Chicago Cubs Pitchers of the Month — July 2025

Looking back to June, the Chicago Cubs' bullpen nearly carried the team through the month. The contributions from Chris Flexen, Drew Pomeranz and Brad Keller could not be understated. Fast forward to July, and it was much of the opposite, so much so that Flexen is no longer even on the team. Chicago did have some bullpen contributions, but most of the good work came from the starting rotation.

Though the trade deadline failed to live up to expectations, the team did bring in three solid relievers (Andrew Kittredge, Taylor Rogers, Michael Soroka), one of whom (Soroka) can pitch in the rotation if needed. Though it's hardly an objective measure of the success of those deals, it would be nice if one of those players could make an appearance on this list in August or September.

Without that preamble out of the way, here are the Cubs top three pitchers from July.

#3 - Matthew Boyd - 5 GS, 1.97 ERA, 32 IP, 8 BB, 28 K

Take away Boyd's rough final start of the month against Milwaukee, and he may have turned in his best month overall of the season. Despite the All-Star break, Boyd tied his season-high for starts in a month with five. He went seven-plus innings in three of those appearances, allowing zero runs in three of the five as well. He and fellow left-hander Shota Imanaga have helped keep the Cubs afloat despite a horrific month from most members of the bullpen.

#2 - Cade Horton - 4 GS, 1.52 ERA, 23 2/3 IP, 8 BB, 17K

Horton turned in the best month of his professional career and gave Cubs fans quite a bit of hope as to what he can provide down the stretch this season. He allowed runs in just one of his four starts in the month, a big reason he was able to lower his season ERA from 4.15 to 3.67 during that stretch. If Horton can continue his success, he will become a well-trusted arm for Craig Counsell and can truly make a name for himself with contributions to a deep postseason run. The stink of the deadline failure will dissipate if he can emerge as a genuine Game 3 starter in the season's second half.

#1 - Daniel Palencia - 10 G, 0.00 ERA, 9 2/3 IP, 6 SV, 1 BB, 9K

In a month full of bad bullpen performances, Palencia was light outs, as he has been all season long. Palencia appeared 10 times and did not allow an earned run all month long. He added six more saves, bringing his season total to 14, and has cemented himself into Chicago's closer role for the remainder of the season and beyond. Some of the relief help acquired by the Cubs at the deadline should give Palencia plenty of rest days to help save some bullets for the stretch run in September and October, though you can bet when the door needs to be slammed, it's the fireballer who will be trotting out of the bullpen.