Lambs right hand Late Horton he’s going to have elbow surgery and miss the rest of the 2026 season, manager Craig Counsell he tells Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic. Per Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune, Horton has a torn ulnar collateral ligament. Whether you need full Tommy John surgery or another option will not be known until the procedure is done. He is already on the 15-day injured list and will be transferred to the 60-day IL whenever the Cubs need to open a 40-man roster spot.
It’s painful but not surprising to Horton. He started for the Cubs on Friday but threw a pitch that was nearly two miles per hour under his average. He called the trainer and was removed from the game, the Cubs announcing his illness as an arm discomfort. He was immediately placed in IL and is now set to stay there.
Horton entered the 2025 season as one of the top tight ends in the league. He delivered on that hype by pitching 118 innings for the Cubs with a 2.67 earned run average. He had great potential to get out here in 2026 but instead it will go down as a very lost season. The details of his surgery will determine how he returns to the mound. A full TJS usually has a timeline of 14 months or more, while alternatives such as internal brace variations can allow a pitcher to return faster.
The young righty wasn’t drafted until mid-May of last year but pitched well enough to finish second in National League Rookie of the Year voting. As part of the Prospect Promotion Incentive, that gave him a full year of back-to-back service. He will continue to accumulate service time while in IL this year and will reach the two-year mark. On the way he will turn 25 in August.
For the Cubs, they will have to continue without Horton in their rotation this year. They also lost Matthew Boyd in IL in recent days, although his bicep type seems to be very small. From their season-opening rotation, they are down to three Edward Cabrera, Jameson Taillon again Shota Imanaga. They started the campaign with it Javier Assad he was selected from the juniors but was called up early and will start today’s game. It seems like that swingman Colin Rea will start tomorrow, although the Cubs haven’t officially done so yet.
As mentioned, Boyd’s condition is not considered serious, so he could be back in a few weeks. There is also Justin Steelewho is working his way back from his UCL surgery, which was done this time last year. He is on IL for 60 days and will not be eligible for reinstatement until the end of May.
In the short term, their depth is questionable. Jaxon Wiggins he is one of the best players in the league and plays in Triple-A but has yet to master his command. He walked 11.5% of the batters he faced last year and has hit 13.9% so far in 2026. Kyle Wright again Vince Velasquez they are undrafted guys with big league experience but none are in the majors as of 2023 and Wright is currently in minor league IL.
Photo courtesy of Ken Blaze, Imagn Images
