Cade Horton didn’t have to wait long to hear his name get called on Sunday night in the 2022 Major League Baseball draft going No. 7 overall to the Chicago Cubs.
The Cubs selected the Oklahoma pitcher just four picks after the Texas Rangers took former Vanderbilt standout Kumar Rocker.
The 20-year-old Horton really got going in the second half of 2022 and was an instrumental piece in OU’s run to the national championship series vs. Ole Miss. For Cubs fans looking at his stats, don’t look at his numbers for the whole season. You won’t see the whole story.
Here are Horton’s game-by-game stats.
Essentially, if you take away Horton’s games against West Virginia and Texas Tech, he’d have much better numbers. Keep an eye out for that. Look at his performances in the Big 12 tournament and in the College World Series.
On a somewhat inconsistent pitching staff, Horton was a stabilizing force.
Horton being drafted this high will surely bring attention to an Oklahoma program on the upswing. With the move to the SEC on the horizon, this is a huge boost for the Crimson and Cream.
Horton will probably sign for under-slot value, allowing the Cubs to draft higher-caliber players in the later rounds of the draft.
Horton could be pitching at one of the most hallowed stadiums in all of baseball very soon. It shouldn’t be long before Sooners fans see one of their own at Wrigley Field.
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