Every year, Sporting News comes together to determine Major League Baseball awards. The interesting thing about these awards is that they are voted on by the players themselves, rather than by members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA). 

According to Sporting News, over 300 players participated to determine this year’s awards. Cal Raleigh won MLB Player of the Year, Nick Kurtz won American League Rookie of the Year, and Jacob deGrom (American League) and Christian Yelich (National League) both won Comeback Player of the Year in their respective leagues. 

There was also one Cubs player who came home with a Sporting News award. It was Cade Horton, who players deemed the NL Rookie of the Year for the 2025 season. 

It’s not a surprise to see the players vote Horton for the NL Rookie of the Year Award. He is the current betting favorite to win the award at -275 on BetMGM, and no pitcher pitched better than him in the second half. 

From July 20th to the end of the season, Horton was the best pitcher in baseball. He had a 1.03 ERA and 54 strikeouts in his final 12 starts and allowed one run or fewer in 11 of those 12 outings. That 1.03 ERA was the lowest among all pitchers with at least 50 innings during this span. 

Horton had a lower ERA than Paul Skenes (1.89), Trevor Rogers (1.94), Tarik Skubal (2.18), and even Yoshinobu Yamamoto (2.40) in the second half. Name any pitcher you want, and the Cubs rookie had a lower ERA than them. 

That’s just how good Horton was in the final 12 starts of his rookie season. That incredible stretch helped him finish with a 2.67 ERA and 97 strikeouts across 118 innings pitched. 

So, Horton is definitely deserving of winning the Sporting News NL Rookie of the Year Award. The right-hander also has a fantastic shot to win the MLB NL Rookie of the Year Award in a few weeks. 

It’s basically a two-man race between Horton and Atlanta Braves catcher Drake Baldwin. Baldwin certainly had a phenomenal season with the Braves, hitting .274 with 19 home runs and 80 RBI in 124 games. 

However, Horton just had one of the best second-half runs by a rookie pitcher in a very long time. That makes him much more deserving of the award. 

Horton is looking to become the first Cubs rookie to win the award since Kris Bryant did it back in 2015. During that 2015 season, Bryant hit a whopping 26 home runs with 99 RBI across 151 games.