Will Cade Horton be Cubs’ next great starter after stellar rookie year?

Going back to the amateur draft of 2001, the Chicago Cubs used the second pick overall to select right-hander Mark Prior out of Southern California University. After nine starts in the minor leagues the next spring, the fireballing pitcher became a part of the young pitching staff of power arms that featured him, Kerry Wood and Carlos Zambrano. The trio were dominant for a few years before injuries to Prior and Wood changed the team’s fate after 2004 after being the talk of baseball for three years.

It took another twenty years before Cade Horton was drafted in the 2022 draft seventh overall by the Cubs, that the North Siders had the next possible superstar pitcher in the organization to dream on. With 22 starting assignments and a second-place finish in the National League Rookie of the Year voting, the question going into 2026 is do the Cubs have their next dominant pitcher in the rotation beginning this February in Mesa, Ariz. with the exciting development of Horton?

Horton was one of the most talked about pitchers in baseball during the second half of 2025. He put up a 1.03 ERA, while reminding Wrigley fans of the magical 2015 season Jake Arrieta had while winning the Cy Young award in that breakout season for the right-hander and the playoff-bound Cubs.

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In 2025, the 24-year-old Oklahoma native threw 147 innings combined between Triple A and the big leagues. That in itself was the major barrier Horton hurdled after only just throwing 34.1 innings in an injury-plagued 2024 season. Although last year ended abruptly for Horton suffering a late September cracked rib, his mastery of the strike zone and overall mound presence, left little doubt in people’s minds he was on track to become the next great Cub starting pitcher. The affirmation of his ascension was giving up only seven earned runs combined in his last 12 starts.

With a strong veteran rotation returning for the Cubs in 2026, I asked Horton if he believes he is ready to step up and be the number one man for Craig Counsell this spring.

“I kind of ignore that kind of talk,” Horton said this weekend on WSCR radio. “Those things don’t really mean too much. You have to take the ball every fifth day, no matter if you are the first guy or the fifth guy in the rotation. That is how I view it. If people say I am the fifth guy or the ace, I just go out there when it’s my turn and try to win a ballgame for my team.”

[WATCH: Cade Horton’s impressive adjustments after rookie campaign]

Don’t confuse the modest comments by Horton with a lack of confidence. Horton will be expected to be the Cubs version of Paul Skenes from this point forward.

“As a professional I have learned expectations come from the outside.” he said. “I just expect myself to go out there and be present in each start. I don’t need to put extra pressure on myself trying to do too much. I have always gotten myself in trouble when I tried to overthrow and do too much. Locking it down and concentration on each pitch works for me. I just try to block out those outside voices, so they don’t affect my performance.”

Talking for the first time since coming up short in the NL Rookie of the Year vote, Horton seemed calm about his season and confident about being ready for spring training 2026. Even though he was not able to pitch in the NL Wild Card or NL Division Series for his team, Horton seemed to gain some confidence being in uniform for the postseason run.

“I didn’t know what to expect from the energy or crowd around it,” Horton offered. “It really exceeded all expectations. It was unreal when the crowd started chanting ‘Freddy,Freddy,Freddy’ [to Milwaukee Brewers right-hander Freddy Peralta]. That was one of the coolest things I ever witnessed in baseball. I think all of us realize how cool [Wrigley Field] is in October. It certainly left a taste in our mouths that we want to get back.”

A National League front office executive was not surprised by Horton’s ascension to being an elite pitcher.

“We had him high on the board when the Cubs took him seventh overall in that 2022 draft. The really good young pitchers like Horton, have a certain mound presence that shows up in their college and early minor league outings,” The executive said. “When we were talking about a trade last July with the Cubs, we asked for Horton first in any discussions we had about pitching in return. They were never going to budge on moving him, even though he hadn’t started his end-of-the-season dominance yet.”

Horton said he will be ready and 100 percent recovered from his rib injury before the new year. Expectations will be that he is the next Arrieta, Prior or Wood. Horton appears content on being the best version of himself.

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