Cubs may use Cade Horton blueprint to fix rotation after injury news

In 2025, the Chicago Cubs lost their best starting pitcher (Justin Steele) to a long-term arm injury in April, only later to be hit by a shorter-term injury to their Opening Day starter (Shota Imanaga). In their stead, the Cubs called up top pitching prospect Cade Horton, who went on to have a brilliant rookie season.

It is now 2026, and the Cubs have lost their best starting pitcher (Horton) to a long-term arm injury in April. Later, they were hit by news that their Opening Day starter (Matthew Boyd) will also go on the injured list with a shorter-term bicep injury.

So, as history begins to repeat itself, does it not make sense for the North Siders to respond in kind by promoting top pitching prospect Jaxon Wiggins, who may well go on to have a brilliant rookie season?

Cubs must turn to Jaxon Wiggins to weather injury storm in rotation

We don't have a full diagnosis for Horton yet, but we know things aren't looking good at the moment. The 24-year-old right-hander is visiting additional specialists this week to get further opinions on his MRI results, which are often a precursor to surgery. Barring a miracle, the Cubs will probably be without his services for the rest of the year.

Thankfully, Boyd isn't in the same spot, though his bicep injury will likely hold him out until the end of the month. Edward Cabrera has been brilliant in his short tenure thus far, and the duo of Javier Assad and Colin Rea is capable of holding down the fort until reinforcements arrive, but a lot of the upside in the Cubs' rotation has been sapped by this 1-2 punch of injuries.

So, why not introduce a little more juice back into the mix? Wiggins delivered a dominant season debut in Iowa that flashed all of his best stuff, even if his subsequent start against the Louisville Bats (the Cincinnati Reds' Triple-A affiliate) was far more shaky (he allowed four runs and three walks over four innings).

He's in a similar position as Horton was last year, in the sense that he's got a dominant fastball and a go-to breaking pitch (his curveball). Wiggins' command is certainly more of a question mark, as is the efficacy of his slider and changeup, but the foundation for a frontline starter is in place.

He's not on the 40-man roster at the moment, hence why Assad and Rea got the initial nod to join the rotation in Chicago. However, he's the next man up at this point, assuming the Cubs don't plan to give more starts to Ben Brown until he figures out his own command issues.

It'd be a risky play to call up a top prospect this early in the season, but the Cubs are running perilously thin on options during an injury-marred start to 2026. Wiggins may not fix all that ails this team right now, but he'd at least inject a heaping teaspoon of optimism into a fanbase desperate for any positive signs.