Cubs Announce Moises Ballesteros and Cade Horton as Minor League Player and Pitcher of the Year

For Immediate Release

SOUTH BEND, IN – This afternoon the Chicago Cubs named Moises Ballesteros the Buck O’Neil Cubs Minor League Player of the Year recipient, while Cade Horton claimed the honor of the Vedie Himsl Cubs Minor League Pitcher of the Year award.

Ballesteros, a 19-year-old catcher from Venezuela, began his year in Low-A Myrtle Beach and finished 2023 as a Southern League champ with AA Tennessee. In 56 games with Myrtle Beach the 5-foot-11 backstop hit eight homers, drove in 32 runs, walked 42 times, and picked up 54 hits (20 extra-base hits). After accumulating an on-base percentage of .394 and an OPS of .851 in 56 games, the teenager was on the move, promoted to South Bend on June 19.

A two-hit game in South Bend’s final game of the season gave Ballesteros a .300 average in High-A. He belted six more homers, 15 doubles, and drove in 31 runs in 56 games with South Bend. As one of the youngest players in the Midwest League, Ballesteros quickly asserted himself and was one of the best players in the league in July when he batted .368 with a .444 on-base percentage, both ranked second among qualifiers. From the time of his promotion until the end of the High-A season, Ballesteros ranked fifth in the league in batting average.

Ballesteros finished his season with one regular season week with the Tennessee Smokies and then two playoff series. Across four-straight wins in the postseason the young catcher batted .308, adding three walks for a .438 OBP.

Cade Horton, in his very first season of professional baseball, like Ballesteros also began the year in Low-A with the Pelicans and finished 2023 with a ring as the Smokies dominated the AA Southern League playoffs. Horton was selected seventh overall in the 2022 MLB Draft. The right-hander from Oklahoma made his pro debut at age 21 on April 12 and in his first month tossed 10.1 innings without allowing a run, while striking out 14 batters and giving up only three hits.

After one more start with the Pelicans, Horton earned his first promotion on May 6. The now 22-year-old spent the majority of his season with South Bend and across 11 starts and 47 innings he struck out 65 batters while walking just 12. Midwest League batters hit just .203 against him and his WHIP finished at 1.00. In four June starts Horton tossed at least five innings without allowing an earned run on three occasions. That month he went 3-0 with a 0.92 ERA and 29 punch outs in 19.2 innings.

After accumulating a 3-3 record and a 3.83 ERA, Horton was promoted on July 31 to Tennessee. Horton didn’t allow an earned run in four of his six starts in AA and finished the regular season with a 1.33 ERA in his stint with the Smokies. Then in the postseason he went out and won both of his starts, including the championship clincher on September 26. In 10 postseason innings Horton allowed one run on four hits.

MLB Pipeline ranks Horton as the No. 2 Cubs prospect (No. 29 in all of Minor League Baseball), and Moises Ballesteros clocks in as the Cubs No. 7 prospect.

This is the second season in a row in which both the Cubs Minor League Player and Pitcher of the year spent a bulk of their season in South Bend. Last year Luis Devers won Cubs Minor League Pitcher of the Year and Matt Mervis won Cubs Minor League Player of the Year.

About the South Bend Cubs

The South Bend Cubs are the High-A affiliate of the 2016 World Series Champion Chicago Cubs. Over the past 34 seasons, the team has won five Midwest League titles, most recently in 2022, and has captured nine division titles. In 2022, Four Winds Field, home of the South Bend Cubs, was voted Best High-A ballpark in the country by Ballpark Digest, having also won the award as a Low-A ballpark in 2017. In 2019, the South Bend Cubs hosted the final Midwest League All-Star Game. In 2015 the team was named Ballpark Digest's Team of the Year and received the John H. Johnson President's Award, the highest award in minor league baseball. The team is owned and operated by Swing-Batter-Swing, LLC whose principal shareholder is Andrew T. Berlin of Chicago, Ill. More information is available at SouthBendCubs.com.