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.

Horton reached the majors thanks to a collaborative process that began during spring training in Arizona: "He's going to impact this team."

In the last 25 years, the Cubs have originally signed and developed just three homegrown pitchers who became All-Stars for them: Mark Prior, Jeff Samardzija and Justin Steele. The most recent of that trio,