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The scouting report on Cade Horton · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:05
Speaker 1: Welcome into North Side Territory. Foul Territory Networks Cubs podcast.
0:08
Speaker 1: I'm Sahada Sharma with my partner Patrick Moodey. We are
0:13
Speaker 1: your Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick, Big
0:16
Speaker 1: News in Chicago. The Pope, yes, yes, uh, Milord is
0:24
Speaker 1: going to be a religious experience now, not that it
0:27
Speaker 1: wasn't before. Uh uh. There was some controversy whether the
0:32
Speaker 1: Pope is a Cubs fan or a Socks fan. But
0:35
Speaker 1: he's a Socks fan, so we can't spend too much
0:38
Speaker 1: time on the pope. He's a Socks fan. So uh. Unfortunately,
0:42
Speaker 1: the Cubs went went ahead and had they assumed he
0:46
Speaker 1: was a Cubs fan, there there was an erroneous report
0:48
Speaker 1: out there.
0:49
Speaker 2: Uh erroneous.
0:53
Speaker 1: So not a Cubs fan. But I have a good,
0:56
Speaker 1: good vibes about the Bears. I'm not a religious person,
1:00
Speaker 1: but I mean the Pope is as a Bears fan,
1:03
Speaker 1: so I mean I think the Bears are gonna gonna
1:05
Speaker 1: make some noise this year. I'm excited. Even Caleb Williams
1:08
Speaker 1: was tweeting about the pope.
1:11
Speaker 2: The internet still undefeated. Like I loved all those memes,
1:17
Speaker 2: Like I was getting a bunch of them from friends
1:20
Speaker 2: and family, Like, I don't know, it's so rare to
1:23
Speaker 2: have like a singular kind of moment that everyone's locking
1:26
Speaker 2: on and then to see like the WGN did a
1:29
Speaker 2: great job of tracking down the family and the New
1:32
Speaker 2: York Times had a story too. But just like the
1:34
Speaker 2: photo of him at like Arilio's pizza last summer, good ye,
1:39
Speaker 2: the Sat Saint rita connection, just all the all the
1:46
Speaker 2: Bears stuff, just so funny, a much needed like moment
1:50
Speaker 2: of levity. Good luck to the pope.
1:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's so you're You're right, it's like so rare
1:56
Speaker 1: that we all come together on social media and everybody's
1:59
Speaker 1: talking about the same thing. It's you know, like a
2:03
Speaker 1: social media can be so polarizing now that but this
2:05
Speaker 1: is this is one of those fun especially Chicago Chicago Twitter.
2:09
Speaker 1: It was it was really, it was really fun yesterday.
2:12
Speaker 1: And like you said, I like, I have friends that
2:15
Speaker 1: they don't spend nearly as much time as social media
2:17
Speaker 1: on social media as as I do, so to get
2:20
Speaker 1: all these memes shared by them was was really fun.
2:23
Speaker 1: It was. It was a good time. There will be
2:26
Speaker 1: a good time this weekend in New York. It is
2:29
Speaker 1: cad Horton time Cad Horton Cub's top pitching prospect. The
2:35
Speaker 1: last time the Cubs drafted a pitcher in the top
2:37
Speaker 1: ten was Mark Pryor. I was talking about this with
2:41
Speaker 1: our buddy Paul Sullivan. I can't think of a more
2:45
Speaker 1: hyped pitching prospect for the Cubs since Mark Pryor. I
2:49
Speaker 1: mean this, This guy entered last season, the twenty twenty
2:53
Speaker 1: four season, as arguably the top pitching prospect in baseball.
3:00
Speaker 1: Unless I'm missing someone that just hasn't happened since prior.
3:05
Speaker 1: Nobody was in that debate. This is as exciting as
3:10
Speaker 1: a pitching prospect comes for the Cubs especially. I mean,
3:13
Speaker 1: obviously Justin Steele came up through their system and contended
3:17
Speaker 1: for a Cy Young but he was not a high prospect.
3:20
Speaker 1: I'm not sure if he ever made a top one
3:21
Speaker 1: hundred list. I don't believe he did. Cad Horton is
3:27
Speaker 1: a legit pitching prospect, just you know, highly thought of.
3:33
Speaker 1: Aggressive pick by the Cubs, but right now looking like
3:36
Speaker 1: a pretty smart move. And we'll see he could be sound.
3:40
Speaker 1: I mean it's not he could be. He's making his
3:42
Speaker 1: debut on Saturday at City Field. It's a big moment
3:46
Speaker 1: for him and an exciting moment for Cubs fans.
3:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was trying to think was Carlos and Brano's debut.
3:54
Speaker 2: I was not there for that one and only other
3:59
Speaker 2: sort of home grown pitcher, and obviously no one could
4:04
Speaker 2: have known the full scope of big Z when he debuted.
4:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think he was like a solid prospect,
4:11
Speaker 1: but I don't remember him being like oka hype.
4:13
Speaker 2: I mean, but yeah, you're right, Like I've been kind
4:16
Speaker 2: of going through the rolodex mental rolodecks as well of
4:19
Speaker 2: trying to find certain reference points. We had a lot
4:24
Speaker 2: of great position player debuts that were certainly long anticipated
4:31
Speaker 2: and guys who did deliver on the hype, you know,
4:34
Speaker 2: whether it's Haave Baiez or Chris Bryant.
4:38
Speaker 1: Uh.
4:39
Speaker 2: I guess anthy original wasn't a pure debut obviously had
4:43
Speaker 2: come up with the Padres, but you know that was,
4:45
Speaker 2: you know, a full Rizo watch. And I think for
4:49
Speaker 2: our listeners side up, I think be useful to kind
4:51
Speaker 2: of go back to that draft because I remember you
4:53
Speaker 2: were hearing a lot of stuff around that time, and
4:55
Speaker 2: I think some of the names that were bandied about
4:59
Speaker 2: before that selection were position players, right, and just the
5:04
Speaker 2: I think to put into context of how Cave Horton
5:08
Speaker 2: really just popped on the radar late leading into that draft.
5:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, I believe the name we kept hearing over and
5:16
Speaker 1: over again was brooks Lead. There was a maybe there
5:21
Speaker 1: was a was that the draft of the short stuff,
5:25
Speaker 1: the Indian shortstop that's now in the Blue Jays system.
5:29
Speaker 1: There were we were hearing a lot of different that
5:32
Speaker 1: may be a different draft, but brooks Lee was the
5:34
Speaker 1: name I remember when he's now a Twins third base prospect,
5:38
Speaker 1: or maybe he's already come up. It was all position players,
5:43
Speaker 1: Like I don't remember that draft being highly thought of
5:47
Speaker 1: for pictures, and that was there was something I remember
5:54
Speaker 1: getting told, don't you know you should also remember that
6:00
Speaker 1: the way there are things we can look at now
6:03
Speaker 1: that a small sample size isn't always a small sample size.
6:07
Speaker 1: If a guy has a plus pitch that he just
6:11
Speaker 1: recently developed, that's a real thing. And what that was
6:16
Speaker 1: a big hit that I kind of overlooked free draft
6:20
Speaker 1: because I think I hadn't fully put it, pulled it,
6:23
Speaker 1: put it all together. Kate Horton just wasn't on my radar,
6:26
Speaker 1: but he was clearly on the Cubs radar, and I
6:29
Speaker 1: think they surprised a lot of people, and I think
6:31
Speaker 1: there were actually some people that weren't thrilled with that, right, Like,
6:34
Speaker 1: I feel like people were a little disappointed, I guess
6:39
Speaker 1: by the decision to draft Kate Horton.
6:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess if you just look at the Cub's
6:45
Speaker 2: history recently, and this is kind of over different regimes
6:49
Speaker 2: and different philosophies, it's been hit or first. And I
6:55
Speaker 2: think you know, when you look at pitching in the draft,
6:59
Speaker 2: you know, they like to say it can come from anywhere.
7:04
Speaker 2: I would get the hesitancy if you see a guy
7:06
Speaker 2: sort of like get hot, not even for like one season.
7:10
Speaker 2: It was like part of one season where he just
7:12
Speaker 2: like you know, lit it up. But when you step back,
7:16
Speaker 2: you realize, Okay, the Cubs had a prior relationship with him,
7:21
Speaker 2: kind of I believe it was that COVID draft, or
7:23
Speaker 2: kind of right before COVID happened, when he was in
7:27
Speaker 2: high school in Norman, Oklahoma. The Cubs had done the
7:30
Speaker 2: home visit, a lot of background work. I don't know,
7:34
Speaker 2: you got to like a guy who was recruited to play,
7:38
Speaker 2: you know, And I think it was sort of a
7:40
Speaker 2: preferred walk on type role at Oklahoma, made a two
7:44
Speaker 2: way player on the baseball diamond, and then you know,
7:48
Speaker 2: if he has this great athleticism and a little bit
7:51
Speaker 2: of feel and a competitive drive, you can kind of
7:55
Speaker 2: see it all come together. And obviously the industry valued
7:59
Speaker 2: him a little differently, or at least lower than a
8:04
Speaker 2: number seven pick, because the Cubs were able to get
8:07
Speaker 2: him below slot. And then interestingly enough, they go get
8:11
Speaker 2: Jackson Ferris give him three million dollars and that was
8:14
Speaker 2: one of the prospects they packaged in the deal to
8:17
Speaker 2: the Dodgers to get Michael Bush, who's become a really
8:20
Speaker 2: nice everyday piece for this this version of the Cubs.
8:25
Speaker 1: Yeah. No, that's a good point. They saved a little money.
8:28
Speaker 1: They they what what people thought was an overdraft with
8:32
Speaker 1: with Horton and they but they liked him and they
8:35
Speaker 1: went and got Horton and key piece in a big trade. Uh.
8:39
Speaker 1: They you know that that they've done that before, right,
8:42
Speaker 1: That was the Kyle Schwarber Draft where they drafted that
8:46
Speaker 1: they ended up getting Cease and Steal right.
8:48
Speaker 2: Yep.
8:49
Speaker 1: Some people felt Schwarbur was a reach, and you know,
8:53
Speaker 1: obviously not he's still producing at a very high level,
8:56
Speaker 1: and they went and signed a bunch of you know,
8:58
Speaker 1: overslought pitchers later in the draft. It clearly worked out. Patrick,
9:03
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9:06
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10:09
Speaker 1: Patrick. The reason Horton shot up that year was he
10:13
Speaker 1: had like his e R A. If you remember, his
10:17
Speaker 1: c R A was pretty bad right in Oklahoma.
10:20
Speaker 2: Uh, might have been a five or six.
10:23
Speaker 1: It was pretty anything. Yeah, it wasn't anything special. Uh.
10:28
Speaker 1: And he was coming back from Tommy John surgery. He
10:31
Speaker 1: was just working his way back and he developed what
10:35
Speaker 1: you know, this nasty slider that just suddenly things started
10:41
Speaker 1: to click. The velocity was back on the fastball, and
10:45
Speaker 1: and this slider was just plumbaxing hitters. And he he
10:49
Speaker 1: went on a dominant run to end his Oklahoma career.
10:54
Speaker 3: Uh.
10:54
Speaker 1: And that's that's the pitch that stands out. That's the
10:57
Speaker 1: pitch that still guards the most love, whether it's from scouts,
11:02
Speaker 1: whether it's from you know these stuff plus models. The
11:06
Speaker 1: slider is the plus plus pitch. Last year was a
11:12
Speaker 1: bad year for Kayden Horton. Right, both Kate I call
11:15
Speaker 1: him Kayten Horton. Kate Horton. Uh, it was not a
11:19
Speaker 1: good season for him and he he struggled early on
11:24
Speaker 1: with his fastball. His fastball velocity was down about two
11:28
Speaker 1: three ticks, and then he got hurt. It was a
11:31
Speaker 1: pretty significant injury, and injury that at first we were
11:34
Speaker 1: told we weren't really clear what it was and then
11:37
Speaker 1: you know, wiped out majority of his season. That these
11:42
Speaker 1: types of things happened to pitchers, right, It happens all
11:45
Speaker 1: the time to pictures we pitching prospects. There's there's a
11:50
Speaker 1: joke that there's no such thing as a pitching prospect
11:53
Speaker 1: because they they get injured. Looking Grayson Rodriguez, I don't
11:57
Speaker 1: even know what he's doing right now. For the Orioles,
12:00
Speaker 1: this happens all the time. The top pitching prospect just
12:04
Speaker 1: falls off the radar. They get whether his shoulder, elbow, whatever,
12:10
Speaker 1: something happens and they fall off the radar. I'm sure
12:13
Speaker 1: there was that concern with Kate Horton, but they they
12:17
Speaker 1: got him right. They got him feeling his delivery again,
12:20
Speaker 1: leaning into his athleticism. He looks like the picture he
12:25
Speaker 1: was in twenty twenty three. Whatever. You A month and
12:28
Speaker 1: a half into the Triple A season, he's been really
12:32
Speaker 1: impressive and he's back to being a top pitching prospect.
12:37
Speaker 2: You did a lot of reporting on this, Like we
12:40
Speaker 2: had been kind of collecting information like knowing this was coming,
12:45
Speaker 2: we didn't know exactly when, but Horton was on the
12:50
Speaker 2: horizon and then showed his injury just sped everything up.
12:54
Speaker 2: And what interests me as we've been going back and
12:56
Speaker 2: forth on our Google docs and kind of reading some
12:59
Speaker 2: of these transcripts, like can you explain to our listeners,
13:03
Speaker 2: like what was sort of the the cad Horton plan
13:07
Speaker 2: in spring training, like the summit, Uh, the collaboration across
13:13
Speaker 2: departments to kind of as you framed it, you know,
13:18
Speaker 2: recognize that this is a year to forget and that
13:21
Speaker 2: acknowledged there were real questions about whether or not he
13:24
Speaker 2: could get back to what he was and kind of
13:27
Speaker 2: get to the next level.
13:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was kind of presented to me as like
13:32
Speaker 1: a brain trust. There were, you know, the people that
13:36
Speaker 1: you that everyone's heard of, like Tommy Hottevey was was
13:39
Speaker 1: involved director of pitching who Ryan o'taro took over for
13:44
Speaker 1: Craig Breslo. Right, There's Casey Jacobson who is now the
13:48
Speaker 1: assistant pitching coach. I believe Casey Jacobson was just a
13:52
Speaker 1: pitching coordinator, right, and I think that's what his role
13:56
Speaker 1: was before now.
13:57
Speaker 2: He he would have interacted, you know, frequently with Wharton
14:01
Speaker 2: and had great visibility. I think even going back to
14:06
Speaker 2: before the draft, if I remember correctly, that Jacobsen and
14:11
Speaker 2: Breslo kind of that pitching wing. I believe they were
14:16
Speaker 2: brought in as they were even like evaluating prospects to
14:21
Speaker 2: get a grounding and you know, kind of share some
14:25
Speaker 2: ideas about what it could look like if they entered
14:28
Speaker 2: the Cup system exactly.
14:30
Speaker 1: So he was involved. Tyler Sombro, who's a new pitching
14:35
Speaker 1: or special assistant with a focus on pitching. Matt Hinckley's
14:40
Speaker 1: I believe pitching coordinator out in Arizona. Mike sod who's
14:44
Speaker 1: really interesting guy. Pitching scientists. Believe it's pitching scientists. This
14:49
Speaker 1: is a title so cross a collaboration between all these
14:54
Speaker 1: different parts of the org which is so important in
15:00
Speaker 1: they've talked about this for years, right, This was this
15:02
Speaker 1: was what the whole all the changes that were made
15:06
Speaker 1: five six years ago were with this idea in mind,
15:10
Speaker 1: where an organization is into they they look at an
15:14
Speaker 1: organization as a holistic unit. There's no it's not just
15:20
Speaker 1: the pro side and player development and amateur strength and conditioning.
15:24
Speaker 1: They all got to work together, and that's what happened here. Uh,
15:27
Speaker 1: they all came together. How do we get Cad Horton
15:30
Speaker 1: back to being his best self? They a lot of
15:34
Speaker 1: different talks that they noticed that his arm slot had
15:38
Speaker 1: had kind of changed, that that happens after injuries. What
15:43
Speaker 1: do you need to work on, what sort of things,
15:45
Speaker 1: What parts of your body do you need to strengthen
15:48
Speaker 1: these types of things. They they discussed and they came
15:52
Speaker 1: up with the plan, presented it to Horton, who was
15:54
Speaker 1: all it? Who was it? Was nothing too crazy, right.
15:58
Speaker 1: They weren't telling him become a different pitcher. It was
16:03
Speaker 1: more lean into these things that make you special and
16:07
Speaker 1: you will find your best self. You will go back
16:10
Speaker 1: to being that picture that you were in twenty twenty three.
16:15
Speaker 1: And it seems like they've gotten them back there. The
16:18
Speaker 1: one thing I find interesting with all of this is
16:23
Speaker 1: the velocity is back with his fastball, And I think
16:26
Speaker 1: that was a question last year. It was something that
16:30
Speaker 1: certain scouts told me they were concerned about because it
16:35
Speaker 1: didn't have the type of traits that were pure, you know,
16:41
Speaker 1: the type of characteristics of fastball has that allows a
16:44
Speaker 1: pitcher to thrive without velocities. But I think there's something
16:49
Speaker 1: too that what the Cubs have with Gate Horton, they
16:53
Speaker 1: have it with Justin Steele. I think Porter Hodge as well.
16:58
Speaker 1: It's the cut ride fastball. This fastball is still I
17:02
Speaker 1: think being fully understood by I think scouts understand it
17:08
Speaker 1: better than better than the models, and I think the
17:11
Speaker 1: models see Kate Horton as having an average fastball. I
17:17
Speaker 1: think the Cubs may disagree with that. I think we'll
17:21
Speaker 1: find out, you know, we're going to find out on
17:23
Speaker 1: Saturday and probably over the course of this summer how
17:28
Speaker 1: effective that fastball is. Maybe maybe it's just all about
17:32
Speaker 1: velocity and locating it properly, and with the nasty slider.
17:35
Speaker 1: He's got a good curveball and a developing change. I'm
17:38
Speaker 1: really curious to see how much he uses those or
17:41
Speaker 1: is he going to be a two pitch pitcher for
17:43
Speaker 1: the most part, which he has been early on this season.
17:46
Speaker 1: He wasn't last year. Last year was a struggle, but
17:51
Speaker 1: this year he's been a two pitch pitcher for the
17:53
Speaker 1: most part. I want to say ninety percent, maybe a
17:56
Speaker 1: tick below ninety percent, it's been fastball a slider.
18:00
Speaker 2: What you've outlined, I think really resonates for anyone who's
18:04
Speaker 2: been paying attention to how the Cubs were built leading
18:09
Speaker 2: into twenty sixteen and sort of how they fell off
18:12
Speaker 2: and how they tried to get back again, because you're right,
18:15
Speaker 2: it was this chicken or the egg theory of are
18:18
Speaker 2: the Cubs drafting the wrong pitchers or they just not
18:24
Speaker 2: being developed once they come into the system, And it
18:28
Speaker 2: was sort of this like a little bit of a
18:31
Speaker 2: blame game of you know, you'd see certain guys maybe
18:36
Speaker 2: go to other places or productive, or you know, they
18:40
Speaker 2: were understandably frequently mortgaging their farm system to try to
18:46
Speaker 2: win now, and there was this the way I think
18:50
Speaker 2: it was described to us. We wrote a big story,
18:53
Speaker 2: I don't know, a year or two or ago about kind
18:56
Speaker 2: of this new Cub's way and that pitching instruction and
19:03
Speaker 2: philosophies were kind of on two totally different tracks, even
19:07
Speaker 2: when the Cubs were like the best team in the game,
19:08
Speaker 2: having the number one farm system in the game, and
19:11
Speaker 2: that eventually they started to merge that it became kind
19:15
Speaker 2: of one sort of not one philosophy, but like everyone
19:20
Speaker 2: kind of going along the same path, and I think
19:23
Speaker 2: Horton that is part of Horton's rise here. Now look
19:28
Speaker 2: like he's fantastically talented, you know, a top ten pick.
19:32
Speaker 2: It's not like the Cubs you know, found this, you know,
19:35
Speaker 2: guy under a rock or something like that. But like
19:39
Speaker 2: it takes a lot, I mean, Justin Steele would say this,
19:42
Speaker 2: It takes a lot of different elements and time to
19:45
Speaker 2: like bring a guy to the majors and have him succeed.
19:48
Speaker 2: And I think we've talked about this before. It's a
19:53
Speaker 2: nice landing spot for him of just the environment, whether
19:57
Speaker 2: it's Craig Council's kind of big picturehilosophy and his patience
20:01
Speaker 2: with young talent. Some awesome defenders on the field, two
20:05
Speaker 2: really good catchers, established pitching coach, and like if Kyle
20:13
Speaker 2: Tucker hits a three run homer, you know, in the
20:16
Speaker 2: first inning, or maybe he's batting second. Anyway, if Kyle
20:22
Speaker 2: Tucker hits a three run homer in New York, or
20:25
Speaker 2: you know, Peko Armstrong has the awesome game that we
20:29
Speaker 2: kind of think is going to be in there in
20:31
Speaker 2: New York, like all of a sudden, he can sort
20:34
Speaker 2: of exhale. This is not a situation where the Cubs
20:38
Speaker 2: are like desperately need a spark, or you know, they're
20:43
Speaker 2: kind of dragging. Like this is a first place team
20:46
Speaker 2: that's pretty stable, well constructed, and a lot of kind
20:53
Speaker 2: of adults in the room to where like this is
20:56
Speaker 2: all right in front of Horton right now. Like, if
20:58
Speaker 2: he can stay healthy, if he can make the adjust,
21:00
Speaker 2: if he's as good as they say he's, he's gonna
21:04
Speaker 2: set himself up pretty nicely.
21:07
Speaker 1: I understand the argument of wanting to give him an
21:11
Speaker 1: easier landing by by pitching against the Marlins or the
21:15
Speaker 1: White Sox, but this isn't the hype has been there
21:20
Speaker 1: for him before he was drafted. This is this is
21:23
Speaker 1: a kid who was a two sport athlete quarterback. It's
21:28
Speaker 1: not like pressure hasn't been on him before. This is different.
21:33
Speaker 1: It's New York, it's the big leagues. It is different.
21:37
Speaker 1: I'm not denying that. But he's he's experienced a lot
21:40
Speaker 1: of College World Series, high school quarterback, probably playing in
21:43
Speaker 1: some stressful games with all eyes on him in the community.
21:49
Speaker 1: This is another level, another challenge for him. I don't
21:53
Speaker 1: I think when you're a top prospect. You've probably gotten
21:58
Speaker 1: used to having all on you and learned how to compartmentalized.
22:05
Speaker 1: It's going to be a different moment for him. I
22:08
Speaker 1: don't think. I think the moment won't be too big.
22:13
Speaker 1: Whether Juan Soto, Francisco lindor Pee Alonso is too big
22:18
Speaker 1: for him. We'll see that that that's too big for
22:21
Speaker 1: a lot of pitchers, not just a rookie making his debut.
22:26
Speaker 1: H So, so it's not it's not a question of
22:31
Speaker 1: ken he handle this, uh, this the bright stage. In
22:34
Speaker 1: my opinion, I just want to I want to see
22:37
Speaker 1: how he does against a pretty good lineup one of
22:40
Speaker 1: the you know, some of the best talents in in
22:42
Speaker 1: baseball right now, especially the way Alonso is swinging it.
22:46
Speaker 1: These are three of the best offensive players going right now.
22:51
Speaker 1: So I'm curious to see how he handles that. That
22:55
Speaker 1: just the getting big league hitters out, That's that's what
22:59
Speaker 1: I'm because not. I don't think New York is going
23:02
Speaker 1: to be too big for him, just because I think
23:05
Speaker 1: when you're a top prospect, you've you've experienced a lot
23:08
Speaker 1: of pressure, and you've you've you've learned how to get
23:11
Speaker 1: through that. Mentally, I would like to think that that's
23:15
Speaker 1: the case. And talking to him, Uh, he seems like
23:19
Speaker 1: like a level headed kid who I even asked him
23:22
Speaker 1: about does he care back in spring training? How much
23:24
Speaker 1: you care about the fact that you've kind of lost
23:27
Speaker 1: your prospect top you you were the top pitching prospect
23:30
Speaker 1: and now people are questioning whether that you basically said,
23:34
Speaker 1: it's all about results. He doesn't care whether whether he
23:37
Speaker 1: was a top prospect ever before or not. All he
23:40
Speaker 1: has to do is get results and win games, and
23:43
Speaker 1: he'll he'll find success. He understands that he's not looking
23:46
Speaker 1: for the spotlight, he's not looking for headlines. He's just
23:49
Speaker 1: trying to go out there and do his job. I
23:51
Speaker 1: think that's uh, you know that that's that's a good
23:55
Speaker 1: sign for the kid, and hopefully he's able to you know,
23:58
Speaker 1: handle this and and yeah, this is a good lineup.
24:02
Speaker 1: This is good. This is gonna be an immedia test
24:04
Speaker 1: and then it gets you know, if he stays in
24:06
Speaker 1: the rotation, I think it'll be a few weeks of
24:09
Speaker 1: easier starts, but this first one is a fun one
24:12
Speaker 1: for everyone.
24:14
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think if he's able to settle in and
24:18
Speaker 2: get a chunk of starts while showda heels. I think
24:25
Speaker 2: that will be a much better barometer obviously than like
24:30
Speaker 2: a couple innings in New York. And I'm with you, like,
24:35
Speaker 2: how does this stuff translate? Because the gap between Triple
24:40
Speaker 2: A and the majors might be as big as it's ever been.
24:44
Speaker 2: You're talking about a guy who's fantastically talented but does
24:47
Speaker 2: not have a ton of innings under his belt. And
24:52
Speaker 2: we've praised the Cubs and pointed out a lot of
24:56
Speaker 2: the good things they've done on the pitching side, but
25:00
Speaker 2: also like from Mark Pryor to Kate Horton, that's a
25:04
Speaker 2: really long time, Like that's not exactly like you know,
25:09
Speaker 2: a pitching factory along the lines of, say what they
25:13
Speaker 2: what they've done in Cleveland that now that ultimately that
25:15
Speaker 2: doesn't really matter for Kate Horton specifically, But I think
25:19
Speaker 2: it's just we have to recalibrate expectations as well, Like
25:26
Speaker 2: Kate Horton does not have a ton of reps and
25:30
Speaker 2: maybe that doesn't matter, Like there are certain pitchers that
25:32
Speaker 2: just have that factor and it shows up immediately. But
25:36
Speaker 2: when you listen to Jed Hoyer talk about, you know,
25:40
Speaker 2: competitive pitches, making sure you're in and around the zone
25:44
Speaker 2: all the time. You know, the difference between a one,
25:48
Speaker 2: one to two count and a two to two count
25:50
Speaker 2: like stuff like that. The Cubs have a really good
25:53
Speaker 2: game planning system, you know, the way the game is now,
25:59
Speaker 2: Like they can kind of say, like, if you put
26:01
Speaker 2: this pitch at this particular spot, there's you know, x
26:06
Speaker 2: percentage that this isn't out. Can you can you get
26:10
Speaker 2: it to that point over and over and over again?
26:12
Speaker 2: Like that's really hard to do, but certainly he's as
26:18
Speaker 2: well equipped as any Cups pitching prospect. I guess in
26:22
Speaker 2: the generation to like go out and execute that, we'll
26:25
Speaker 2: be We'll be fun to watch. We'll be like a
26:28
Speaker 2: great kind of ongoing story. Like I don't think if
26:32
Speaker 2: he throws three four shutout in New York it's like,
26:37
Speaker 2: oh my god, he's, you know, the next great pitcher
26:40
Speaker 2: in the game. He's not Paul Skeens. But also like
26:43
Speaker 2: if he gets shelled in New York, I'm not going
26:46
Speaker 2: to write him off, like it'll be it'll be like
26:48
Speaker 2: a good story in the sense that there is much
26:53
Speaker 2: larger implications like if this guy's a dude, if they
26:55
Speaker 2: can keep him healthy and keep him improving, to where
26:59
Speaker 2: he's like a actor in September and maybe even October
27:03
Speaker 2: like that, that would be huge.
27:08
Speaker 1: I agree with that, where keeping keeping him healthy, giving
27:11
Speaker 1: him this experience, this could be huge down the line.
27:14
Speaker 1: I don't know what. I guess we'll see what happens
27:17
Speaker 1: with him over this. If he sticks around for the
27:20
Speaker 1: full month or whatever. That showedas round, does he force
27:23
Speaker 1: his way, We're just they have to say, we're not
27:26
Speaker 1: sending him down. We will figure out what we're doing,
27:28
Speaker 1: but we're not sending him down. We can't do that.
27:31
Speaker 1: He's too good or he's too impactful for this club
27:34
Speaker 1: that I'm sure that's what they hope. That's what you
27:36
Speaker 1: want to happen. You want to have these really hard
27:39
Speaker 1: decisions where you have too many good players. What you
27:42
Speaker 1: talked about with zone being in the zone. I was
27:45
Speaker 1: looking at some of his numbers. I believe he's had
27:47
Speaker 1: a big jump in zone percentage from last year. I
27:51
Speaker 1: still think it, I need it's hard to maneuver through
27:55
Speaker 1: all the Triple A numbers. It's not as easy to
27:58
Speaker 1: check averages and everything. I believe it's still below average
28:01
Speaker 1: for Triple A or at least for what would be
28:03
Speaker 1: major league level. Uh, that's okay. You know, he's going
28:08
Speaker 1: to learn that he has to be in the zone.
28:10
Speaker 1: He's going to see won Soa spit on stuff and
28:12
Speaker 1: say they were they were chasing that. He's not going
28:15
Speaker 1: to get one soda to chase. He won't be the
28:18
Speaker 1: first picture to learn that lesson from one Soto. But
28:22
Speaker 1: you know, beyond wan soda, he needs to if guys
28:25
Speaker 1: chase that, that's how you know, that's how show To succeeds.
28:28
Speaker 1: That's how a lot of these guys succeed. You just
28:30
Speaker 1: got to be in the zone enough to get them
28:32
Speaker 1: to chase. Uh. Yeah, the stuff is there. We'll see
28:37
Speaker 1: if the command is there. And I agree that you can't.
28:41
Speaker 1: You can't overthink this first start. We probably will if
28:45
Speaker 1: it's really good, though, right.
28:47
Speaker 2: We reserve the right to blow it out of proportion.
28:50
Speaker 2: But you know, the day before we're recording on Friday morning,
28:54
Speaker 2: will you know, temper temper it a bit.
28:56
Speaker 1: You know, yeah, exactly. I'm looking forward to it. It's
29:00
Speaker 1: been a while since I remember Mark Pryor debut. I
29:06
Speaker 1: was in college. I was in college. Yeah, we were
29:10
Speaker 1: all hyped for it. My buddy was so excited. He's like,
29:13
Speaker 1: we got the guy that they're talking about on Sports Center,
29:16
Speaker 1: and you know, it obviously didn't work out as hoped
29:19
Speaker 1: as far as long term success, but he was exciting
29:22
Speaker 1: for a few years. If you even get a few
29:24
Speaker 1: years of that level of performance, I say that's to win,
29:27
Speaker 1: because it's hard to find that level of talent. We'll
29:32
Speaker 1: be back next week to talk about this. I'm sure
29:36
Speaker 1: we'll have a you know, a exciting three games. This
29:40
Speaker 1: is fun because Mets Cubs. It's been a little while.
29:44
Speaker 1: Was it really like twenty fifteen since these guys were
29:47
Speaker 1: both good, Maybe sixteen something like that. It's been a
29:50
Speaker 1: little while since they're both good, excite, two big you know,
29:55
Speaker 1: obviously two of the biggest cities in the country, biggest markets,
29:59
Speaker 1: exciting to It's nice to have them both on a
30:02
Speaker 1: winning track right now. I think this will be a
30:04
Speaker 1: really fun series. I'm looking forward to watching all three
30:07
Speaker 1: games and we'll be back to recap it on Monday.
30:11
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening to everyone. This is Northside Territory.
30:14
Speaker 1: Make sure to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe to the YouTube channel,
30:18
Speaker 1: Subscribe to The Athletic where Patrick and I are on
30:20
Speaker 1: top of all things Cubs thanks for listening to everyone