You need to know the Cade Horton story because its tremendous and you can be a part of it
Almost uninterrupted, the old Norman High Tiger has been getting better in real time since the last six weeks of his lone Sooner season and watching him do it is all kinds of fun
If you don’t know Cade Horton, you’re about to, but let’s begin with some trivia.
You may recall him as a Sooner, but Oklahoma wasn’t the first school to which he committed. That would be Ole Miss, which offered a baseball scholarship during his freshman year at Norman High.
His freshman year?
The Rebels saw him as a shortstop.
As the story goes, OU offered the opportunity to become a two-sport athlete and that’s why he ditched Oxford for Norman and still I wonder if it was that simple.
Perhaps Lincoln Riley had a scholarship lying around, decided you can never have enough athletic quarterbacks — Horton was dangerous through the air and on the ground for the Tigers — and decided to do Sooner baseball coach Skip Johnson a solid, clearing more space for the 11.7 scholarships each Division I baseball program’s allowed.
Not that Horton didn’t have a gridiron opportunity. He was on the team.
But Jalen Hurts was the Sooner quarterback when Horton signed and Spencer Rattler was already the heir apparent and Caleb Williams was already committed.
Yet, even if destined to never play a down of college football, call it a win, win, win, all sides getting what they wanted.
One final piece of Horton trivia:
When selected seventh overall by the Cubs in the 2022 MLB draft following his redshirt freshman Sooner season — he lost ’21 to Tommy John surgery — his collegiate earned run average was a not-so-low 4.86 and as late as the last week of August it was a preposterously high 7.94.
Can you believe it?
Seventh pick in the draft?
With that kind of ERA?
All true.
So, what’s going on with Cade Horton now?
Now, Cade Horton is the best pitcher on earth.
The numbers say so.
He’s back on the mound for the Cubs Monday afternoon, pitching at home, where he’ll try improving upon his minuscule and MLB best 0.32 earned run average since the All-Star break, a full run better than the next guy on the list, Baltimore’s Trevor Rogers, at 1.32.
It’s happened in the space of five starts and here they are.
• July 20, Red Sox at Cubs: 5 2/3 innings, two hits, no earned runs, three walks, four strikeouts, no hit batters (Cubs lose 6-1).
• July 26, Cubs at White Sox: 6 1/3 innings, four hits, no earned runs, one walk, three strikeouts, no hit batters (Cubs win 6-1).
• Aug. 1, Orioles at Cubs: 5 innings, two hits, no earned runs, three walks, three strikeouts, no hit batters (Cubs win 1-0).
• Aug. 6, Reds at Cubs: 5 2/3 innings, two hits, no earned runs, no walks, six strikeouts, no hit batters (Cubs win 6-1).
• Aug. 13, Cubs at Blue Jays: 5 2/3 innings, one hit, one earned run, two walks, eight strikeouts, no hit batters (Cubs win 4-1).
Even in Horton’s last start, in Toronto, when his scoreless inning streak reached 29 before ending, it wasn’t him who actually gave up the run.
Instead, Cubs manager Craig Counsell pulled Horton after he allowed a one-out hit to Andrés Gimenéz and a two-out walk to Bo Bichette, thereby making it Andrew Kittredge who gave up the RBI double to Vlad Guerrero to plate Gimenéz, ending the streak; yet the way baseball’s scored, Gimenéz’s run belonged to Horton because Horton allowed him to reach base in the first place.
All told, over 15 starts since being called up from Triple A Iowa on May 10, Horton’s amassed a 7-3 record with a 3.07 earned run average and a 1.176 WHIP.
Great stuff and he’s only getting better.
Indeed, but for one hiccup in the minors, Horton’s enjoyed near uninterrupted improvement since lowering his earned run average from that 7.94 to 4.86 his last five collegiate starts, the last of which lasted 7 1/3 innings in which he allowed four hits, two runs and struck out 13 against Ole Miss in Game 2 of the College World Series’ best 2-of-3 championship series.
He made money that day.
Horton pitched for three different Cub farm teams in 2023, spending time in Double A, A+ and A, putting together a combined 2.65 ERA.
A year ago, he struggled at Iowa (7.50 ERA) before dominating at Double A Tennessee (1.10 ERA).
This year, back at Iowa, he sported a 1.24 ERA over 29 innings before catching his ride to Wrigley.
He’s 23 years old.
Getting better in real time is among the greatest things an athlete gets to experience and a fan or sportswriter gets to witness.
Like when 19-year-old Pete Sampras topped Andre Agassi to win the 1990 U.S. Open and thereafter.
Like when Miguel Cabrera burst on the scene in the 2003 postseason, beginning a career that would yield more than 500 home runs, almost 1,900 RBIs and the 2012 Triple Crown.
Like when Tiger Woods won the ’97 Masters by 12 strokes and took over the world.
Or just when former Sooner Chris Gotterup comes out of nowhere to win the Scottish Open and almost the Open Championship, back to back.
Lately, every Horton start has been a revelation.
Even over the course of his scoreless inning streak, his baserunner count headed progressively down while his strikeout totals headed progressively up.
And he’s a joy to watch, seemingly throwing from his right ear, holding it there for the longest time before finally whipping it at the plate.
He’s got a four-seem fastball that breaks not so much like a cutter but a full-blown slider, even as he throws it 96 miles-an-hour, a changeup that falls off the table and a curve that may not break like Clayton Kershaw’s 12-to-6, but a tight 12-to-6 on a smaller clock.
It’s something.
At the end of his Sooner tenure, you could tell something was up, like after a year off and most of a season trying to get comfortable, he found himself and unleashed.
Like Ole Miss saw something in him when was a high school freshman, the Cubs, and just about everybody else, too, saw something in him once his form returned.
I don’t know about you, but my Monday afternoon’s free and I’ll be watching baseball from Wrigley.
Hi Clay,
So sorry to hear of your loss. I lost my ole' girl at the start of the year, man she was a fighter just wouldn't let go. I'm glad you have a couple left to help comfort. Hope things go well for you and your back issues, I've been dealing with knee stuff and I can relate to what you are going through. Hang in there!
Thanks Clay, sometimes I think I'm the only person in this state, besides you, who wants to see real change...and feeling hopeless because it's never going to happen. I appreciate that your writing might, MIGHT influence someone to see our view. Maybe someday. The only Republican whom I feel could enact change is David Holt. Unfortunately, I don't think he'll leave his gig.