Cade Horton Voted NL Rookie of the Year Runner-Up After Strong Debut Season

There was very little, if any, surprise a week ago when Cade Horton was named a National League Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year finalist.

The rookie right-hander was phenomenal in 2025 as he became a key contributor in the Chicago Cubs‘ rotation. After debuting on May 10, Horton went on to finish the season 11-4 with a 2.67 ERA. He ended up worth 2.2 fWAR, behind only Matthew Boyd among Cubs starters.

Horton’s performance wasn’t just an impressive beginning to his career. It was necessary to help get Chicago back to the postseason for the first time since 2020.

As a whole, the starting group on the North Side dealt with its fair share of challenges. The Cubs lost Justin Steele for the season in mid-April. Injuries also cost arms like Shota Imanaga, Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad time throughout the year. Boyd and Colin Rea helped stabilize things along the way, but Horton played a big part in keeping the rotation on track.

His debut year didn’t ultimately lead to him taking home NL Rookie of the Year honors Monday night. The prize went to Atlanta Braves catcher Drake Baldwin, who finished ahead of Horton — who earned nine out of 30 first-place votes — and Milwaukee Brewers third baseman Caleb Durbin.

But despite not taking home the hardware, Horton looked the part of a rotation mainstay for most of the season. And it was his second-half performance that got him right in the thick of the NL Rookie of the Year race.

Across his 12 starts post-All-Star break, Horton delivered a sparkling 1.03 ERA. Among starting pitchers who threw at least 60 innings in that timeframe, that mark was easily the lowest in Major League Baseball. His eight wins during that stretch also tied for the major league lead and topped the NL.

It was a smaller sample than an entire season’s worth of starts, of course, but still, he pitched like one of the best arms in baseball.

A Bright Future for the Rookie of the Year Runner-Up

Despite his 2024 season in the minors ending with him not taking the mound again after the calendar flipped to June, the hype around Horton was real entering 2025. Then, he dominated in six starts with Triple-A Iowa to begin the year, and the anticipation for his eventual MLB debut grew.

Injuries in the rotation forced his early-May call-up, perhaps a bit earlier than the Cubs had projected. But he looked composed essentially from the jump, and though he had some hiccups during the first half, after the break, he put up numbers that rivaled some of the best arms in the big leagues.

Chicago was certainly cautious with the 24-year-old down the stretch. In the second half, he didn’t throw more than 87 pitches in any start, and he only completed six innings three times. That allowed him to stay fresher as his team continued its playoff push, and his numbers only got better as the regular season wound down. It really was a remarkable beginning to what Cubs fans hope is a long, exceptional career.

The only disappointing aspect of his year, then, was its premature end. Horton exited his start against the New York Mets on Sept. 23 after just three innings and 29 pitches. Imaging later revealed a right rib fracture that landed him on the injured list.

He was potentially in line to take the ball in Game 1 of Chicago’s NL Wild Card Series, but the injury forced him to miss both that three-game set versus the San Diego Padres and the NL Division Series against the Brewers. He could’ve returned had the Cubs advanced to the NL Championship Series, but he ultimately never got the chance.

It was a sour note on which to end his first year in the big leagues. Still, he showed why there was plenty of hype surrounding him as a pitching prospect. He showed why Chicago believes he can be an anchor in the rotation for years to come.

Horton’s Rookie of the Year runner-up finish seems to just be the start of something even bigger.