Minor League Baseball

Chicago Cubs Pass Over Top Prospect as All-Star Hurler Hits Injured List

Left-hander Shota Imanaga left Sunday's Cubs loss with a hamstring injury, but it wasn't top prospect Cade Horton who was called up to take his place.
Brady Farkas|
Chicago Cubs pitcher Cade Horton flips the ball for an out against the San Diego Padres in the second inning at Sloan Park on March 21.
Chicago Cubs pitcher Cade Horton flips the ball for an out against the San Diego Padres in the second inning at Sloan Park on March 21. | Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images

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Chicago Cubs

UPDATE, 4:25 p.m. ET: Imanaga has been put on the injured list, but it's reliever Gavin Hollowell who has taken his place, per Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times.

However, since the spot in the rotation isn't needed for several days, there's still a chance that Horton could be called up to make the next start in that spot.

1:45 p.m. ET: The Chicago Cubs are rolling right now, sitting at 21-14 through the first 35 games of the season. After failing to make the playoffs in 2024, they are in first place in the National League Central.

However, things are not all good in the Windy City, as left-hander (and All-Star) Shota Imanaga left Sunday's game with a hamstring issue. He tossed 5.2 innings, giving up two earned runs as the Cubs lost 4-0 to the Milwaukee Brewers.

While it's unclear at this point if Imanaga will need to miss time, this could be the opportunity for the Cubs to call-up top pitching prospect Cade Horton. Horton is dominating at Triple-A Iowa and just threw six strong innings on Sunday. He's on the same schedule as Imanaga and could slide into his rotation spot easily if necessary.

Through six starts, Horton has a minuscule 1.24 ERA.

He is the No. 47 prospect in baseball and the No. 2 prospect in the organization, per MLB Pipeline. The No. 7 overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft, Horton has fanned 33 batters in 29.0 innings.

A great athlete, Horton was originally supposed to play quarterback and baseball at Oklahoma, but he never ended up making it to Norman, opting to sign with the Cubs instead.

The Cubs will be back in action on Monday night against the San Francisco Giants with the first pitch coming at 7:40 p.m. ET. Left-hander Matthew Boyd will pitch for Chicago.

Triple-A Iowa will be off on Monday, as is customary at that level.

Related MiLB Stories

HISTORIC DEBUT: AJ Blubaugh, the No. 10 ranked prospect in the Astros' organization, became the first pitcher from his college to ever make the big leagues on Wednesday. CLICK HERE:

CADE INCOMING? Cade Horton has been dominant for Triple-A Iowa, so when are the Chicago Cubs going to give him the call? CLICK HERE:

COMPARE AND CONTRAST: Bubba Chandler is posting almost identical numbers as Paul Skenes did at Triple-A, so when will he get the call to Pittsburgh? CLICK HERE:

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is the senior writer for “Minor League Baseball on SI’’ and the host of “The Payoff Pitch’’ podcast, which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. Follow Brady on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady.

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