Cubs top pitching prospect dazzles in 2025 debut

The Chicago Cubs have high hopes for their former seventh overall draft pick, Cade Horton. His 2024 season was lost due to a shoulder injury, but this year he is healthy, in Triple-A, and is a call away from the big leagues.

On Thursday, Horton made his season debut.  The results were impressive.  Here we take a further look at that outing.

Chicago Cubs top pitching prospect Cade Horton had an impressive 2025 debut

Horton was the starting pitcher for the Iowa Cubs on April 3 as they took on the Indianapolis Indians. On the road, for the second game of a double header, he tore through the Pittsburgh Pirates minor leaguers by throwing 3.1 scoreless innings, surrendering one hit, striking out six, and generating 14 whiffs.

Velocity wise, Horton’s fastball averaged 96.3 MPH over 32 pitches and topped out at 97.8. He also mixed in 22 sliders, four curve balls, and one change up.  Command was a bit of an issue as he walked four batters, but overall this was an impressive first outing of the season.

One order of half-dozen K’s ready!@Cubs right-hander Cade Horton (MLB No. 50) gets his 2025 off to a strong start with six strikeouts and 14 whiffs over 3 1/3 scoreless frames for the @IowaCubs. pic.twitter.com/Rx2AMz5fRJ

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) April 4, 2025

Will Cade Horton make his MLB debut in 2025?

The goal for Horton this year is to put himself in the conversation to make his MLB debut. This spring, Cubs farm director Jason Kanzler acknowledged that Horton is close to being ready, but still has development left.

“In terms of pitching years, he’s very young,” Kanzler told MLB.com. “He’s not accumulated a ton of time on the mound. At the same time, he is one very short step away from being in Chicago. It’s tricky. He’s going to have to learn to manage all those things.”

Before getting shut down last year, Horton threw just 34.1 total innings. 16.1 of those innings came in Double-A and the final 18.0 in Triple-A.  He struggled after his promotion to Iowa, posting an ERA of 7.50 with a strikeout percentage under 28% and a walk percentage over 13%.

That being said, having success, dialing in the command, and staying healthy will be three big areas of focus for Horton this year. If he can do all of those things, the Cubs may highly consider adding him to their 40-man roster and promoting him to the big leagues.