Chicago Cubs Prospects of the Week for 5/29-6/4

Pitcher of the week: RHP Grant Kipp (23 Years Old)

1 G, 6 IP, 1.50 ERA, 4 H, 0 BB, 8 K

Kipp will draw comparisons to Kyle Hendricks as an Ivy League graduate whose calling card is his pitchability more than his movement or velocity. He’s significantly older than the competition at Myrtle Beach; in fact, a majority of the batters he faces at Low-A are younger than the ones he faced while at Yale.

That being said, he’s treating those inexperienced hitters in the exact way that he should: domination. This week it only took him 70 pitches to get through six innings even while striking out eight batters. The Cubs have done a pretty solid job of adding young pitching depth with a limited ceiling but a solid floor without having to spend a ton of capital on that area of the system.

Nick Hull, our prospect pitcher of the month for Low-A was a massive under-slot signing in the 2022 draft, we’ve already touched on Cade Horton as the Prospect Pitcher of the Week this week at High-A and now we can add Grant Kipp, an undrafted free agent as Prospect Pitcher of the Week at Low-A to that list. 

At 6’6, 220 pounds Kipp is an ideal size for a pitcher in the Major Leagues. The advanced metrics don’t think he’s been as good as his old-school metrics are showing, but that’s usually how it goes for pitchers like Kipp that rely more on their minds than their stuff to get batters out. I think one of the things I like most is that Moises Ballesteros is getting experience in catching all of these different kinds of pitchers. This year alone he’s caught Michael Arias, a converted shortstop, and Jackson Ferris both of whom have insane stuff while also catching Cade Horton and Grant Kipp who are older, more experienced pitchers that take control of an at-bat with command.

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