Cubs Top Prospect Turning Heads at Double-A Tennessee

Chicago Cubs pitching prospect Jordan Wicks has done nothing but impress everyone in his first professional season.

Chicago Cubs Top 30 pitching prospect Cade Horton has an ERA so small with Double-A Tennessee that you might need a microscope to see it these days.

The prospect, ranked No. 30 overall in Major League Baseball, threw five innings of shutout baseball in his most recent start against Chattanooga. In that start, he gave up just two hits and three walks while striking out six.

In doing so, he chiseled his ERA since joining the Smokies to 1.00 in four starts, during whieh he’s gone 1-1, striking out 21 and walking seven. Batters are hitting just .188 against him.

MLB's No. 30 prospect Cade Horton (@Cubs) lowers his @smokiesbaseball ERA to 1.00 with this scoreless start:

5 IP
2 H
0 R
3 BB
6 K pic.twitter.com/Y4eR4Qlu5W

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) August 24, 2023

This has been an impressive first professional season for the former Oklahoma Sooner, who was taken in the first round of last year’s MLB draft but didn’t throw a pitch for the Cubs until this spring.

He started his season at Class-A Myrtle Beach, where he started just four games and had a 1.26 ERA without getting a decision. As batters hit .157 against him and he struck out 21 against four walks. The Cubs moved him to High Class-A South Bend on May 9.

With South Bend he went 3-3 with a 3.83 ERA in 11 starts. Batters only hit .203 against him and he struck out 65 against 12 walks. He did all that in just 47 innings.

For the season he is 4-4 with a 2.72 ERA in 19 starts, with 107 strikeouts and 23 walks in 79.1 innings.

The Cubs knew they were getting a polished college pitcher when they took Horton in the first round (No. 7 overall) in last year’s draft out of Oklahoma. With the Sooners, Horton had to redshirt his freshman year after tearing his UCL ligament, which required Tommy John surgery.

Horton helped lead the Sooners to the College World Series last season, when they reached the championship series and he earned All-Tournament honors. He had a 2.61 ERA in the Sooners’ postseason run and struck out a combined 24 hitters in CWS games against Notre Dame and Ole Miss.

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