Cade Horton, the quiet ace

Cade Horton pitched 118 innings for the Chicago Cubs in 2025, went 11–4 with a 2.67 ERA, and lost the National League Rookie of the Year by a sliver. That is the sentence that follows him into every start. It is also the sentence that made Oklahoma’s 2022 Omaha team look like a factory.

Four members of that College World Series club have now reached the majors: Horton, left-hander Jake Bennett (Boston), catcher Jimmy Crooks (St. Louis), and right-hander David Sandlin (Chicago White Sox). Wyatt Olds, from the 2019–21 classes, debuted with Boston on August 17. Cade Cavalli and Jake Irvin keep taking the ball in Washington. Seven Sooners have made MLB appearances in 2026.

Horton’s 2026 has been quieter — two starts, a 2.45 ERA in 7.1 innings, then a stretch the Cubs have managed carefully. September is a seeding month. The Cubs are in Milwaukee this week, then host Atlanta, then close a stretch at Fenway against Bennett’s Red Sox. If Horton is in that series, it will be the rare interleague game with two Sooner starters in the same building.

Skip Johnson’s program has produced four first-rounders in eight drafts. Horton was the 2022 version. The 2026 version, Brendan Brock, is already in the Yankees system. The pipeline does not pause for rookies of the year. It just adds another name to the chart.