Chicago Cubs Veteran Extremely Impressed By Top Pitching Prospect

It seems like the Chicago Cubs might have another potential star pitcher in their pipeline after one of their established veterans was impressed by what he saw during his rehab stint.

The Chicago Cubs have put together one of the best farm systems in all of baseball after wisely becoming sellers at the trade deadline the previous few seasons when the front office knew they wouldn't be competing for a playoff spot.

Now, many of those elite prospects they have are either making an impact for their Major League roster, or are on the verge of getting called up.

But there's one player still seemingly a bit away from his MLB debut that is drawing a ton of excitement.

Cade Horton is ranked as the Cubs' No. 2 overall prospect behind Pete Crow-Armstrong, and when the talented outfielder eventually becomes a full-time player in the show, it's likely that the star pitcher will take over the top spot.

The 22-year-old is currently with their Double-A affiliate competing in his second season of professional baseball. He started six games at that level in 2023, posting an ERA of 1.33 with 31 strikeouts over 27 innings pitched.

Horton has continued to impress during this campaign with a 1.59 ERA over his three starts.

He also caught the eye of Chicago's veteran Jameson Taillon when he was doing his rehab assignment with the Double-A team.

"We hung out together a couple times in Tennessee and some of the things he was saying, I was like, 'This dude, at least between the ears, that's not going to be his problem.' He's dialed in for a young dude ... I'm super excited about him," he said according to Jordan Bastian of MLB.com.

Taillon has certainly seen his fair share of pitching prospects during his time in professional baseball, so hearing him speak about Horton in this way has to have fans and the organization feeling confident about the type of player they took with the seventh overall pick in 2022.

"Cade has the chance to be really good here for a long time. I just wanted him to know that I'm always available -- that our whole team is always available. If we want to be really good, it's going to involve him at some point," Taillon added.

That's certainly high praise.

When the Cubs decide to eventually call up the right-hander will be seen, but the veteran thinks that he should be given a shot sooner rather than later.

"To me, it’s like, why not start now?" he added.