Cubs plan for life without Kyle Tucker with their surprising first-round draft pick

The Chicago Cubs rolled the dice with their first-round selection in Sunday's MLB Draft, selecting Wake Forest outfielder Ethan Conrad, who missed a huge chunk of the 2025 college campaign after undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery after just 21 games.

Conrad was the first non-shortstop position player taken and, if not for that shoulder injury, many analysts believed he had that pure talent to be a top-10 pick. Prior to the injury, Conrad was on a tear, slashing .372/.495./.744, showing signs that he had taken steps to address an approach that has bordered on overly aggressive.

He also thrived playing on the Cape last year as a 19-year-old, hitting .385/.433/.486. The Cubs love using results from the Cape as a measuring stick for prospects - and while it makes all of us a little anxious using a first-round pick on an injured player, the organization has surely done its homework on the medicals and must feel pretty good about them.

This marks the third straight college position player the Cubs have taken with their first-round pick, following Matt Shaw in 2023 and Cam Smith last year. Conrad has drawn some comparisons to former Cleveland first-round pick Chase DeLauter, who was selected with the 16th overall pick in 2022 and has rocketed up prospect rankings, checking in as baseball's #34 prospect in MLB Pipeline's latest update.

Cubs think big-picture with their first-round selection of Ethan Conrad

Conrad is capable of playing multiple outfield positions and saw time at first in college, as well, adding a long-term safety net for Chicago at a position with a great deal of uncertainty moving forward. Kyle Tucker is a free agent at year's end and the Cubs will have to go unprecedented lengths to bring him back long-term and both Seiya Suzuki and Ian Happ are set to hit free agency following the 2026 season.

If the Cubs dip into their prospect capital at this year's trade deadline, as they're expected to, names like Owen Caissie and Kevin Alcantara, two of the game's top outfield prospects, could be on the move - making a pick like Conrad even more critical for the long-term outlook of the organization.

If Conrad recovers smoothly from the shoulder injury and picks up where he left off at Wake, the Cubs might have one of the biggest steals of the first round. They've loved college bats in recent years - and they're following that trend in planning for life past the current outfield mix.