Cubs' 2025 Pick Ethan Conrad Just Got Promoted After Making Waves in Minors

Ethan Conrad didn't even make his first professional plate appearance until less than two weeks ago.

And yet, he's already earned his first promotion.

This is MASSIVE!

Conrad breezed through the Arizona Complex league in return from injury, going 7-for-17 with 5 singles, a double, and a home run, hitting the ball extremely hard all around the field.

My #3 prospect, he's one of the most exciting bats in the Cubs' system! https://t.co/yPnTHnoMeI pic.twitter.com/VLxb8oQTzP
— Nate Roper (@NateRoper_) July 8, 2026

After just 17 at-bats in the Arizona Complex League — in which he racked up seven hits, scored five runs and drove in two — Conrad was officially promoted to Single-A Myrtle Beach on Wednesday.

The move was perhaps expected after his very first ACL at-bat, in which he smoked a 105.1-mph single.

Conrad is expected to be in the lineup for Myrtle Beach on Thursday, reported Cubs minor league correspondent and photographer Rich Biesterfeld.

From the desert to the beach! I watched @ethanconrad23 make his pro debut in the Arizona Complex League last week and he is expected to be in the lineup tonight for @Pelicanbaseball after being on the bench on Tuesday evening! #Cubs #CubsProspects #PelicansBaseball pic.twitter.com/b5zBOPOfTl
— Rich Biesterfeld (@biest22) July 9, 2026

Conrad, the Chicago Cubs' No. 4 prospect and first-round draft pick (No. 17 overall) in 2025, suffered a shoulder injury while diving for a ball in the outfield at Wake Forest University last March and needed surgery, thus sidelining him for the summer and fall.

While he was due to make his pro debut earlier this season, the organization told reporters in March that a lower-back issue set back his progress.

But the 22-year-old outfielder is now seemingly healthy and ready to make waves akin to his draft classmate Josiah Hartshorn, the Cubs' 2025 sixth-rounder and No. 2 prospect who has been tearing it up in High-A at a rapid pace.

Conrad, who hails from New York State, spent the first two years of his college career at Marist University, where he hit .389, led NCAA Division I in triples (13), and made the All-MAAC First Team as a sophomore.

Before transferring to Wake Forest for his junior season, he finished second in the Cape Cod League — the elite wooden-bat college summer league — in both batting average (.385) and OPS (.919).

It was his first and only season at Wake Forest that really put Conrad on the map. Against much tougher ACC competition, he slashed .372/.495/.744 (1.238 OPS), hit seven home runs and drove in 27 in 21 games.

Cubs 2025 first-rounder Ethan Conrad has all the makings of their next top prospect.

2025 college season:
.372/.495/.744 — 1.238 OPS
21 G | 7 HR | 14.4 K% | 18.6 BB%

He has an elite hit tool, shows solid power with upside, and is a threat to steal.
pic.twitter.com/AnYukVk5Ad
— Carson Wolf (@TheWrigleyWire) January 3, 2026

While Conrad is not yet on MLB Pipeline's Top 100 prospects list, there's reason to believe he can make the leap there soon, just as Hartshorn did. Hartshorn only just cracked the Top 100 at No. 100 on June 19 and has since jumped all the way up to No. 77.

Conrad is by all metrics an elite offensive player and has already shown that he can really hit the ball hard. The Cubs have shown that they have a knack for developing slugging outfielders, and Conrad looks poised to become the next one on the list.

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