By R.L. Bynum
The first pitch Kane Kepley saw in professional baseball didn’t miss — it hit him. Even before that, he was already in a hole.
Stepping into the batter’s box on Aug. 5 for the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, the Chicago Cubs’ Low-A Carolina League affiliate, the plate umpire flagged the rookie center fielder with a pitch-clock violation before he’d even seen a pitch.
One strike, no swing in his first minor-league plate appearance. Welcome to pro ball. Then came an actual pitch from Fredericksburg Nationals right-hander Bryan Polanco. It drilled him.
“I didn’t look at the pitcher, so I got a strike on me right then, and then the pitch ended up hitting me, so it didn’t hurt me too bad,” said Kepley, who grounded a 2–2 pitch through the infield in the fourth inning for his first professional hit. “I learned pretty quick how these pitch-clock rules work.”
The Carolina League is learning that it’s not a good idea to pitch inside against the scrappy 5–8, 180-pound center fielder. In 61 games at UNC last spring, he was hit by 27 pitches — the second-highest season total in program history.
Kepley, who has played right field twice and DH twice, doesn’t mind if his style of play leaves him bruised — it’s almost like a badge of honor.
“This is how I play,” said Kepley, who was only hit by pitches 15 times during his two seasons at Liberty. “I like to get on first [base] any way I can. I like being electric out there and showing the guys some grit, and taking a 95-mph fastball through the shoulders is a lot of grit to me.”
Eleven games into his professional career, he’s already been plunked seven times — a fitting reminder that no matter the level, his approach doesn’t change.
“That’s who I am as a player,” he said. “That’s what I want to do, and that’s how I play.”
Kepley, the Cubs’ second-round pick and 56th overall selection in July’s draft, is off to a scorching start.
The speedy Kepley is hitting .350 with a .527 on-base percentage while showing the same disruptive skill set that made him a sparkplug at UNC, with seven steals already. He has three multi-hit games, including collecting three hits and five total bases twice in last week’s road series against the Columbia Fireflies.
In the eighth round, the Cubs picked UNC ace Jake Knapp, prompting good-natured ribbing to his former and possibly future teammate.
“I told him that I thought that I was gonna have to be bailing you out some more. So, he laughs,” Kepley said of Knapp, who is still working out at with Cubs’ Arizona Complex League team.
During what Kepley calls “a little slump” in the middle of the Tar Heels’ season, he debated whether it might be a better idea to return to Carolina for his senior season.
“I was wondering what was going to happen with me and where I was going to go, and I had to weigh that with the opportunity going back to Carolina,” Kepley said. “But I had a really strong back half of the season, and I think that assured me that I was going to go where I wanted to go.”
The choice was easy for the prototypical leadoff hitter after he hit .291 with 13 doubles, 30 RBI and drew 44 walks while leading the team in on-base percentage (.451), triples (7), runs (74) and steals (45) to earn second-team All-ACC honors.
He left with many fond memories of his time in Chapel Hill, particularly the regional and super regionals, which he called “really cool games.”
“Seeing the Bosh filled up like that was unbelievable,” Kepley said. “That’s something I’m never going to forget. Playing those games with my buddies and my teammates? It was just awesome to be a part of and somehow never take for granted. Those games were so fun, and I can’t wait to tell my kids about one day; hopefully they can experience it as well. It’s really special.”
The “Circle of Life” continues in Myrtle Beach, as the theme from “The Lion King” remains Kepley’s walk-up music, and some fans at Pelicans Ballpark hold up stuffed animals as he strides to the batter’s box.
There could be more postseason games ahead for him since Myrtle Beach has a five-game second-half lead in the South Division with 18 regular-season games left.
Before the draft, he met with nearly 20 major-league organizations, including the Cubs, at the draft combine in Phoenix, which he attended with two Carolina teammates — Seattle Mariners first-round pick Luke Stevenson and sixth-round Tampa Bay Rays selection Aidan Haugh.
“That was really good to talk to all the teams and let them get to know me and me get to know them, and the ins and outs of their organization,” Kepley said. “[The Cubs] asked some really tough questions. And I really enjoyed that meeting, and it made me think a lot.”
Kepley said that the Cubs brought in a psychologist, focusing on the mental side of the game.
“[They asked] how I thought about things, so that was what really got my gears turning in my head, trying to answer those questions as best I could,” Kepley said.
He thought the Cleveland Guardians might select him, but the Cubs jumped in first. After the draft, he headed to the Cubs’ Arizona facility to get ready for a team assignment.
“Got started building up my body and getting back into baseball,” said Kepley, who went nearly two months between games. “About three and a half weeks there, and then they shipped me out here to Myrtle Beach. A lot of good baseball here and having fun playing, that’s for sure.”
Myrtle Beach has been an ideal first stop because his parents have been able to drive down from Salisbury to see some games. And there are worse places to call your first minor-league baseball home.
“That’s been really cool to see them and get to play here,” Kepley said. “I’ve come here a couple of times on vacation, so it’s cool to see everything. It’s definitely a really good spot to be at.”
The drive for his parents gets shorter next week when he plays pro games in his home state for the first time, Aug. 26 through 31, as the Pelicans visit the Fayetteville Woodpeckers.
While many college hitters need time to adjust to wooden bats, Kepley said that part of the move has been smooth, thanks to his experience in wooden-bat leagues such as the Coastal Plain League (hit .339 with a 1.014 OPS and 26 steals in 33 games for High-Point Thomasville in 2023), the Cape Cod League (hit .244 with an .811 OPS and 21 steals in 38 games for Hyannis in 2024) and showcases during high school.
That hasn’t created a significant learning curve. Pitching has been another story, but he’s OK with that.
“Definitely, the pitching is very competitive, and that’s the one part I like about it,” he said. “I like being challenged every time I go up to the plate, and knowing it’s going to be a good arm with good spin rates and good velocity. I’m always looking for the challenge in that sort of area. I’m really liking playing here, the competitive nature of it.”
Kepley’s skill set, other than lacking the same power so far and being four inches shorter, is very similar to the young star who plays center field for the Cubs now — Pete Crow-Armstrong. Both have tremendous speed, play outstanding defense and have strong throwing arms.
“I don’t really focus on trying to compare myself to anybody else,” Kepley said. “But PCA’s a phenomenal player, and that’s a definite privilege for me to be able to be in the same sentence as him.”
Where Kepley is superior to Crow-Armstrong is his ability to work counts and draw walks. Kepley’s plate discipline has been a cornerstone of his success and smooth transition to professional baseball.
“I think if I didn’t have that, I’d be striking out a whole lot more than I am right now. I feel like I’m striking out too much right now,” said Kepley, who has nine walks and nine strikeouts in 40 at-bats. He had 22 strikeouts against 44 walks at Carolina.
He says that patience at the plate has helped him stay competitive.
“I’m just trying to put the barrel on the ball and move the ball on the ground and then gaps and line drives,” he said.
Kepley grew up as an Atlanta Braves fan, but he says he’s a Cubs fan now and looks forward to visiting Wrigley Field for the first time.
“Hopefully I’ll be playing there in a year or two, or whenever it is,” he said. “I’m so happy to be picked by the Cubs, and I’m looking forward to my future with them.”
He knows that getting to the majors will require a lot of work, replicating and refining what worked for him over two seasons at Liberty and one at UNC.
“It’s trying to do all those things and be able to keep getting better at those things,” he said, “getting on base and having high contact, and trying to get more power, and all those things I’ve wanted to do for a long time. It’s more just trying to get everything I’m already good at, see if I can get really, really good at it and get better at it.”
For Kepley, that means grinding daily to improve everything from work in the outfield to becoming a better baserunner.
“It’s a constant progress in the cages, in the gym and on the field,” he said.
For all the adjustments ahead, Kepley knows his identity as a player won’t change.
“I like to bring energy, show grit, set the tone,” he said. “Any way I can get on, I’m going to do it. That’s not changing.”
And for the Cubs, that’s precisely why they drafted him.
Photos by Larry Kave/Myrtle Beach Pelicans
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