Norman High and University of Oklahoma alum, Cade Horton has been named as a finalist for the MiLB Pitching Prospect of the Year.
Horton was a “surprise” pick at #7 overall for the Chicago Cubs in the 2022 MLB Draft. After having Tommy John surgery and missing the 2021 season, Horton pitched a limited number of innings for the Sooners in 2022. The Cubs were cautious with Horton the rest of 2022 and didn’t use him in games as they worked with him at their facilities.
For the 2023 season, Horton showed why the Cubs decided to take him at #7 (higher than where projections had him going).
Starting the season at Low-A Myrtle Beach (now that’s a place I could play), Horton started 4 games for the Pelicans and was dominant in those 4 games.
The Cubs promoted Horton to High-A South Bend where he continued to show why he has high expectations. Yes his ERA was higher at 3.83 and he gave up 6 HRs in 11 starts for South Bend, but Horton had 65 Ks against only 12 BBs in 47 innings pitched.
Horton was promoted for a 2nd time this season as he went to AA Tennessee. In 6 starts for the Smokies, Horton has an ERA of 1.33 with 31 Ks in 27 innings pitched.
Horton hasn’t pitched in a couple of weeks as the Smokies want to use him for their postseason run.
Horton has been so dominant this year that he has moved up the Cubs’ prospect list to the #2 overall prospect for the Cubs and is a top 50 overall prospect coming in at #29. He is estimated to enter the Majors during the 2025 season.
Here is a snippet about Horton from the people at MLB Pipeline who determined the 3 finalists:
It may have been hard to know what to expect from Horton, who was a bit of a surprise No. 7 overall pick in the 2022 Draft, because Tommy John surgery had knocked him off the mound in 2021 and he hadn’t thrown well until the college postseason in 2022. Whatever those expectations were, Horton no doubt exceeded them in his first full year of pro ball.
Even with the Cubs understandably being cautious with his workload, the right-hander managed to pitch his way across three levels and put himself on a fast track to Wrigley. Among all Minor League pitchers with 80 or more innings, Horton finished in the top five in both WHIP and K-BB percentage and was second in that group with a 2.99 xFIP. He stood out among his Top 100 colleagues as well, finishing second in WHIP and third in ERA, again among those top pitching prospects who surpassed the 80 IP mark.
An incredible year in any context, but especially so when you think about Horton’s ascent. Of course, you don’t get to be a finalist among ALL minor league pitchers without having tremendous results and also tremendous context, and the same is true for Snelling and Thorpe, each of whom was ALSO a 2022 draft pick, and ALSO rose across multiple levels to reach Double-A in his debut season, and each of whom also put up dominant numbers.
Before Professional Baseball
Horton played the 2022 baseball season for the Sooners after missing the 2021 season with Tommy John surgery. He started as a 2 way player as the Sooners brought him back to the mound slowly following his surgery.
Once the Sooners converted him to a full time pitcher, Horton’s season took off. In five postseason starts, beginning with the Big 12 Championship game win over Texas (5/29), went 3-0 with a 2.61 ERA and notched 49 strikeouts against six walks in 31.0 innings, never allowing more than two runs or two walks in an outing.
Before Horton was a Sooner, he was a two sport star for the Norman Tigers as he was the starting QB for 3.5 season for the football team (he originally went to OU as a two sport athlete before focusing on baseball only). Horton was named the Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year for the shortened 2020 Covid season.
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* The cover photo is via bleedcubbieblue.com | Rebecca Snyder
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