Bailey Horn is back with the White Sox.
According to Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic, the Cubs have agreed to trade LHP Bailey Horn to the White Sox in exchange for RHP Matthew Thompson. This is reportedly to create space on the Cubs’ 40-man roster for their latest arrival, Cody Bellinger.
Horn, 26, was originally a fifth-round draft pick of the White Sox back in 2020 who was later traded to the Cubs in return for reliever Ryan Tepera during the team’s 2021 playoff run. The left-hander spent the majority of his 2023 season in Triple-A, going 7-2 with a 4.58 ERA in 53 relief innings with the Iowa Cubs. The North Siders fully converted Horn to a reliever after the trade – though the White Sox had already started that process a bit in his time with the club. Horn ranked as the Cubs’ 28th-best prospect, per Baseball America.
Given that Horn is entering his age-26 season, it’s unlikely that he will be converted back into a starting pitcher – especially given that he is likely to make his major-league debut at some point this season. Rather, he is likely to compete for a bullpen spot throughout the season. Per Baseball America on his stuff:
“His fastball sits 94-96 mph, touches 98 and gets swings and misses when he throws it over the plate. His sharp, 84-86 mph slider flashes plus and is a wipeout offering at its best. His big-breaking, 75-79 mph curveball with sweep and depth is an above-average pitch that he can land on the backfoot of righties. Horn has plenty of stuff, but he struggles to repeat his delivery and has a violent arm action that yields well below-average control and significant injury risk.”
– Baseball America
Thompson was recently featured on our Honorable Mentions list for pitchers as we release our Top 30 prospects. While he has shown some flashes of the potential that made him a second-round pick in 2019, Thompson has yet to put together a full season of consistent results. Injuries have played a role, but even when healthy he hasn’t quite lived up to expectations. With his injury history and consistency issues taken into account, a move to the bullpen could be better suited for him to allow his above-average stuff to play up.
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