Cade Horton has spent a lot of time the last couple of days thinking about the circumstances surrounding his right rib fracture.
The Chicago Cubs’ rookie right-hander landed on the 15-day injured list Saturday with the injury that initially manifested from an illness-born cough a week earlier in Cincinnati. He said he experienced fatigue with the cough and at times it was tough to breathe while playing catch, but he felt he got over it and didn’t think anything was out of the ordinary leading up to his outing.
Horton, though, exited after the third inning of his start Tuesday when he experienced tightening in his ribs. Then an MRI revealed the fracture.
Horton, speaking Sunday for the first time since he departed Tuesday’s outing prematurely, called the situation “a perfect storm, unfortunately.” It leaves the Cubs without their best starter in the second half when they take on the San Diego Padres in the wild-card series following Sunday’s 2-0 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. Horton was a strong option to start Game 1 or Game 2, both of which will have a 2:08 p.m. first pitch on Tuesday and Wednesday at Wrigley Field.
He isn’t second-guessing the decision to pitch Tuesday, and though the Cubs thought about giving him an extra day of rest before his start, Horton doesn’t believe that would have made a difference in preventing the fracture.
“There wasn’t one pitch, one cough,” Horton said. “I think it was just the combination of fatigue, cough, then I go out and try to throw 98 (mph) — I don’t think there was any protecting it, I think it was just kind of a matter of when.”
“It sucks, it’s really unfortunate the timing of everything.”
Horton’s availability for later in the postseason, if the Cubs go on a run in October, is unclear right now. President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer stated Saturday that there is no timeframe for Horton’s recovery, that they need to give his ribs a chance to heal. Horton is working through a couple of different options with the Cubs to figure out how to keep his arm in game shape without having to make throws and putting stress on his ribs.
“All I can do is be a really good teammate and try to get healthy for the next week, and just keep taking it day by day,” Horton said. “I’ve got a lot of belief in these guys and I think we’ll be in a good spot.”
Horton’s attempt to potentially pitch through it was cut short when he continued to experience discomfort while throwing before Saturday’s game. While he couldn’t have created a worse fracture within his rib, Horton was concerned his body could compensate and potentially lead to a more serious injury involving his elbow or elsewhere.
“I don’t know if it’s just the pain or what, but when it’s just tough to breathe, and especially in the game on Tuesday, like it felt like everything was just compressing and it was tough to get a deep breath,” Horton explained.
Horton and the Cubs worked hard to ensure the 24-year-old would make it through the full season healthy. He entered the season coming off 34 1/3 total innings last year in the minors after a subscapularis strain ended his season in May. The Cubs had been limiting Horton to around 75 pitches per start while monitoring his biometrics between outings. He finished with a career-high 147 innings between Triple-A Iowa and the Cubs, about 58 innings more than his previous career best in 2023.
Horton posted a 2.67 ERA and 145 ERA+ in 23 outings with the Cubs.
“I want to be out there, this whole thing is just unfortunate,” Horton said. “We’ve done everything up until this point to keep me healthy, and for it to happen this way, just sucks. It really sucks.”
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