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Little Slide Rooter
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Donzo College Ball

Donzo

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Horton has graduated as a prospect, but still in his rookie season. I think this is the best spot for this discussion.

He's at 91-innings for the year, a career high. He pitched 34-innings last year and 88-innings in 2023. He needs to do a Wiggins esque shutdown here pretty soon. What are we looking at? Shutdown for most of August and ramp back up in early September?

It's important he ends the year healthy and stretched out a bit for a full bore 2026.

CaliforniaRaisin GOAT

CaliforniaRaisin

Community Moderator
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1 hour ago, Donzo said:

Horton has graduated as a prospect, but still in his rookie season. I think this is the best spot for this discussion.

He's at 91-innings for the year, a career high. He pitched 34-innings last year and 88-innings in 2023. He needs to do a Wiggins esque shutdown here pretty soon. What are we looking at? Shutdown for most of August and ramp back up in early September?

It's important he ends the year healthy and stretched out a bit for a full bore 2026.

The Cubs are using biomechanic technology to track Horton so a complete shutdown is unlikely a la rookie Strasburg.

Not sure if they’ll do a shutdown and slow ramp up but if they do, they’ll definitely wait till after the deadline. I think more likely is a shift to the bullpen for like 2-inning stints once or twice a week.

Bertz Knoxville Smokies

Bertz

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1 hour ago, CaliforniaRaisin said:

The Cubs are using biomechanic technology to track Horton so a complete shutdown is unlikely a la rookie Strasburg.

Not sure if they’ll do a shutdown and slow ramp up but if they do, they’ll definitely wait till after the deadline. I think more likely is a shift to the bullpen for like 2-inning stints once or twice a week.

Yeah I'm expecting he'll go to the bullpen after another couple starts.  Teams now have much more sophisticated tools than the old Verducci "your career high + 30 innings" rule of thumb, but realistically they still usually end up in that neighborbood.  120ish regular season innings is probably what we're looking at for Horton, especially if they want him to be more than nominally available in October.

Bertz Knoxville Smokies

Bertz

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Nate Pearson over the last two months:

20 IP, 1.35 ERA, 25 Ks, 6 BB, 1 HR

Nate Pearson in July:

8 IP, 2.25 ERA, 12 Ks, 2 BB, 0 HR

He looks back on track.  Depending on how much pitching gets brought in at the deadline, I'd be happy to bring him back up.  Let him be the low leverage mopup guy and start trying to work his way back up the pecking order.

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CaliforniaRaisin GOAT

CaliforniaRaisin

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https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/10-mlb-pitching-prospects-with-standout-data-in-july/

Quote

Jostin Florentino, RHP, Cubs

Signed by the Cubs out of the Dominican Republic in January 2023, Florentino spent two seasons in the Dominican Summer League before coming stateside to begin 2025. He began his season in the Arizona Complex League, making five appearances before seeing promotion to Low-A Myrtle Beach on June 7. Florentino has pitched well since the promotion, as he’s allowed seven earned runs over 36.2 innings while striking out 42 batters to 13 walks.

In July, Florentino dominated over his four starts, allowing one earned run across 21 innings and striking out 31% of batters faced. Opposing hitters batted just .156 against him to go with a 7.1% walk rate, as baserunners were at a minimum during Florentino’s starts in July. The righthander shows good feel for strike-throwing and command of his primary pitches. 

Florentino’s pitch mix consists of fastball, sweeper, changeup and cutter, with the heater and sweeper accounting for roughly 90% of total usage. His fastball sits 89-91 mph, touching 92 at peak with around 12 inches of induced vertical break and 11 inches of armside run. On its face, the shape of the pitch is below-average, but his above-average extension and six-foot height drop his release to a staggeringly low 4-foot-8. This unique release characteristic allows the pitch to set up the rest of his repertoire, as it works well enough to steal early strikes and keep hitters off his below-average velocity and movement.

Florentino’s sweeper is used around 30% of the time, and the pitch generates an outrageous amount of gloveside break. Sitting mid 70s, Florentino generates, on average, 19 inches of sweep on the pitch with high spin rates in the 2800 rpm range. The sweeper is his best bat-missing pitch, and he shows an average ability to zone the pitch (50% zone rate and 66% strike rate in Low-A). His changeup and cutter, meanwhile, are both developing pitches far from being ready for higher usage.

Florentino shows interesting release traits and feel for spin, but he lacks both the physicality of a starter and a deep pitch mix. Added velocity and a more defined fastball shape will open up more avenues to potential MLB roles. 

 

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Donzo College Ball

Donzo

Old-Timey Member
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Well, the system is a lot stronger than I thought it would at this time.

Gallagher is the only top 10ish guy gone. De La Cruz was a big international signee ($2.3M), but a long ways away. Brethowr is a fun prospect, but Cubs are stacked with OF prospects.

I wish the Cubs got a TOR pitchers, but also like keeping all the top prospects.

Bertz Knoxville Smokies

Bertz

Old-Timey Member
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1 hour ago, CaliforniaRaisin said:

 

Love it.  If he does well at South Bend he's still at a pretty age appropriate level going forward despite being a senior sign.

Donzo College Ball

Donzo

Old-Timey Member
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I saw the Wiggins discussion in the 8/5 game thread. Hope he's healthy. He needs to start pitching again to build up innings Y/Y.

CaliforniaRaisin GOAT

CaliforniaRaisin

Community Moderator
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5 hours ago, Donzo said:

I saw the Wiggins discussion in the 8/5 game thread. Hope he's healthy. He needs to start pitching again to build up innings Y/Y.

Greg Zumach indicated elsewhere that he's expecting Wiggins to make a start soon.

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