See which Cubs prospects surged into the top 10 and who stumbled down the rankings. Ethan Conrad headlines the biggest risers.
Before every season, MLB Pipeline goes through and ranks the top 30 prospects on every team. These rankings give fans some clarity on who each team’s best prospects are heading into the year.
On Tuesday, MLB Pipeline finally released its top 30 prospects for the 2026 season. This is really the first glimpse into which Chicago Cubs prospects have moved up or down in the team’s farm system.
The top 10 prospects currently in the Cubs system on MLB Pipeline include:
- Moises Ballesteros, C
- Jaxon Wiggins, RHP
- Ethan Conrad, OF
- Kevin Alcantara, OF
- Jefferson Rojas, SS/2B
- Kane Kepley, OF
- Jonathon Long, 1B
- Josiah Hartshorn, OF
- Pedro Ramirez, 3B/2B
- James Triantos, 2B/OF
Biggest Risers
The biggest risers on the Cubs' prospect ranking list on MLB Pipeline include players the team selected in last year’s MLB Draft. Ethan Conrad (1st round), Kane Kepley (2nd round), and Josiah Hartshorn (6th round) all find themselves inside the top 10 in Chicago’s farm system.
The most notable name of the bunch is Conrad, whom the Cubs drafted 17th overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft. He moved up two spots from the No. 5 spot to the No. 3 spot heading into his first Minor League season.
Conrad didn’t appear in any Minor League games last year after being drafted in mid-July. He was recovering from a shoulder injury that limited his 2025 college campaign to only 21 games. But the potential is obviously there, as he hit .372 with seven home runs across 97 plate appearances.
Kepley moved up a few spots from last year, going from the No. 10 prospect in the organization to now the No. 6 prospect. He looked solid in his limited Minor League at-bats last year, hitting .299 with six extra base hits, 15 RBI, and 16 stolen bases in 28 games at Single-A.
The 22-year-old has also put together some great at-bats this spring. He is 3-for-9 with one double, one triple, one RBI, and one stolen base across 10 plate appearances. Kepley is an above-average hitter who could steal a ton of bases.
Then, there’s Hartshorn. He is up to No. 8 in the Cubs farm system after ranking No. 13 at the end of the 2025 season. Like Conrad, Hartshorn has yet to make his Minor League debut. However, the 19-year-old has a ton of potential moving forward.
Biggest Fallers
The Cubs didn’t have many drastic fallers in this recent prospect update. The biggest faller, though, was right-handed pitcher Grant Kipp.
Kipp was ranked No. 17 on this exact prospect ranking last year, but he has now dropped to No. 29 in the Cubs’ system. This comes on the heels of another subpar Minor League season for the 26-year-old.
The right-hander finished with a 4.22 ERA and 110 strikeouts across 108 ⅔ innings pitched at Double-A in 2025. He issued a career-high 57 walks and had a whopping 12.2% walk rate. This marked the fourth straight Minor League season for Kipp with an ERA higher than 4.20.