Cade Horton handled his second New York City traffic jam Saturday much better than his first. After sitting through a 90-minute bus ride to the ballpark, Horton twice worked out of trouble against the New York Mets’ best hitters to win his major league debut for the Chicago Cubs.

On his way home from the OU baseball facilities Wednesday evening, Skip Johnson’s phone buzzed. On the other line was a pitching pupil and one of the Chicago Cubs’ top prospects in Cade Horton, a leader from OU's 2022 College World Series runner-up squad.

Cade Horton knew pretty quickly something was up. Triple-A Iowa pitching coach Tony Cougoule summoned Horton from his Toledo, Ohio, hotel room to head up to manager Marty Pevey’s room because he had been named the league’s pitcher of the month.