Wrigleyville Prospect Weekly
By Morgan Davis · Thu May 21 2026
Kane Kepley Is Doing What Kane Kepley Does...and More? Kane Kepley (A+, CF, Rank: 8) put together the kind of week that every front office whats to see. He went 13-for-24 with a homer, a double, 11 RBIs, and seven walks in five games, good for a 1.353 OPS and a .645 OBP. That is essentially his scouting report in numbers: relentless swing decisions, endless traffic on the bases, and occasional thump to punish mistakes. It is not a fluky spike either; he is now sitting at .311/.491/.462 with 23 steals in 32 games for South Bend, and his walk-to-strikeout balance (37 BB, 22 K) lines up cleanly with the 80Grade notes on his elite zone control. The narrative here is how quickly Kepley can turn from “high-floor leadoff type” into an organizational pressure point on the center field depth chart. The size and raw power questions that show up in his report have not gone away, but weeks like this change bump up what the Cubs can expect from his bat. It looks like the 22-year-old will need a challenge soon at Double-A. This profile needs to prove they can keep getting on-base at each step or develop more power. Kepley looks to have a 4th-OF/platoon floor, but he showed some signs this week that there is an everyday guy here. Dominick Reid Quietly Looks Like A Real Starter Bet Dominick Reid (A, SP, Rank: 14) logged one outing this week and made it count: 5.2 innings, one hit, no walks, four strikeouts, and no runs, facing 19 batters and holding them to a .053 average. He controlled contact well and it fits cleanly with his seasonal line in Myrtle Beach: 2.88 ERA with 37 strikeouts against 11 walks over 34.1 innings and only 26 hits allowed. For a mid-major college arm whose profile leans on a plus changeup and strike-throwing, this is the kind of run the Cubs were hoping to see. The interesting part of Reid’s trajectory is that he is having this level of success without any obvious stat-padding tricks. The fastball sits in the low-to-mid 90s with average shape, the breaking ball still lags, and the changeup remains the clear money pitch. Yet the command is good enough that lower-level hitters are not getting many free passes or comfortable swings. If he keeps stacking outings like this, the internal conversation will tilt from “maybe a #5 or bullpen piece” toward “this could actually be a real back-end starter if the slider catches up even a half-grade.” South Bend’s Slider Factory: Florentino and Coppola Flash Their Stuff Jostin Florentino (A+, SP, Rank: 18) quietly turned in another box-score win for the pitch lab, working four innings for South Bend with one hit allowed, two walks, four strikeouts, and a lone solo homer. The line adds to a combined 11-inning season showing 9 strikeouts, 5 walks, and just 8 hits, and it fits the broader story that his command is ahead of where the velocity sits. The plus slider remains the headline tool; keeping opponents to a .077 average in this week’s turn while still missing bats reinforces that his low release point and feel for the zone are playing even as he climbs the ladder. Pierce Coppola (A, SP, Rank: 31) put up a more volatile but still encouraging week, striking out 15 in 9 innings across two starts for Myrtle Beach while allowing 5 runs on 5 hits with 5 walks. That is a 15.0 K/9 clip and only a .167 opponents’ average, which is exactly what you want to see from a 6-foot-8 lefty whose scouting file screams “fastball/slider bully if he ever just stays on the mound.” The command wobbles remain, but the 1.11 WHIP combined with a 3.46 ERA on the season shows the raw stuff is carrying the day more often than not. Between Florentino’s slider-driven efficiency and Coppola’s strikeout surges, you can see the outline of two very different bullpen or back-end starter candidates forming at the A-ball levels. Quick Hits Ty Southisene (A+, SS, Rank: 27) stacked 11 hits in 26 at-bats with three walks, two HBPs, and seven RBIs for a .423/.516/.462 line over five games, and his cumulative 2026 slash now sits at .310/.410/.407 with 17 steals and only 16 strikeouts in 176 plate appearances, a strong step forward from last year’s .245 average and zero-homer output. James Triantos (AAA, 2B, Rank: 10) posted a quiet-but-healthy .320/.370/.480 week across six games for Iowa, with three extra-base hits including a triple, nudging his season line to .305/.339/.455 and continuing the narrative that his bat-to-ball skill translates at every stop even as the power output and ground-ball rate remain the key development focus. Pedro Ramirez (AAA, IF, Rank: 4) kept his International League campaign on track with a .353/.478/.412 line in five games, walking more than he struck out (4 BB, 3 K) and running his season mark to .312/.395/.547 with 9 homers and 19 steals, which is exactly the high-contact, moderate-power, high-OBP profile his 80Grade report sketched out.