CHICAGO — There are some very famous quotes about how “simple” the game of baseball is at its core.

But it’s actually extremely easy to complicate things on the diamond, and players — especially young players — can often feel like the game is speeding up on them.

Not Cade Horton.

The Cubs rookie starter is getting better and better as the season wears on — and he’s mastering the art of blocking out all the noise.

After tossing another gem, shutting out the Baltimore Orioles for five innings in the Cubs’ 1-0 win Friday, Horton spent his entire postgame press conference talking about how he is laser-focused on only what is within his control.

“Just slowing the game down,” Horton said. “Realizing this game is played one pitch at a time and so just focusing on that one pitch. It doesn’t matter if people are on or what’s going on, just executing and doing the best I can. As soon as I let go of the ball, it’s out of my control. So just having that in the back of my head and having conviction.”

That is the exact mindset all MLB coaches would want from their players, but it’s not always an easy thing to execute.

Horton is only 14 games (13 starts) into his big-league career, but he seems more like a seasoned veteran on the mound.

“He’s just very clear-headed out there, very focused, and doesn’t let anything distract him from the next pitch,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “And so that’s a very simple approach, but it’s an advanced approach to be able to do that.

“And I think for a young player [in] a new environment, we got a lot of extra stuff going around. Cade seems to be able to avoid all that and block it out and just concentrate on the task at hand. And I think that leads to continued success.”

Horton is certainly having continued success.

He hasn’t allowed a run in his last three outings and carries a 1.26 ERA since the start of July.

With Friday’s outing, he lowered his season ERA to 3.42.

That’s exactly the type of weapon the Cubs could use down the stretch, especially in a banged-up rotation.

But the Cubs will certainly be cautious with the 23-year-old. He needed only 71 pitches to get through five innings Friday, yet Counsell still opted to pull him and go to a fresh bullpen for the rest of the way.

Horton has already thrown 102.2 innings this season between the majors and minors, which is a huge jump from last year. He threw just 34.1 innings in 2024 due to a shoulder injury that cost him more than four months.

The Cubs want to keep the big picture in mind with their prized young pitcher. But they also need good pitchers during a heated pennant race — and that’s especially true right now before Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad return from injury.

“It’s just something that we’re going to keep an eye on with Cade for sure,” Counsell said. “And when there’s opportunities and moments to [pull him early], we’re going to do it.

“He got to start on normal rest here and we got five innings from him. So yeah, we’re gonna pick some spots here [to] just lessen the innings.”