CHICAGO \u2014 As the Cubs were searching for an impact starting pitcher who was under control beyond this season, one name kept coming up in trade talks: Cade Horton. But team president Jed Hoyer just wasn\u2019t willing to part with the rookie pitcher, especially since those asks included other top prospects.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe came up in some trade discussions,\u201d Hoyer said. \u201cTo trade a guy (like) him with his amount of control to get a guy with less control, it didn\u2019t make a lot of sense, along with a bunch of other pieces as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Getting two-plus years of MacKenzie Gore or Joe Ryan would have been huge for this team. But would subtracting Horton, for not only this season but a half decade beyond, been worth it? The Cubs clearly didn\u2019t think so.<\/p>\n
How does Horton internalize the fact that the Cubs weren\u2019t willing to part with him at the deadline?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means a lot,\u201d Horton said. \u201cI feel like I just wanna go out there, do my job and help this team win. We got a really good group in there. Just being able to do my part, whatever\u2019s asked of me, is the big thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Horton is doing more than his part.<\/p>\n
In a rotation that\u2019s lost Justin Steele for the season, was missing Shota Imanaga for nearly two months, hasn\u2019t had Javier Assad all year and has been without Jameson Taillon since late June, Horton has been a rock.<\/p>\n
In Wednesday\u2019s 6-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds, Horton was dominant. The rookie tossed 5 2\/3 scoreless frames, striking out six and walking none, having allowed just two hits. He needed just 67 pitches to get through his start and was pulled because the Cubs continue to monitor what\u2019s already a career-high workload.<\/p>\n
\ufeff<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want a healthy Cade Horton,\u201d manager Craig Counsell said. \u201cWe want a strong Cade Horton for the rest of the season. So we\u2019re going to have to make some tough decisions, that\u2019s just part of it. It\u2019s the right thing to do for the team and for Cade.\u201d<\/p>\n
Horton understands the thinking, and while he said he feels good, he knows there\u2019s more at stake to consider. His focus is just taking the ball when it\u2019s given to him and attacking hitters while he\u2019s on the mound.<\/p>\n
As a former top prospect, Horton has had pressure on him to produce for a while. He entered last season as arguably the best pitching prospect in baseball. But a shoulder injury cut his season short, limiting him to just 34 1\/3 innings.<\/p>\n
This spring, he came into camp determined to stay healthy with a cleaned-up delivery and a focus on getting back to the pitcher he\u2019d been early in his professional career. The one who showed enough promise to get drafted by the Cubs seventh overall in 2022. His previous success is what he draws upon to build himself up and make sure he believes he can always get the job done.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere has to be a level of confidence just to have success in this league,\u201d Horton said. \u201cIt\u2019s a really hard league. If you don\u2019t believe in yourself, then it\u2019s going to be even harder.\u201d<\/p>\n
Recently, Horton has made this \u201creally hard league\u201d look easy. The righty hasn\u2019t allowed a run in 23 1\/3 innings. Over his last six starts, he has a 1.05 ERA. The Cubs clung to Horton because they see him as someone who continues to improve as the season has gone along.<\/p>\n
\u201cCade\u2019s done a great job for us,\u201d Hoyer said. \u201cHe\u2019s developed really well and I think he\u2019s going to get better. I think even from start to start, you see him make adjustments and make changes, you\u2019re going to continue to see that improvement.\u201d<\/p>\n
Teammates and coaches have been most impressed by Horton\u2019s poise. Near the end of June, Horton had his worst start of his career in Houston. He gave up seven earned runs in four innings, allowing a pair of homers and walking four. He\u2019s made six starts since, with five of them being scoreless outings.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like that terrible start in Houston made him better,\u201d Hoyer said. \u201cIt didn\u2019t scare him off, it didn\u2019t bother him. I feel like he has the make up to handle big starts and big moments and he has the athleticism and feel to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Horton\u2019s mental toughness is rare for a rookie. Pitchers are going to have bad outings. They\u2019re going to give up home runs and they\u2019re going to walk batters. What you do next is how you\u2019ll be judged. Horton is able to control the moment and not let the bad take over in his mind or on the field.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a discipline to Cade about what\u2019s important to him,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cAnd that also means what\u2019s not important to him, blocking out the stuff that\u2019s not important. You\u2019re a little stubborn about the things that matter to you. That\u2019s how you keep clear-headed and don\u2019t let outside things or smaller things get in your way. That\u2019s what Cade is good at.\u201d<\/p>\n
Counsell has repeatedly compared Horton to Steele as someone who is able to flush mistakes almost immediately and move on to the next moment. For Steele, it was a process to find that mindset. For Horton, he\u2019s seemingly had it since the moment he arrived in the big leagues.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really impressive,\u201d catcher Carson Kelly said. \u201cThe first time he got called up and threw his first game, you could just see he was in control of everything. Even when guys are on base, the poise that he had, you\u2019re seeing that play right now as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hoyer didn\u2019t make the splashy addition at the trade deadline. There\u2019s no ace being brought in to team up with Imanaga and Matthew Boyd. But there seems to be a belief in Horton right now that he can do special things. That\u2019s partly why Hoyer was unwilling to part with him at the deadline.<\/p>\n
After dominating in the College World Series with Oklahoma, the Cubs became enamored with Horton. Despite a brief college career due to injury, they were betting on the flashes he showed during those final months when he stepped up in the biggest moments. Now they\u2019re hoping he can continue to deliver over the final two months of the season and into October.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s making a big impact right now,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cThat\u2019s what\u2019s important. We got a long way to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Photo: Justin Casterline \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO \u2014 As the Cubs were searching for an impact starting pitcher who was under control beyond this…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":128564,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[1271,1266,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-128563","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-chicago-cubs","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114992165926632305","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128563\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}