’t be expected to pitch deep into games to the rotation mix, seeing as he’s maxed out at just 78 pitches this year. Flexen, meanwhile, has maxed out at 95 pitches and pitched into the sixth inning in three of his four full-length starts with Iowa.

Horton’s injury woes over the years, from Tommy John surgery in college to a subscapularis strain that cost him most of his 2024 season, have left the Cubs in a position where they’ll need to carefully manage the talented right-hander’s innings this year. For a team with postseason aspirations, it’s fair to wonder if calling him up in early May is the right call when his electric arm may be needed come October. On the other hand, however, it’s worth noting that Horton did not throw a single pitch after May 29 last year. Health for a pitcher is never guaranteed, so it’s possible the Cubs would be best off simply calling up Horton now while he’s pitching well and figuring out how to manage his innings later by either shutting him down at some point this year or moving him to the bullpen.

How do MLBTR readers think the Cubs should handle the vacancy in their rotation while Imanaga is out of commission? Should they turn to the high-upside prospect knocking on the door of the big leagues while he’s healthy and pitching well, or instead opt to use Flexen in order to manage Horton’s innings and preserve the bullpen? Have your say in the poll below:

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Chicago Cubs MLBTR Originals MLBTR Polls Cade Horton Chris Flexen

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Cubs Planning To Add Starting Pitcher In Offseason

By Darragh McDonald | September 23, 2024 at 2:03pm CDT

The Cubs are planning to add an established starting pitcher to their rotation this winter, reports Patrick Mooney of The Athletic. The club has Shota Imanaga, Justin Steele, Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad in four spots. Per Mooney’s report, adding one more name into that mix would push guys like Ben Brown, Cade Horton, Jordan Wicks and Hayden Wesneski down the depth chart.

“In one sense, you feel like you’re in a solid position because we have a number of young pitchers (who) have had success in the big leagues,” Manager Craig Counsell is quoted as saying in the piece. “Now with all of them, there’s been injuries. And it’s not a big sample as of yet. But that’s also kind of the nature of pitching. It’s the nature of young pitching. So we’re in a good spot in terms of that area of depth. But as we saw this year, it disappeared quickly.”

The quartet of Imanaga, Steele, Taillon and Assad have been the club’s best starters this year, both in terms of quality and quantity. Each of that group has an ERA of 3.41 or lower at the moment and all of them have tossed between 130 and 175 innings on the season thus far.

But as Counsell alluded to, there were also some challenges. Steele made a couple of trips to the injured list, one for a left hamstring strain and another for left elbow tendinitis. The Cubs had picked up a $16.5MM club option to bring back Kyle Hendricks but that ultimately proved to be a misstep. Hendricks struggled badly enough to get moved to the bullpen. He eventually retook a rotation spot but has a 6.28 ERA for the year overall. Wicks is currently on the IL for the third time this year, having gone on the shelf for a left forearm strain and then two separate stints for right oblique strains. Brown hasn’t pitched since June due to a stress reaction in his neck. Horton last pitched in May, getting shut down with a subscapularis strain and suffering a setback while trying to return the mound.

An argument could be made for rolling into 2025 with the same front four, letting the group of Wicks, Brown, Horton and Wesneski fight for the fifth spot. But with so many issues in 2024, adding some more security makes plenty of sense. None of those four are fully established. Wesneski is the only one with more than 81 big league innings pitched, and his 186 frames have been split between the bullpen and rotation. Wicks, Brown and Wesneski all still have options, meaning they could be stretched out in Triple-A if not needed on the big league staff. Horton isn’t yet on the 40-man and doesn’t need to be protected from the Rule 5 draft until December of 2025.

The Cubs also might not have much else on their winter to-do list. Even if Cody Bellinger eventually opts out, the outfield will still have Ian Happ, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Seiya Suzuki and Mike Tauchman, with Alexander Canario, Owen Caissie, Kevin Alcántara and Brennen Davis at Triple-A. The infield has Isaac Paredes, Dansby Swanson, Nico Hoerner and Michael Busch, with Matt Shaw knocking on the door. Miguel Amaya has shown some progress at the plate and Christian Bethancourt can be retained for next year if the Cubs believe in his recent performance. Moises Ballesteros will also be pushing for a job soon.

The bullpen arguably should be a focus but president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer had made it clear he would prefer to not to make free agent splashes there. As shown on MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, since Hoyer was hired in November of 2020, the club hasn’t given a multi-year deal to any reliever. And of the one-year deals they have given out, the only guy to get more than $5MM was Héctor Neris, who got $9MM.

Unless a change is coming in terms of the approach to bullpen construction, starting pitching is a logical target with the position player group in strong shape. And there should be some powder dry for reinforcements. The club went narrowly over the $237MM competitive balance tax this year, with RosterResource currently pegging their number a bit over $238MM. Next year’s tally is only at $126MM right now. Arbitration raises for guys like Paredes and Steele will certainly add to that number and it will grow significantly if Bellinger decides to stay, but there will still be room for a notable contract.

Hoyer hasn’t played at the top of the market in terms of starting pitching but has given out some mid-market deals. As shown in the MLBTR Contract Tracker again,  Imanaga, Taillon and Marcus Stroman have each received guaranteed between $53MM and $71MM, the largest guarantees the Cubs have given to starting pitchers in the Hoyer era.

This winter’s starting pitching class will be topped by guys like Corbin Burnes, Max Fried, Jack Flaherty and Blake Snell, assuming Snell stays healthy and opts out of his deal. Signing any of those guys would likely require the Cubs to go to a new level of spending, getting into nine-figure territory. If they want to stay in that Stroman/Taillon/Imanaga tier, they’d probably be debating names like Luis Severino, Sean Manaea, Nick Pivetta and others. Hall-of-Fame-bound veterans Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander will be limited to short-term deals since they are both in their 40s and coming off injury-plagued years in 2024.

The trade market will be another option for the Cubs. The White Sox didn’t end up flipping Garrett Crochet at the deadline but could perhaps make him available again in the winter. The Marlins lost almost all their rotation options to injury this year but it’s possible to see them considering deals as the group gets healthier for 2025. Somewhat similarly, the Rays seem to have an abundance of rotation options with Jeffrey Springs, Shane Baz and Drew Rasmussen returned from long absences, with Shane McClanahan to join them next year. Other possibilities will surely emerge as the winter goes on.

It will be an interesting offseason for the Cubs. Their signing of Swanson heading into 2023 seemed to signal a wish to return to contention after a couple of rebuilding years. They had a solid but unspectacular year in 2023, winning 83 games. They may top that here in 2024, currently at 80-76, but will miss the postseason again. Pressure figures to be high for a club that hasn’t made the postseason in a full campaign since 2018, but a lot of good elements are in place and a few finishing touches could perhaps get them over the hump in 2025.

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Chicago Cubs Ben Brown Cade Horton Hayden Wesneski Jameson Taillon Javier Assad Jordan Wicks Justin Steele Shota Imanaga

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NL Central Notes: McLain, Horton, Jones

By Mark Polishuk | August 11, 2024 at 6:24pm CDT

After finishing fifth in NL Rookie of the Year voting in 2023, Matt McLain’s sophomore season has thus far been a wash, as a shoulder surgery in March has kept him off the field.  McLain was set to begin a minor rehab assignment tomorrow but those plans have now been put on hold, Reds manager David Bell told the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Gordon Wittenmyer and other reporters.  McLain suffered a stress reaction in his ribcage area last week and was assigned a shutdown period of 3-7 days, which has now stretched to beyond the intended start date of the rehab assignment.

As recently as Thursday, McLain “was having some progress and feeling better,” as Bell relayed about a text message sent to him from the infielder.  The short timeframe of the initial shutdown period would seem to suggest that the rib injury isn’t as serious as it might sound, yet basically any setback at this point adds extra doubt about McLain’s ability to return to action before the 2024 season is over.  He’ll need a pretty lengthy rehab period to get fully ramped up after his layoff, so even if McLain is able to start playing relatively soon, his return to the majors looks like it’ll be in September at the earliest.  The 57-61 Reds are on the outskirts of an NL wild card race that is still relatively compact at the moment, so the team will need all the help it can get (including whatever McLain can provide) if Cincinnati has a shot of leapfrogging the field and snagging a playoff berth.

More from the NL Central…

  • Cade Horton also suffered a setback in his rehab from the subscapularis strain that has kept the Cubs pitching prospect off the mound since late May, Cubs president of operations Jed Hoyer told the Chicago Tribune’s Meghan Montemurro.  As a result, Horton’s 2024 campaign is likely over, as Hoyer said the right-hander probably wouldn’t start throwing again until after the minor league season is finished.  Selected seventh overall in the 2022 draft, Horton is considered one of the top pitching prospects in all of baseball, though his first taste of Triple-A action resulted in an ugly 7.50 ERA over 18 innings (five starts).  Between the shoulder strain, this latest setback, and a Tommy John surgery in his college days, Horton has already had to deal with a lot of injury concerns, and his MLB debut will now have to wait until 2025 at the earliest.
  • In the first start of his minor league rehab assignment, Jared Jones threw 47 pitches over 2 2/3 innings for Triple-A Indianapolis last Thursday.  Pirates GM Ben Cherington said during his weekly radio show today (hat tip to Kevin Gorman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) that the plan is for Jones to having another rehab outing on Wednesday with a higher pitch count, and the Bucs will decide from there whether or not Jones could be ready to return from the 15-day injured list.  Jones suffered a Grade 2 strain in his right lat during his last MLB start on July 3, thus necessitating a lengthy IL stint.  Somewhat overshadowed by the Paul Skenes phenomenon, Jones has had a big rookie year of his own, posting a 3.56 ERA over his first 91 big league innings and emerging as another key building block of the Pittsburgh rotation.
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Chicago Cubs Cincinnati Reds Notes Pittsburgh Pirates Cade Horton Jared Jones Matt McLain

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Cubs Prospect Cade Horton Shut Down With Subscapularis Strain

By Darragh McDonald | June 5, 2024 at 3:15pm CDT

Cubs pitching prospect Cade Horton has a moderate subscapularis strain, reports Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune on X. The righty will be shut down for three to four weeks and then will have to build back up at that point.

Horton, 22, is one of the best pitching prospects in the sport and may have been trending towards a major league debut this summer, but the odds of that have clearly been reduced by this injury. Selected seventh overall in the 2022 draft, Horton tore through three levels of the minors last year. He tossed 88 1/3 innings between Single-A, High-A and Double-A with a 2.65 earned run average. He struck out 33.5% of batters faced in the process while limiting walks to a 7.7% clip.

Based on that strong professional debut, he was a consensus top 50 prospect coming into 2024. Baseball America gave him the #25 slot, FanGraphs put him at #18 and ESPN at #30, while Keith Law of The Athletic had him at #49.

Here in 2024, he went back to Double-A but carved up opponents in four starts. He tossed 16 1/3 innings in those, only allowing two earned runs. He struck out 18 batters and gave out just two walks.

He was then promoted to Triple-A in May while the major league rotation was dealing with a few issues. Justin Steele, Jordan Wicks and Kyle Hendricks were all on the injured list at that time, with Hendricks also struggling badly prior to his IL stint.

With Horton charging into Triple-A and the major league rotation treading water, the stars seemed to be aligning for him to be pitching at Wrigley in short order. But his first five Triple-A starts didn’t go well, with 15 earned runs allowed in 18 innings. It’s possible that the injury started to creep on him and impacted his results, as his 13.6% walk rate demonstrated an uncharacteristic lack of control.

Regardless of when the injury started bugging him, the poor Triple-A results and this shutdown will obviously erase any momentum towards a major league debut for the time being. Since he’s going to be shut down for most of June, he’ll likely need the majority of July to build back up. That aligns roughly with the July 30 trade deadline, which will be an interesting situation to monitor for Cubs fans.

The club performed well in April but struggled in May, currently sitting on a 30-31 record. That’s good enough to hold the final Wild Card spot in the National League at the moment but there are seven clubs within four games of catching Cubs, making it a fairly tenuous position.

Assuming the club hangs around the postseason picture, they could look for starting pitching reinforcements in the coming weeks, though the rotation is in decent enough shape at the moment. Steele has since returned from the injured list while Ben Brown has stepped up and staked a claim to a rotation spot with a 3.33 ERA on the year. Between those two, Shota Imanaga, Javier Assad and Jameson Taillon, no one in the rotation has an ERA higher than Steele’s 4.10. Wicks is also rehabbing and could be a candidate to rejoin the group in the coming weeks.

Taking all that together, the path for Horton to get to the big leagues is currently much tougher to see than it was just one month ago. Regardless, the Cubs will be hoping to get him back on track in the weeks to come as the need for another starter can pop up at any time. It would also be good to get him some more innings for the long term, as he only has 34 1/3 so far this year with the Cubs undoubtedly hoping for something close to a full starter’s workload next season. He had Tommy John surgery in 2021 and is still working on getting fully stretched out for the long run.

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Chicago Cubs Cade Horton

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Big Hype Prospects: Gasser, Mead, Vientos, Frelick, Horton

By Brad Johnson | July 24, 2023 at 7:57pm CDT

Big Hype Prospects returns with a peek at the upper minors. Let’s get down to business…

Five Big Hype Prospects

Robert Gasser, 24, SP, MIL (AAA)
90.1 IP, 10.86 K/9, 3.49 BB/9, 4.18 ERA

One of the best pitching prospects remaining in Triple-A, Gasser could find his way into the Milwaukee rotation by the end of the season – if not sooner. Presently, the weak links are Colin Rea and Adrian Houser. Brandon Woodruff is nearing a return to oust one of those swingmen. Gasser is a southpaw with unusual arm action, but the Brewers pitching development staff specializes in the bizarre and grotesque, so Gasser could scarcely be in a better system for his particular brand of pitching. While he doesn’t have visually impressive stuff, the whole repertoire plays up due to plus command. Gasser might have some issues with right-handed batters.

Curtis Mead, 22, 3B, TBR (AAA)
173 PA, 3 HR, 2 SB, .311/.376/.497

The 2023 campaign hasn’t gone Mead’s way. Between missed time and a slow start, the powerful corner-man has only three home runs. Lately, he’s caught fire to the tune of .431/.493/.677 over his last 75 plate appearances, with nine walks and four strikeouts. While he has only one home run during this hot streak, Mead also swatted nine doubles and two triples. Over-the-fence results will come before long. In the meantime, Mead is swinging a big stick with the sorts of exit velocities associated with MLB regulars (89.4-mph average, 109.5-mph max).

Mark Vientos, 1B/3B, 23, NYM (MLB)
(AAA) 264 PA, 16 HR, .307/.386/.614

The Mets recently recalled Vientos despite mediocre performance on the farm, as Vientos has hit .264/.316/.472 (90 wRC+) in 57 Triple-A plate appearances since the start of July. He thrived in the minors earlier in the season and certainly deserves an extended look with the retooling Mets. Vientos presents a complicated evaluation, as his positives include plus discipline, premium raw power, and exciting in-game exit velocities. However, scouts point out issues with his swing which could prove exploitable. In 99 career MLB plate appearances, Vientos is batting just .189/.253/.267 despite excellent exit velocities (93.3-mph average, 114.9-mph max). Those are basically the exact same EVs as Juan Soto and MJ Melendez. The Melendez comp is interesting, as the young Royals slugger is having a rough season due partly to swing-and-miss issues and partly to an expansive home venue. Vientos faces similar challenges with his swing and ballpark.

Sal Frelick, OF, 23, MIL (MLB)
(AAA) 183 PA, 2 HR, 8 SB, .237/.333/.342

Recently promoted to Milwaukee, it is hoped Frelick can become a top-of-the-lineup sparkplug. He’s known for discipline and a high rate of contact. He’s also not a particularly impactful hitter. Frelick connects with the same sort of oomph as Whit Merrifield and Steven Kwan. In fact, Kwan isn’t a bad comp – they’re both 5’9’’ left-handed hitting center fielders who fit better defensively in a corner. Frelick has a better chance to stick in center while at the plate, Kwan has superior feel for contact. The end result might wind up in the same neighborhood – a no-doubt Major League starter who nonetheless fits awkwardly within the current roster-design meta.

Cade Horton, 21, SP, CHC (A+)
43 IP, 12.56 K/9, 2.51 BB/9, 4.19 ERA

Horton hype season is in full swing. One of the fastest-rising pitching prospects per list-makers, Horton features a typical repertoire with mid-90s heat, multiple breaking balls, and a usable platoon changeup. The Cubs org is well-regarded when it comes to pitch design, a feature Horton could exploit as he moves up the ladder. He has enough feel for command to move quickly once the kid gloves are off. Presently, said gloves are on due to recovery from UCL replacement. He usually takes a week or more between starts of 15 to 20 batters. His last two outings have been among his shakiest of the season.

Three More

Coby Mayo, BAL (21): One of the nice things about Triple-A is access to minor league exit velocities. Mayo may not be hitting well through his first 36 plate appearances in Norfolk, but he has produced encouraging EVs – 90.6-mph average and 111.8-mph max. He’s currently batting .219/.278/.375 with a 36.1 percent strikeout rate.

Colt Keith, DET (21): Another recent promotee to Triple-A, Keith is hitting a modest .274/.347/.403 in 72 plate appearances. His EVs – 88.5-mph average and 108.9-mph max – are in line with figures from last season. I was hoping to see some obvious growth in this respect. His defensive limitations put a lot of pressure on the bat. We’ll see if the coming weeks bring harder contact.

Evan Carter, TEX (20): Despite success in Double-A, Carter has yet to receive a promotion. He’s batting .298/.415/.462 in 316 plate appearances. These stats match the scouting report. He has a superb eye and a solid feel for contact. The quality of that contact is…fine. It’s fine. Really. Given his current prospect pedigree, I’d really like to see better than “fine.”

Did I miss a detail or nuance? DM me on Twitter @BaseballATeam to suggest corrections.

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Big Hype Prospects MLBTR Originals Cade Horton Coby Mayo Colt Keith Curtis Mead Evan Carter Mark Vientos Robert Gasser Sal Frelick

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Cubs Sign First-Round Pick Cade Horton

By TC Zencka | July 23, 2022 at 9:28am CDT

The Cubs have signed their first-round selection Cade Horton with a $4.45MM signing bonus, per MLB.com’s Jim Callis (via Twitter). Horton’s deal comes in south of the slot value for the seventh overall selection, which is allotted $5.71MM.

By coming in under slot for Horton, Callis notes, the Cubs were able to use their savings to draft Jackson Ferris in the second round of the draft. That certainly counts as a win for Chicago, but Horton himself is no slouch. The athletic 20-year-old right-hander comes to the Cubs as a pitcher, but he was also a competent infielder with Oklahoma, though his offensive numbers don’t jump off the page. He hit .235/.323/.324 across 168 plate appearances while mostly playing third base.

But of course, the Cubs did not draft Horton as an infielder. On the hill for Oklahoma, Horton posted a 4.86 ERA over 14 outings (11 starts) totaling 53 2/3 innings during the NCAA regular season. Horton brings a power arsenal to Chicago. He throws heat in the upper nineties, which he complements with a wipeout slider that touches 90 mph.

Horton does come with an injury history, having missed his freshman season at OU because of Tommy John surgery. The Cubs may believe the best is yet to come with Horton as he continues to find his footing after surgery. He was particularly impressive during the College World Series, which no doubt raised his stock enough to put him into the first-round conversation.

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2022 Amateur Draft Chicago Cubs Transactions Cade Horton

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2022 MLB Draft, First Round Results

By Mark Polishuk | July 17, 2022 at 11:20pm CDT

The 2022 MLB Draft is underway, and here is the full list of each team’s selections from the first round.  The Dodgers are the only team without a first-rounder, as their top pick (originally 30th overall) was dropped 10 places to 40th overall (the first pick of the second round) as part of their punishment for exceeding the highest luxury-tax tier in 2021.  However, there are still 30 picks in the first round proper since the Mets have both the 11th and 14th overall picks — for not signing 10th overall pick Kumar Rocker last year, New York was given a compensatory selection in the 11th overall spot this year.

This year’s draft will again be 20 rounds long, and split over three days.  The first 80 picks will be made tonight — the first two official rounds, the two Competitive Balance Rounds, and the two sets of compensatory rounds (giving picks to teams who lost qualifying offer-rejecting free agents).  Rounds 3-10 take place on Monday, and rounds 11-20 on Tuesday.

Under the terms of the new collective bargaining agreement, the 2023 draft will have several differences, including a lottery to determine the top six picks, a revamped process for deciding the Competitive Balance rounds, possible extra picks for teams due to the Prospect Promotion Incentive rules, and possibly the end of the qualifying offer system as we know it should an international draft be implemented.

For one final year under this draft format, however, let’s dive into the picks.  More details and scouting reports on all these young players are available in pre-draft rankings from Baseball America, Fangraphs, MLB Pipeline, The Athletic’s Keith Law, and ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel.  As well, Pipeline has the breakdown of the slot values assigned to each pick in the first 10 rounds, as well as the bonus pool money available to all 30 teams.

The selections….

  1. Baltimore Orioles: Jackson Holliday, SS, Stillwater High School (OK)
  2. Arizona Diamondbacks: Druw Jones, OF, Wesleyan High School (GA)
  3. Texas Rangers: Kumar Rocker, RHP, Vanderbilt (played in independent Frontier League in 2021)
  4. Pittsburgh Pirates: Termarr Johnson, SS, Benjamin E. Mays High School (GA)
  5. Washington Nationals: Elijah Green, OF, IMG Academy (FL)
  6. Miami Marlins: Jacob Berry, 3B/OF, LSU
  7. Chicago Cubs: Cade Horton, RHP, University of Oklahoma
  8. Minnesota Twins: Brooks Lee, SS, Cal Poly
  9. Kansas City Royals: Gavin Cross, OF, Virginia Tech
  10. Colorado Rockies: Gabriel Hughes, RHP, Gonzaga
  11. New York Mets: Kevin Parada, C, Georgia Tech
  12. Detroit Tigers: Jace Jung, 2B, Texas Tech
  13. Los Angeles Angels: Zach Neto, SS, Campbell University
  14. New York Mets: Jett Williams, SS/OF, Rockwall-Heath High School (TX)
  15. San Diego Padres: Dylan Lesko, RHP, Buford High School (GA)
  16. Cleveland Guardians: Chase DeLauter, OF, James Madison University
  17. Philadelphia Phillies: Justin Crawford, OF, Bishop Gorman High School (NV)
  18. Cincinnati Reds: Cam Collier, 3B, Chipola JC (FL)
  19. Oakland Athletics: Daniel Susac, C, University of Arizona
  20. Atlanta Braves: Owen Murphy, RHP, Riverside-Brookfield High School (IL)
  21. Seattle Mariners: Cole Young, SS, North Allegheny High School (PA)
  22. St. Louis Cardinals: Cooper Hjerpe, LHP, Oregon State University
  23. Toronto Blue Jays: Brandon Barriera, LHP, American Heritage High School (FL)
  24. Boston Red Sox: Mikey Romero, SS, Orange Lutheran High School (CA)
  25. New York Yankees: Spencer Jones, OF, Vanderbilt University
  26. Chicago White Sox: Noah Schultz, LHP, Oswego East High School (IL)
  27. Milwaukee Brewers: Eric Brown Jr., SS, Coastal Carolina University
  28. Houston Astros: Drew Gilbert, OF, University of Tennessee
  29. Tampa Bay Rays: Xavier Isaac, 1B, East Forsyth High School (NC)
  30. San Francisco Giants: Reggie Crawford, LHP/1B, University of Connecticut
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2022 Amateur Draft Newsstand Brandon Barriera Brooks Lee Cade Horton Cam Collier Chase DeLauter Cole Young Cooper Hjerpe Daniel Susac Drew Gilbert Druw Jones Dylan Lesko Elijah Green Eric Brown Gabriel Hughes Gavin Cross Jace Jung Jackson Holliday Jacob Berry Jett Williams Justin Crawford Kevin Parada Kumar Rocker Mikey Romero Noah Schultz Owen Murphy Reggie Crawford Spencer Jones Termarr Johnson Xavier Isaac Zach Neto

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