As the Cubs began the 2025 season with MLB Tokyo Series, they were swept in two regular season games to the Los Angeles Dodgers in front of an energetic crowd in the Tokyo Dome.

Now that the team has returned to Arizona, Counsell and Co. must get their roster set to 26 players. As they stand, they currently have 24 players so there are more decisions coming.

As Tony Andracki, Andy Martínez, Elise Menaker and Lance Brozdowski spoke on this recent episode of the Cubs Weekly Podcast, there are a few players that the panel mentioned who could be flying under the radar and provide an impact on the 2025 season.

One player that Menaker mentions is a top prospect who was derailed by injury in Triple-A and is looking for a rebound season.

“Cade Horton I think is someone who is going to be under the radar until he’s not,” Menaker said. “I had a tough time even saying he’s ‘under the radar’ now because he’s on our radar. But because I think we’re going to forget about him for a little bit, and we’ll see how he pitches. There should be an opportunity and a point where he’s called up, that’s why I say he’s under the radar.”

Horton has thrown in one spring training game and also collected a save back on March 8 against the Seattle Mariners in Cactus League action. He also threw in the Spring Breakout game at Sloan Park against the Los Angeles Angels throwing 2.0 innings, allowing 2 hits, 1 earned run and 3 strikeouts.

From one of the top prospects to a non-roster invitee, another pitcher has left quite an impression in Cactus League action.

“I like Brad Keller. This isn’t maybe totally off the radar because if you’ve been paying attention to spring, his velo has been up and he’s looked really good,” Brozdowski said. “I don’t think he’s going to be a guy right out of the gate that’s like on a major league roster and has impact, but you’re always going to run into some kind of injury here or there. I’m not sure if it’s a leverage relief but I could see it more of a multi-inning role.”

As the Cubs return from Japan and players look to get back into their rhythm before the U.S. opener against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Martínez believes Keller could be an interesting “bridge” type of player.

“With Japan, with coming back and playing Cactus League games and ramping up and ramping down pitchers, I think there’s going to be a world in April and May maybe even where starters just aren’t going long because of the weird ramp up and everything that they had to go through that you’re just going to need those bridge guys,” Martínez said.

For Andracki, he chose another pitcher that had a similar path to making the roster as current Cubs reliever Porter Hodge from last season.

“My thought on this would be Frankie Scalzo Jr. I think he fits in the Porter Hodge [mold], that kind of ‘off-the-radar’ guy reliever who topped out in Triple-A last year,” Andracki said.

Scalzo, 25, was a 14th-round pick of the Cubs in 2021. He had a 2.14 ERA in 45 games last season between Double-A and Triple-A while picking up 9 saves.

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