When you graduate several top-100 prospects, don’t draft especially high (or have extra picks), trade away a little at the deadline, and don’t have a breakout year from a large number of prospects, then you’re going to see your farm system ranking fall. Probably rapidly.
So it doesn’t quite freak me out to see the Cubs falling to 19th at MLB Pipeline and 22nd at Baseball America. That actually feels like a reasonable range, all things considered, and it’ll be up to the Cubs’ scouting and development group to get some more “wins” over the next 12 months to buoy the strength of the farm even while keeping the big league club competitive. That’s what the best organizations manage to do year in, year out, and it’s not something the Cubs have quite been able to pull off (instead, they’ve been more boom and bust cycling).
Elsewhere from the farm system and among Cubs prospects …
It was so good to see Jaxon Wiggins finally back in action this weekend:Jaxon Wiggins lowers his 2025 ERA to 1.93 with another sharp start for Double-A @smokiesbaseball.3 IP | 0 H | 0 R | 2 BB | 2 KThe @Cubs' top-ranked pitching prospect (MLB No. 83) has 81 K's over 65 1/3 IP this season. pic.twitter.com/OZu7JUwoqR
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) August 24, 2025If we assume Wiggins has a ~50° arm angle and adjust for the MLB ball, he's sitting 2.5 mph harder than avg with 1.5" more vertical break & 2-3" more arm-side. Plus is every direction.They've been managing his workload. Here's to hoping it's a 100+ inning roll-out in 2026.
— Lance Brozdowski (@LanceBroz) August 24, 2025 I don’t think Wiggins has had any moderate or serious “injuries” this year, but the Cubs have shut him down a couple times briefly. If he stays healthy from here, you’d figure him to reach about 80-85 innings on the season, after not quite reaching 60 last year in his return from Tommy John surgery. Wiggins, the top pitching prospect in the system (and still underrated nationally), is only 23, and the Cubs know he’s likely going to be a candidate for the big leagues as soon as next season. Caution is reasonable, especially given his developmental steps this year. He’s been more or less unhittable overall, with the walk and strikeout rates both getting better and better as the season has gone on (and even after he was promoted to Double-A). Top Chicago Cubs draft pick Ethan Conrad recently got to come to Wrigley Field to do the first-pick-tour thing, and he said he was getting close to being able to hit. You may recall that the Cubs got him where they did in large part because of a shoulder injury early in the college season that required surgery, and the hope was that he could resume normal hitting work in advance of Spring Training next year. Well, I’d say this is a good sign:Ethan Conrad, the Cubs’ 2025 first-round pick, is back in the batting cage. The outfielder tore his left labrum earlier this year, requiring season-ending shoulder surgery. pic.twitter.com/D0eHGRf6j3
— Jacob Zanolla (@jacobzanolla) August 25, 2025 Meanwhile, second rounder Kane Kepley has started his professional career like he was fired out of a cannon:In 17 games, Kane Kepley has:24 hits19 runs16 walks12 RBI11 stolen bases6 HBP3 triplesJust a ridiculously good start to his pro career! pic.twitter.com/FVRzU6Hwib
— Banks Totten (@banks_totten) August 25, 2025It’s also hard to even get across what a menace/dirtbag/grinder/psychopath player Kepley is, you’ll have to watch him. Cubs Staff, develop this man into a Major Leaguer so Wrigley can lose their mind for him, I beg you.
— Cubs Prospects – Bryan Smith (@cubprospects) August 25, 2025 That’s a .387/.548/.532/223 wRC+ for Kepley at Myrtle Beach (84 PAs), with a 31.4% line drive rate. His .451 BABIP, 19.0% walk rate, 6 HBPs, and speed translating to ISO are doing a whole lot of work in that slash line, but he’s also clearly hitting the ball well. Generally, with an experienced college bat taken in the earlier rounds, you want to see them dominate at Low-A almost immediately. They’re facing a lot of pitching that has, perhaps, even less polish and experience than the pitchers they were facing in college. So you kind of just want to see that box checked that, yes, even with wood bats against professionals, this level of pitching just isn’t nearly strong enough competition. In other words, if and when Kepley gets the bump to South Bend, it’ll be a little better test of where his offensive game is right now heading into his first professional offseason. Frankly, you’d probably like him to find some range to struggle a bit before then. Kepley’s presence in the lineup is part of the reason the Myrtle Beach Pelicans are winning at a .700+ clip in the second half, as we discussed this morning in the Bullets, but he only arrived relatively recently. Other guys have been going off for months at this point. And Kepley’s teammate, Angel Cepeda, actually got a little hardware for this past week:Congratulations Angel Cepeda, Carolina League Player of the Week! 7 G | .517 avg | 3 2B | 1 3B | 1 HR | 8 RBI | 6 R | 1.326 OPS pic.twitter.com/P1rJjKzsgh
— Myrtle Beach Pelicans (@Pelicanbaseball) August 25, 2025 Cepeda, 19, was not the biggest bonus in the Cubs’ 2023 IFA signing class, but by the time he got stateside, he probably was the highest profile. He’s young for his level and hitting .244/.343/.371/118 wRC+ at Low-A this year, but what I like most about Cepeda’s season is how he’s gotten better and better as the season has gone on. You could pick any number of cut-off points and be impressed (last two months: .303/.380/.448/148 wRC+, last month: .330/.383/.500/160 wRC+), and his strikeout rate has been closer to 25% the last month rather than the 30+% it’d been before that. Very young player, clearly developing as the season goes on. You love to see it. You don’t win at a .700+ clip without some Cubs prospects pitching quite well, and the Pelicans have gotten a lot of that, too. They got a dominant run from 21-year-old righty Yenrri Rojas before he got promoted to South Bend a month ago. He just kept on dominating, by the way, and has allowed just 3 ER over his first 5 starts at High-A (29.0 IP), with 28 strikeouts and just 5 walks. We should definitely be paying more attention here.Cubs Win! Series Win!Edgar Alvarez and Cameron Sisneros both crushed home runs, Yenrri Rojas tossed seven strong innings with six strikeouts, and the #SBCubs remain in first place heading on the road to Peoria! pic.twitter.com/jw12h7pJ5J
— South Bend Cubs (@SBCubs) August 24, 2025 Congrats to Jonathon Long on a new record:JONATHON LONG SETS AN IOWA CUBS FRANCHISE RECORD WITH A 35 GAME ON-BASE STREAK! pic.twitter.com/5SPE4XRO13
— Iowa Cubs (@IowaCubs) August 24, 2025 Arizona Phil has been impressed by what he’s seen from Cubs over-slot 6th round pick Josiah Hartshorn, and thinks he could already be among the ten best Cubs prospects:Phil's report from ACL Cubs Intrasquad game*Hartshorn has Top 100 Prospect potential*Notes on two SPs and two new Catchers from the DSL pic.twitter.com/7QKfshlEzO
— The Cub Reporter (@thecubreporter) August 24, 2025 (via Cubs)Hence then, the article about cubs prospects notes rankings declines wiggins conrad kepley cepeda rojas more was published today ( ) and is available on Bleacher Nation ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
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