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The Chicago Cubs got dealt a brutal blow to their starting rotation quickly this season. Left-handed starting pitcher Justin Steele is out for the entirety of the season after making just four starts in which he went 3-1 with a 4.76 ERA.
Now about three weeks removed from that news, it has become clear that the Cubs possess one of the very best lineups in all of MLB. That's largely thanks to the dominance of Kyle Tucker, acquired from the Houston Astros in a blockbuster deal over the winter, With no guarantees that Tucker sticks around past this season, Chicago has a unique opportunity to go all in for a World Series at the same time as they try to extend the window by convincing Tucker to stay. Steele's absence from the rotation makes it tough to view the pitching staff as currently constituted as that of a legitimate contender, but president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer has multiple options to change that.
The obvious one is to swing a trade to add another top-of-the-rotation starter, but the Cubs may already have that sort of player knocking on the door of the Big Leagues. Right-handed pitcher Cade Horton, the team's seventh overall pick in the first round of the 2022 MLB draft, sure looks like a guy who is ready to come up and show what he can do. With Triple-A Iowa, Horton entered his start on Sunday with a 1.
17 ERA across five starts, striking out 28 batters in 23 innings of work. The consensus Top 100 prospect delivered another stellar outing on Sunday against the Buffalo Bison, allowing just one run and two hits in six innings. The University of Oklahoma product is pitching like he has nothing left to prove in the minor leagues, and though it's likely that Chicago would ideally like to see more of his excellence over a larger sample, they may not have much time to wait.
Horton only threw three innings in spring training, allowing one run while striking out and walking two apiece. If the Cubs call Horton up now and see what he has against Major League competition, that will provide Hoyer with some much-needed information ahead of the trade deadline. Either he thrives, and the resources he has earmarked for the deadline can be used elsewhere, or he struggles, and Hoyer will know for certain that his club needs another high-level arm.
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