Cubs Sign Top Pick Cade Horton for $4.45M

The Cubs are wasting no time getting their draft picks signed, adding No. 7 overall selection Cade Horton to another seven players who have already committed to the organization. Horton agreed to a bonus of $4.45 million, which is $1.26 million below the assigned slot value for that pick. That surplus will almost certainly be used to ink No. 47 overall pick Jackson Ferris, who is expected to command more than the $1.66 million for his slot.

New threads🖊 pic.twitter.com/KQTxSfeV2R

— Cade Horton (@cadehorton14) July 23, 2022

Fourth-round pick Nazier Mulé announced Friday that he will forego college to sign with the Cubs, but he too might need more than the $538,600 slotted for the No. 113 pick. The team will have additional surplus by signing Nick Hull for only $25,000 against a slot of $237,500, and they’re likely to get discounts on some of the other college pitchers they selected as well.

They probably won’t sign all 20 picks, so expect at least one or two high schoolers to turn down pro ball for now. Given the sheer volume of pitchers they selected and the glut of position players already in the system, not to mention those who will be added via trades in the near future, the organization can afford to miss out on a draftee or three.

As for Horton, expect to see him getting in some work in Mesa over the course of the summer as the Cubs get him into the pitch lab for some tinkering. He could be a fast riser through the system if his changeup comes along and his relatively new slider continues to baffle hitters.