On the same day that a Chicago Cubs fan was named the new Pope, the Cade Horton era has unofficially started.
Shota Imanaga’s spot in the Cubs’ starting rotation is scheduled for Saturday against the New York Mets, and it seems that Horton will make that start. Iowa Cubs’ beat writer Tommy Birch confirms that Horton is en route to joining the Cubs in New York.
Cade Horton will join the Chicago Cubs this weekend.
Over the last 24 hours, there were nothing but signs suggesting that Horton was going to be the Cubs’ answer to replacing Imanaga in the starting rotation. Chris Flexen pitched out of the bullpen for the Cubs on Tuesday and Wednesday. Also, on Wednesday, Jordan Wicks made his scheduled start with the Iowa Cubs. Short of the Cubs planning a bullpen day for Saturday’s game against the Mets, Horton was the obvious candidate.
After a 2024 season derailed by injury, Horton has been dominating the Triple-A level to open the 2025 season. Through 6 starts this season, Horton posted a 1.24 ERA with the Iowa Cubs. Most importantly, in each of his last two starts, Horton pitched six innings of work. With Imanaga likely out closer to a month despite being placed on the 15-day IL, Horton will likely have an extended stay in the Cubs’ rotation.
A question for the future is what the Cubs will do once Imanaga returns. If Horton is having success, the easy answer is that he will stay in the rotation. Horton is the Cubs’ top pitching prospect, the expectation shouldn’t be that he will be up-and-down arm for the Cubs moving forward. If he is thriving, the guess would be that one of Ben Brown or Colin Rea would move to the bullpen. Brown, given his stuff, could be an intriguing candidate to shift to a late-inning role out of the Cubs’ bullpen.
Horton is not currently on the Cubs’ 40-man roster, so there will be some roster maneuvering before he presumably takes the mound for the team on Saturday night.