Cubs' 2025 second-round draft pick is wasting no time creating havoc in the minors

We haven't yet got our first glimpse of the Chicago Cubs' first-round pick Ethan Conrad - but the player Jed Hoyer took in the next round, University of North Carolina outfielder Kane Konrad, has quickly made a name for himself in his first taste of pro ball this summer.

“He’s a menace out there,” Cubs vice president of scouting Dan Kantrovitz told Marquee Sports Network late last week. “At our (draft) combine interview, you could just feel the energy. He wants to get to the big leagues as fast as he can.”

It's exciting to see him drawing such high praise so quickly. And, by quickly, I mean this kid has all of 20 professional plate appearances to his name. But he's made the most of them, slashing .333/.500/.333 and swiping three bags for the Pelicans. His offensive profile came with some question marks, but there was little doubt that his overall profile could be valuable at the big-league level.

“When you think of the three pillars we look at — contact, decision-making and damage — he’s in the upper 90th percentile on contact and decision-making,” Kantrovitz said. “Hitting for damage, home runs, that’s obviously not part of his game. But when he gets to the big leagues, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s got 10 pumps or so in a year.”

Cubs' system is loaded with outfielders after a quiet trade deadline

When the Cubs took outfielders in the first and second rounds last month (and three in the first five rounds, overall), the general expectation was that Hoyer was preparing to leverage some of his high-level outfield talent in a big trade deadline splash. Instead, Owen Caissie and Kevin Alcantara, as well as Jonathon Long and James Triantos, are all still at Iowa with unclear paths to playing time in Chicago.

This offseason, Hoyer will have his hands full maximizing the value of that outfield crop. Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki are both under team control through 2026 with no-trade protection and Pete-Crow Armstrong has center field on lockdown for the rest of the decade. How things play out with Kyle Tucker will have a direct effect on a path to a starting job for someone like Caissie - but, even so, that leaves a number of guys knocking on the door next spring.

It will likely be a couple years until Kepley makes his presence felt at Wrigley Field. But it's always encouraging to see draft picks get off to a strong start - and that's what the UNC product has done as the minor league season starts to wind down.