NEWSLETTER
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If you missed the news yesterday, top Chicago Cubs pitching prospect Cade Horton left his Iowa Cubs start after just one inning. He was conferring with the trainer between innings after throwing his warm-up tosses, and that was it for him.
Initial reports had it as back soreness, which *can* possibly be a pretty great outcome, all things considered. Unfortunately, it’s not quite a “back” issue so much as a “back-ish side of the body” issue.
It’s his lat:
That’s not what you wanted to hear, even if the impending freak out has more to do with the stature of the prospect (enormous) than the actual injury-related information we have (basically none).
To be sure, outcomes on lat injuries have a wide range of possibilities, not unlike a lower-back problem, but in my experience, the return times tend to be longer for lat strains (if that’s what this is). It’s mildly more concerning than a back issue because the lat does connect up to the shoulder area, so you’re talking about an injury that is potentially more closely related to the pitching motion.
The example that popped into my mind because of the similar circumstances was Adbert Alzolay. On the exact same date in 2018, Alzolay – then one of the Cubs’ top pitching prospects – was pulled early in an Iowa Cubs start because of a lat issue. He went on to miss the entire rest of the season.
I’m not saying that’s going to happen here with Horton. It’s just one individual’s anecdote with parallels that called it to mind. The point is only that a lat injury CAN sometimes be quite bad.
But, like any other muscular issue, it can also be relatively mild. I would say the possibility that Horton comes up and contributes at the big league level is now seriously at risk, but I would not yet say we know enough to call his entire season at risk. That’s why he is going to Chicago to get checked out by the team and additional medical staff. Horton’s future is too bright for anyone to mess around here. If he has to sit down for a couple months or whatever, and can’t come up this season, then so be it.
