Chicago Cubs Lineup (5/10/25): PCA Leads Off, Suzuki in LF, Turner DH, Keller as Opener

There’s always a little added excitement when a top prospect makes their MLB debut, so Saturday night in Queens carries extra significance due to Cade Horton joining the team. Ranked No. 2 in the organization and 46th overall in MLB, Horton has shown no ill effects from the shoulder strain that cost him most of last year. Through six starts for Triple-A Iowa, the righty has a 1.24 ERA with 33 strikeouts over 29 innings.

Some have raised concerns about the 13 walks, but 10 of those came with Horton pitching through wet and/or chilly conditions. Each of his last three starts has featured just one free pass apiece, and he’s gone six innings in each of the last two. The Cubs are still monitoring his innings closely, keeping him under 80 pitches in each of his outings, so it stands to reason that they’d have a relatively short leash against a lineup that should make him work harder than a Triple-A group would.

I can even see the sense in using an opener to bypass a very dangerous top of the lineup that features Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto, and Pete Alonso, but Horton’s going to have to face those guys at some point. This is someone who saw his draft stock rise like a rocket ship based on his performance on college baseball’s biggest stage after missing all of the 2021 season and opening ’22 as the Sooners’ third baseman. His 7.94 ERA during the regular season over just 22.2 innings.

Then he found a slider and proceeded to strike out 49 batters over 31 innings in five College World Series starts, including 13 punchies against Ole Miss in the championship game. Oh, did I mention Horton was also a quarterback who went to Norman to be a two-sport star? Though he never got that chance due to injuries and a QB room that included such luminaries as General Booty (real name), Dillon Gabriel, and some kid named Caleb Williams, simply being willing to do so means he probably isn’t getting rattled by playing in some janky ballpark with an apple in center.

Still, the Cubs are putting on an extra pair of kid gloves after being more or less forced to promote Horton in the wake of Shōta Imanaga‘s loss. Though the organization knew this would be the move as soon as Imanaga went down to a hamstring injury, Craig Counsell predictably slow-played it to the media. He continued to do following a flat performance on Friday in which the Cubs showed no fight in a series-opening loss.

“Keller’s going to be the starter,” a terse Counsell told media members. “Cade will be active, but we’re essentially running a bullpen game.”

No disrespect to Brad Keller, who is pitching better than ever this season, but what the hell is the point of calling up your top pitching prospect and then having him come out of the bullpen? If they’re concerned with giving Horton a soft landing, it seems like maintaining his routine as a starter would help. Now, it could be that Counsell is still engaged in a bit of gamesmanship, not tipping his hand to the Mets in terms of his strategy for pitching deployment.

Rather than being a full-on bullpen game, I have to imagine the plan is for Horton to be the bulk man for at least four innings. After all, the Cubs just had to cover four innings with the bullpen last night and can’t count on Matthew Boyd for a complete game on Sunday. Whatever the case, it’ll be fun to see Horton on the bump. Now if they can just provide him with enough support to make his performance a moot point.

Counsell has changed the lineup quite a bit for this one, moving Pete Crow-Armstrong into the leadoff spot as Ian Happ gets the night off. Kyle Tucker remains in right, Seiya Suzuki gets some run in left, and Michael Busch cleans up at first. Justin Turner keeps getting at-bats in big spots, this time as the DH, and Nico Hoerner is at second base. Dansby Swanson is at short, Miguel Amaya is the catcher, and Jon Berti plays third.

They’re facing Tylor Megill, whose older brother Trevor is a former Cubs great and just pitched against them in Milwaukee last weekend. At 6-foot-7 and 230 pounds, the younger Megill gets tremendous extension to make his 96 mph four-seam play up a little more. He gets good ride and pounds the middle of the zone, often attacking the glove-side edge. Then he’ll burrow his 94 mph sinker in on righties’ hands, giving him very good inside-outside balance.

His breaking balls are not as effective, and his changeup and curve are little more than show-me pitches, but the hard stuff makes up two-thirds of his mix and drives his results. You might think from the effectiveness of his sinker that right-handed hitters would have more trouble against him, but Megill is pitching to massive reverse splits this season. Lefties are slashing just .127/.243/.190, well out of line with his traditional numbers.

There’s reason to believe Megill is due for at least a mediocre start, as he’s given up seven earned runs over his last two after only three earned through his first five starts. The strikeouts are going to be there, but he’s prone to walks at times and works deep counts even when he’s doing well. As such, the Cubs should get into the bullpen after five innings or so. If, that is, they can actually put up a fight.

First pitch is at 6:15pm CT on FOX and 670 The Score.