The Chicago Cubs have enjoyed some surprise contributions en route to a first place standing in the National League Central division.
The team has seen surges from Pete Crow-Amstrong and Carson Kelly as blockbuster trade addition Kyle Tucker plays his way toward a $500 million contract. But the pitching staff has offered a less welcomed kind of surprise.
Frontline starter Justin Steele suffered a season-ending injury just a few starts into the season. And now his running mate, Shota Imanaga, has been placed on the injured list as well.
“Imanaga’s absence is even more pronounced because Steele underwent season-ending surgery on his left elbow last month, taking two All-Stars from the top of the rotation,” Patrick Mooney wrote for The Athletic, noting that there is no timetable for Imanaga’s return. “The Cubs are waiting to decide who will take Imanaga’s turn in the rotation.”
As the Cubs try to figure out their near-term solutions for upcoming starts, calls are mounting for the team to bring up top-ranked pitching prospect Cade Horton. And it looks like the team has decided on what it needs to see from Horton in order to do that: more pitches in the strike zone.
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“While the Cubs view innings totals as an overly simplistic way to track pitchers, there’s no denying that Horton has missed out on some developmental time that could have already sharpened his game and kept his pitches in the strike zone more consistently,” Mooney wrote. “That appears to be the last box that the Cubs want Horton to check at Triple-A…”
With that final box left to check, the Cubs could be calling Horton up in the near future. If not this coming weekend, then Mooney projected the prospect will make his major-league debut later this month.
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