Chicago Cubs Top Pitching Prospect Earns Highly-Anticipated Promotion

Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell has had to deal with a bevvy of injuries to his pitching staff already this season that has caused tons of roster turnover.

Three of their starters are on the injured list in Justin Steele, Jordan Wicks and Kyle Hendricks. Two relievers are there as well in Julian Merryweather and Drew Smyly.

Because of that, the Cubs have called upon multiple arms to try and get them through this rough patch.

As all of this continues to take place, some exciting news for Chicago fans everywhere was reported by Tommy Birch of The Des Moines Register when he said the organization's No. 2 overall prospect Cade Horton is getting promoted to Triple-A.

The 22-year-old right-hander has been special throughout his short career.

After being selected with the seventh overall pick in the 2022 draft, he finished his first professional season in 2023 with a 2.65 ERA in his 21 starts across three affiliate levels.

Horton has been even better so far this year, posting a 1.10 ERA through four starts at Double-A that has seen him strikeout 18 batters compared to walking only two.

Now, the potential future star is one step closer to the MLB.

It would be truly impressive if he was able to make his Major League debut this season. He would likely have to continue being lights out when facing the best competition of his life, but he's shown he can handle that type of jump so far.

Jameson Taillon also had glowing things to say about the youngster after spending time at Double-A during his rehab assignment.

He even went so far to suggest that Horton should be called up by the Cubs this year because he thinks that the 22-year-old would be able to help them win.

Maybe that promotion is coming.

MLB Pipeline projects that he'll make his debut at some point in 2024, whether that is during some point of the summer, or later in the year season when the rosters get expanded.

Either way, this is a great sign for Chicago as their top pitching prospect continues to shine.