Cade Horton is on a roll.
But just because the rookie right-hander hasn’t allowed a run in his last three starts doesn’t mean the Cubs are shying away from their strategy to manage the 23-year-old’s innings as he ventures deeper into his first season in the big leagues.
Horton was cruising Friday but was done after five scoreless innings. The Cubs made the choice to bring an end to Horton’s outing after two trips through the Orioles’ order. Thanks to a blustery day at Wrigley Field and a rested, reinforced bullpen, the Cubs came away with a 1-0 win in their first game after the trade deadline.
“It’s something we’re going to keep an eye on with Cade, for sure,” manager Craig Counsell said after the game. “When there’s opportunities and moments to do [shorten his outings], we’re going to do it.”
Whether shorter starts become the norm for the rookie as the Cubs try to preserve him for present and future championship chases remains to be seen. Horton is now past 100 innings on his season, combined between the big league team and a handful of starts at Triple-A Iowa. That well eclipses the 34⅓ innings he threw in 2024 and the 88⅓ innings he threw in 2023.
But as that innings total grows, Horton keeps turning in stellar showings. He’s held the opposition scoreless in four of his last five starts and has a 1.26 ERA since the beginning of July.
“He’s a learner,” catcher Carson Kelly said. “He continues to learn and get better.”
Horton settling into the role of a dependable major league starter is critical to a Cubs team that didn’t make a big starting-pitching splash at the trade deadline. Without an added top-of-the-rotation arm, it’s on Horton, Shota Imanaga, Matthew Boyd and Jameson Taillon to mold into a healthy group capable of handling playoff-level competition.
The Cubs keep discussing a strength of Horton’s that ought to prove useful in doing just that.
“He’s very clear-headed out there, very focused and doesn’t let anything distract him from the next pitch. That’s a very simple approach, but it’s an advanced approach,” Counsell said. “For a young player, when you put him into a new environment, you’ve got a lot of extra stuff going around. Cade seems to be able to avoid all that, block it out and just concentrate on the task at hand. That leads to continued success.”
Another short stay
Moises Ballesteros’ latest visit to the major leagues was again a brief one.
Just two days after he was called up, the organization’s No. 2 prospect was sent back to Triple-A Iowa — as was righty pitcher Gavin Hollowell — as the Cubs added their trade-deadline acquisitions to the active roster ahead of Friday’s game.
Ballesteros has terrific numbers with Iowa, owning a .332/.393/.496 slash line with nine homers in 86 games.
But the Cubs don’t seem keen on bringing him — or any thriving minor leaguer, for that matter — up for an elongated stay without a full-time job waiting.
“We want to make sure that there’s opportunities there,” Counsell said. “Bringing [a player up from the minors] — let’s use Moises as an example — and having him not play or get one at-bat in five days, we’re going to lose the effectiveness of that player.
“We’d rather have him playing [every day] for when opportunities present themselves.”
Ricketts addressed reporters after the announcement that the Cubs had been awarded the 2027 All-Star Game.
The Cubs, local elected officials and MLB made the announcement on the field Friday morning.
