Shota Imanaga landing on the IL after suffering a hamstring strain in his last start was hardly surprising. What was surprising, though, was Imanaga's replacement on the Chicago Cubs' active roster, Gavin Hollowell.
With Imanaga, the team's ace, going down with an injury, Cubs fans were hoping this would be the moment when the team's top prospect, Cade Horton, was going to get his first taste of MLB action. Instead, the Cubs replaced Imanaga with a reliever.
While Horton's time has not arrived yet, his time could be coming sooner rather than later for a Cubs team now in dire need of starting pitching help.
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Cubs pass on chance to promote Cade Horton, instead promote Gavin Hollowell as corresponding move for Shota Imanaga injury
It isn't hard to see why Cubs fans wanted to see Horton. Not only have they been waiting quite some time to see him pitch in the majors, but Horton is having a stellar start to his season for Triple-A Iowa. Through his first six starts of the year, the right-hander has a 1.24 ERA in 29 innings of work. Command is a bit of a concern, but he has fanned 33 batters and has allowed just 12 hits so far. When he locates, his stuff has been borderline unhittable at Triple-A.
As frustrating as it is not to see Horton called up right now, there's a reason why the Cubs refrained from making the move. Both Horton and Imanaga pitched on Sunday for their respective teams. This means that Horton won't be available to pitch until later this week, and the Cubs won't need a starter until later this week as well.
With that in mind, the Cubs have promoted Hollowell, a reliever, to take Imanaga's spot on their roster in large part to give them an available arm for now. While Hollowell is not Imanaga, he did throw two scoreless innings for the Cubs in his lone MLB appearance this season, and has a 3.86 ERA in seven appearances at Triple-A. He has pitched well, and can help their subpar bullpen.
So, yes, Horton didn't get the immediate call-up, but when the Cubs actually need a starting pitcher, it would not be surprising to see the talented hurler make his MLB debut.