Cubs Prospect Focus: Cade Horton
Steven Branscombe - USA Today Sports

Cubs Prospect Focus: Cade Horton


by - Senior Writer -

The 2023 Chicago Cubs offseason was not only a success, but one that is bringing tons of anticipation to the season ahead. With that comes some much-anticipated arrivals and debuts, including Cristian Hernandez in full-season ball, the return of Brennen Davis, and how Matt Mervis and Pete Crow-Armstrong fare after the seasons they had last year.

However, there may not be a much more anticipated debut than the one of No. 4 prospect Cade Horton. Taken in the first pick of the 2022 MLB draft, the former Oklahoma star has yet to throw a pitch for the Cubs, but still finds himself as the top-ranked pitching prospect in the system.

You can slice that up any way you want, but the bottom line is that the organization believes in this guy and the experts that follow him. At one point, Horton was one of the better two-way players seeing time both as a pitcher and at SS. He also was an outstanding football player, which was a big reason why he went undrafted originally in 2020.

He wanted to play both sports at Oklahoma, but after not seeing the field as a freshman, Horton committed to playing baseball, and the rest is history. As if not seeing the field as a freshman was bad, Horton also saw his baseball season end before it began as he had Tommy John Surgery in February of 2021.

Set to return in the 2022 season, Horton opened the year up as Oklahoma's starting third basemen before finally taking the mound on March 29. If teams were basing his future on his regular season performance, there is no way he would get drafted, as he posted a 7.94 ERA. Once the postseason began, Horton flipped a switch and one that had everyone drooling at the mouth to sign him.

Not only did he post a 2.61 ERA during the postseason, but he recorded 49 strikeouts in just 31 innings. Clearly, there is a lot of potential there as he found himself getting drafted by the Cubs seventh overall and signing for north of seven million dollars. Considering he was still coming off that injury, the Cubs didn't have an opportunity to see him pitch last season, but they are very excited to see him this year.

The thing that stands out the most about Horton is that he is a starting pitcher with closer stuff. After sitting 94-96 MPH with his fastball most of the year, Horton saw his fastball peaking at 98 in the college world series, and many feel that is where it can stick.

While the improved velocity was a pleasant surprise, so was his breaking pitch which has emerged as a real weapon. The biggest improvement came with his slider, which got much better after he toyed with trying to add a cutter before the Big 12 Conference tournament, and he now has a wipeout breaking ball that sits in the mid-80s and touches 90 mph. That is a massive upgrade over his once low 80s curveball, as Horton is all about power at this point in his career.

Now set to take the professional mound for the first time this spring, Horton knows he needs another off-speed pitch and has already been working on a change-up. He has used that pitch in the past, but has yet to throw it for strikes consistently enough, which he will need to do this season.

Given the athletic ability that he displayed at the hot corner, a lot of people feel that it will help him become a very durable pitcher for a long time, as he is only starting to scratch the surface. He has two pitches that he can count on right now, and in a worst-case scenario could move to the bullpen to maximize the ability of those pitches.

Although he had a limited sample size on the mound, that didn't stop him from being ranked the top pitching prospect last spring with the potential to be a front-of-the-rotation type of an arm. Now it will be up to him to show the Cubs that as he will make his long-awaited debut sometime this spring.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MTHVbzuY2Q&t=85s

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