MESA, Ariz. — As the Chicago Cubs enter the final week of spring training, roster decisions loom.
There aren’t many question marks surrounding the 26-man opening-day roster, though Seiya Suzuki’s knee injury creates a worrying wrinkle.
“You get to this point in the year and it becomes a little more clear where your choices are, and that’s probably where we’re at,” manager Craig Counsell said Monday. “We’re clear on some decisions we have to make, but then we get a piece of information that makes you wait and see what happens with it, that could change all that. So that’s how you look at this week.”
With eight Cactus League games remaining before the Cubs depart Arizona for Chicago, three notable performances have stood out this spring.
1. Cade Horton is showing elite stuff.
One rough outing a week ago didn’t faze Cade Horton.
His command was atypical March 10 against the Texas Rangers, when he surrendered six runs on six hits, including three home runs, with two walks and two strikeouts. Horton put that behind him and showed dominant stuff Monday night versus the Cleveland Guardians. He struck out 10 and gave up three hits, one run and one walk in five innings on 60 pitches.
Cleveland struggled to make much contact off Horton, who finished with 21 whiffs. That’s tied for the most by any pitcher in a spring game this year — matched only by the Guardians’ Gavin Williams, who also hit that mark in Monday’s game. The swing-and-misses exceeded Horton’s single-game best last year of 19 on July 9 against the Minnesota Twins.
The caliber of lineup is obviously different in a Cactus League game, but the quality of stuff Horton showed Monday is the type of performance he and the Cubs wanted to see in his penultimate spring start. Horton focused on his changeup going into Monday’s outing, and the pitch accounted for seven of his strikeouts. Of the 20 changeups Horton threw, he got 11 whiffs and two called strikes.
“We did a really good job of sequencing tonight,” Horton said. “We were playing a lot of stuff off of the previous pitch. I felt like we put it all together. I mean, the whiffs are cool, but I’m not up there chasing whiffs. I’m just up there executing pitches.”
Horton’s ability to bounce back from not being at his best in his previous start continues a trend from last year. His ability to adjust in the work between starts bodes well for what the 24-year-old could do as an encore to last season’s National League Rookie of the Year runner-up performance.
“My job is to go out there and get outs,” Horton said. “Doesn’t matter how many outs — just go out there and get outs and when they take the ball from me, they take the ball from me.
“But, yeah, hopefully I get more innings this year and really put more on my workload. That’s something I want.”
2. Matt Shaw is putting it all together offensively.
Matt Shaw has understandably garnered a lot of attention this spring with the expansion of his defensive versatility and playing all over the field to increase his flexibility.
It perhaps has overshadowed how good Shaw has looked in the batter’s box over the last five weeks. He has received ample playing time as Counsell gives him defensive exposure in the outfield and at first base, where he started again Monday. Shaw has been seeing the ball well and making the kind of contact that, if he can carry it into the regular season, will have Counsell looking for ways to get him in the lineup.
After a 2-for-3 game Monday, Shaw owns a .361 average (13-for-36), a .455 on-base percentage and a .955 OPS with one home run, two doubles, six steals, six walks and six strikeouts in 15 games.
“I had finally a long offseason to just work on things, get stronger, get my swing in a good place, and I feel like I was blessed to be able to do all those things and feel ready to come into spring,” Shaw said. “I knew what I needed to work on from last year. I was diving, head was moving a lot. Simple adjustments, but they take time and they take a lot of focus to put yourself in a good position. … I’m seeing the fruits of it.”
3. Ben Brown’s addition of a third quality pitch is a potential game-changer.
Potential and upside never have been an issue for Ben Brown.
The right-hander has shown tantalizing stuff since coming into the organization in 2022. Putting it all together for extended stretches and providing the consistency the Cubs need to give him a carved-out role on the pitching staff has eluded Brown.
But when Brown is locked in, as he showed in his last outing, it’s clear why the organization still believes he can be a key piece of the pitching staff. The development of a sinker gives Brown a usable third pitch to keep hitters guessing off his fastball-curveball combination, which could help him take the next step in his development.
It’s not yet clear whether the Cubs will option Brown to Triple-A Iowa to begin the season so he can stay stretched out to give them starting pitching depth, or if they’ll put him in the big-league bullpen initially so they have another multi-inning arm as the rest of the starters continue to build their pitch count early in the season.
Brown’s flashes this spring at some point must turn into consistent reliability, but what he has shown is incredibly intriguing.
“Ben’s had some performances this spring that excite you,” Counsell said. “And then we probably had one performance that was more along the lines of some things that we’ve seen in the past.
“I think Ben’s benefited from all of his experiences, and when you get a really talented pitcher that has good experiences, the tough experiences, they keep getting better because of it. I think that’s what’s happening with Ben.”
