Cade Horton is delivering the best Cubs rookie season in a decade

The Chicago Cubs are getting elite production out of rookie starting pitcher Cade Horton, who is putting together the first rookie of the year campaign in Chicago since Kris Bryant in 2015.

After his solid start against the Colorado Rockies on Friday night, Horton's season ERA sits at a stellar 2.92 in 19 games, with 81 strikeouts over 98 2/3 innings pitched this year. Horton is also enjoying the hottest stretch of his professional career since the All-Star break, where he has a 6-1 record and a 0.86 ERA. The Cubs have also won 12 of the 18 games that Horton has started this year, showing just how valuable the rookie has been for the team.

Horton's performance has catapulted him to the top of the National League Rookie of the Year race, jumping ahead of his teammate Matt Shaw and several candidates on the division-rival Milwaukee Brewers. Heading into 2025, it was unclear if Horton would even get a major league call-up until the second half of the year. But injuries to Justin Steele and Shota Imanaga forced the Cubs to see what their best pitching prospect could bring to the table, and he hasn't disappointed so far.

Cade Horton could be the first Cubs Rookie of the Year since Kris Bryant

The Cubs haven't had a rookie dominate like this since Kris Bryant's impressive 2015 season, where he smacked 26 home runs, 31 doubles and drove in 99 runs with an .857 OPS. Like Bryant, Horton was also taken within the first 10 selections of their respective draft classes by the Cubs.

Bryant was obviously an important piece of the Cubs' success in the 2010s and a mainstay in the lineup for seven years. The Cubs are in a similar position with Horton, who is under team control through the 2030 season and he looks poised to hold down a rotation spot for the foreseeable future. If the Cubs want to maximize his value, exploring an early contract extension could be beneficial to keep Horton around longer before he gets too expensive. The Cubs already made the right decision by opting not to trade Horton at this year's deadline, as recent reporting suggests he drew a lot of interest from teams.