Kane Kepley, left, and former teammate Jackson Deal.
By Mike London
Salisbury Post
FAITH — UNC center fielder Kane Kepley may have been the only second-round pick in America who watched the first night of the 2025 MLB draft unfold from a Legion Post.
Kepley is still a small-town guy at heart, but the Chicago Cubs believe the 21-year-old outfielder they made the 56th pick in the draft, has a chance to be a big-time player.
“I watched the draft from the Legion Post, across from Shiloh Church in Faith,” Kepley reported. “We had about 80, maybe 85 people there. Some good food and it was a great to see all the people who came. A lot of them were people who have supported me from the time I started playing baseball.”
Kepley’s advisor had told him to expect to hear his name called in the 50 to 70 range of the draft. That was accurate information.
“He was spot on with that prediction,” Kepley said. “So around the 50th pick, we started watching closely.”
Born on Valentine’s Day in 2004, Kepley started a love affair with baseball early. He never grew a lot, but he was a terrific center fielder by the time he arrived at South Rowan High. Thad Chrismon, the former UNC pitcher who was coaching South Rowan then, said Kepley was as good an outfielder as he’d ever seen.
As a high-energy senior, Kepley was the lead-off man for South Rowan’s 2022 3A state championship team, the catalyst for a dozen rallies. His on-base percentage was .518. He batted .383, scored 47 runs and shared South Piedmont Conference Player of the Year honors with teammate Ty Hubbard, who is now Catawba College’s second baseman.
Still, Kepley stood 5-foot-8 and hit zero home runs his senior year, so there was no avalanche of college scholarship offers. Liberty University did offer him a spot on the team and a chance to earn a scholarship.
The feisty walk-on quickly became a starter for the Flames as a freshman and gave them two super seasons. He was an all-conference player as a sophomore. He played in the Cape Cod Baseball League following his sophomore season, was a league all-star while competing against some of the nation’s best, and started showing up on lists of potential draft picks for 2025.
He transferred to the University of North Carolina for his junior year.
“I needed that, needed to see that higher level of pitching you see in the ACC every game,” Kepley said. “I didn’t hit well at all early in the season, and it was kind of a reality check for me. But then I got back to doing what I do, and that’s getting on base. It was a fun year. We won a lot of games.”
UNC was ranked No. 1 nationally for a time. Kepley, who replaced All-America Vance Honeycutt (Salisbury High) in center field for UNC, was a huge part of that. While his batting average was .291, his on-base percentage, boosted by 44 walks and 27 HBPs, was an eye-popping .451. He led the Tar Heels with 74 runs scored. He had 68 hits, including seven triples. He was 45 for 49 on steal attempts, one of the best stolen-base seasons in Tar Heel history. He struck out only 22 times in 309 plate appearances. He was second team All-ACC.
Invited to the MLB Combine in Arizona, Kepley didn’t do any on-field work for scouts, but he got some of his medical work taken care of and he went through face-to-face interviews with several teams.
“Most of the teams asked me easy questions, but the Cubs asked me some really tough ones, questions that made me think on my feet,” Kepley said. “I thought I did a pretty good job with it. I left Arizona thinking the Cubs were one of the teams that might be interested.”
Sunday’s draft night proved the Cubs were definitely interested.
Kepley is viewed as a potential leadoff man and center fielder of the future for the Cubs. Scouts rank him highly for speed and defense. His on-base skills and contact skills obviously are elite.
His arm isn’t rated as exceptional, but it’s expected to be accurate enough to play center field in the majors. Whether he can generate any power — he hit three homers for UNC this year — is the only question mark.
In the first round of the draft, the Cubs took Wake Forest outfielder Ethan Conrad, a slugger who missed a lot of the 2025 season with a shoulder injury.
There’s speculation that the Cubs drafted outfielders with their first two picks because they’re getting ready to deal their current outfield prospects for trade-deadline help at third base and on the mound.
The slot value for the No. 56 pick is $1,680,000. There will be some negotiating. Kepley has some leverage, as he still has a year of eligibility at UNC, but he hopes to sign and expects to sign with the Cubs.
“I’ll be going back to Arizona in a few days for a physical from their doctors, and then hopefully, we can get negotiations started and locked up,” Kepley said. “Playing pro ball has been the dream for a long time.”
Kepley most likely would start pro ball at Myrtle Beach (Class A), but South Bend (advanced Class A) is another possibility.
Kepley is the first South Rowan grad to be drafted since second baseman Daniel Wagner was chosen by the Chicago White Sox out of Belmont University in 2009.
Pitcher Brian Smith has been the only South Rowan graduate to reach the majors. Smith was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in 1994 after a strong career at UNC Wilmington. Smith made it to the big leagues (for three games) with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2000.
