3 Cubs starting pitchers who will begin the 2024 season in Triple-A and 2 who won't

Starting pitching depth was never a concern for the Chicago Cubs heading into 2024. But there was a pretty clear need to add an impact arm to the top of the rotation and Jed Hoyer did just that this week, reportedly landing Japanese left-hander and strikeout artist Shota Imanaga.

That addition will have a trickle-down effect on the organizational depth chart, allowing some Cubs pitching prospects to develop at their own speed this year. So who goes where? How long will they stay where they open the season? Who are the three Cubs starting pitchers that will begin the 2024 season in Triple-A, and which two will be part of the big league ball club?

Cubs RHP Caleb Kilian will open the 2024 season at Triple-A

One of the headliners in the 2021 Kris Bryant trade with the San Francisco Giants, Caleb Kilian has been all over the place performance-wise since coming to the Cubs. After closing out that season in the Arizona Fall League with a dominant showing, the wheels have kind of come off for the right-hander since.

We're not even going to get into his big league numbers because you don't evaluate someone on 16+ innings of work. But in 2022, he carried a WHIP north of 1.500 with Triple-A Iowa and struggled in a brief taste of MLB action. Last year, again with Iowa, he slightly improved that mark, but saw his strikeout numbers falter from earlier in his minor league career.

The shine has definitely wore off Kilian and it'll take not only a strong spring, but a bounceback campaign at Iowa before he gets a serious look as someone who can crack the big league roster under new Cubs manager Craig Counsell.

Cubs RHP Ben Brown will open the 2024 season at Triple-A Iowa

Before suffering an injury in late July, a Ben Brown big league debut looked to be a very real possibility for a Cubs team that was weathering the loss of Marcus Stroman. But that injury cost Brown a whole month and he pitched exclusively out of the bullpen upon his return.

He opened the year by dazzling at Double-A Tennessee, making 4 starts and working to a 0.45 ERA, 0.950 WHIP and 13.5 K/9 before getting bumped to Iowa. There, though, he struggled a good amount, making 15 starts and 7 relief appearances and posting a 5.33 ERA and 1.528 WHIP. Letting him build more of a track record of success at Iowa before leaning on him at the big league level makes too much sense to think he's cracking the Opening Day roster.

Brown checks in as the Cubs' second-ranked pitching prospect behind only Cade Horton and it seems likely he'll make his MLB debut before the end of the 2024 season. But the addition of Imanaga will allow Chicago to let their young right-hander get his feet back under him at Triple-A and re-establish himself before getting the call.

Cubs RHP Cade Horton will open the 2024 season at Double-A Tennessee

The Cubs' blue chip pitching prospect, Cade Horton, has not only silenced his doubters and critics but quickly emerged as one of the best up-and-coming arms in all of baseball. After being taken in the first round out of Oklahoma as a CWS breakout star, the questions certainly weren't lacking when it came to Hoyer's decision here.

But last season, Horton stood out at every level he pitched at. Combined between A, High-A and Double-A, the right-hander made 21 starts, working to a 2.65 ERA, 0.996 WHIP and 11.9 K/9 - including an impressive 2.67 ERA and 0.950 WHIP in a half-dozen starts at Tennessee. As incredible a year as it was, we need to step back and appreciate he has just that: six career starts above High-A.

I think the jump from Double-A to Triple-A will come very quickly, similar to what we saw with Brown in 2023. But to open the year, letting Horton get right back to mowing down hitters in a familiar setting could set him up for another huge year on the mound - and hopefully position him to impact the big league staff when it matters most late in the season.

Cubs RHP Hayden Wesneski will open the 2024 season at Triple-A Iowa

Acquired from the New York Yankees in the Anthony Rizzo at the trade deadline in 2021, Hayden Wesneski jumped onto Cubs fans' radars in 2022 when he made his debut in September, tossing 33 innings of 2.18 ERA ball for Chicago.

That led most of us to assume he'd be a rotation fixture in 2023 - but that proved to not be the case, as the right-hander instead slotted into a jack-of-all-trades role, making 11 starts, finishing 6 and appearing in another 17 out of the pen. The results admittedly weren't all that impressive: a 5.48 FIP and 2.0 HR/9 in 89 1/3 innings of work.

The metrics didn't paint any more forgiving a picture, either. Just look at his Baseball Savant page. In terms of barrel rate, he ranked in the bottom one percent of the league - and his hard hit rate jumped dramatically over the year prior.

He's struggled a ton against lefties, making a future as a reliever more likely at this point. But seeing if he can figure things out and even out his splits at Iowa makes the most sense. There might still be a road to him becoming a quality arm for the Cubs, but he needs to level things off a bit before he's asked to pitch meaningful innings at Wrigley again.