Cubs Minor League Pitchers of the Month - May 2025

[CBT847]

Honorable Mention
RHP Brooks Caple – Myrtle Beach Pelicans/South Bend Cubs - 4 GS, 2.29 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 19 2/3 IP, 14 H, 7 BB, 17 K
Caple has outclassed hitters at the two Class-A levels all season long, going 3-1 with a 2.31 ERA (7 ER/35 IP) in his first seven starts as a professional. The Cubs’ ninth-round selection in the 2024 MLB Draft was nearly unhittable in May, going 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in his three starts for the Pelicans, whiffing 16 batters in 16 innings of work, limiting opponents to a .118 average, and allowing just one extra-base hit. Caple’s finest outing of the month came on May 20 at Hickory, where he blanked the Crawdads over 7 innings, allowing just two hits and striking out six. He was the only pitcher with at least three starts in the Carolina League in May in which he didn't allow a run, and his average against was the lowest among league arms that tossed at least 16 innings in the month. The Lamar product earned a promotion to High-A South Bend and made his debut with the Cubs on May 27.

May’s Top 3 Cubs MiLB Starting Pitchers of the Month
3. RHP Grant Kipp – South Bend Cubs - 5 GS, 2.63 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, 24 IP, 21 H, 25 BB, 12 K
After earning honorable mention honors last month from North Side Baseball, Kipp cracks into the top three following May, where we went 1-1 with a 2.63 ERA (7 ER/24 IP) over five starts to go along with 25 strikeouts and 12 walks. The Yale product ended May with his first quality start of the campaign on the 29th vs. Birmingham, blanking the Barons over 6 innings, allowing six hits and whiffing three batters. Kipp began May with a 5-inning, four-run outing on the 4th vs. Rocket City, but went on to allow just three earned runs over his next four starts, covering 19 innings. He doubled his walk total from April, but his slight uptick in punchouts (currently at a 26% strikeout rate) has him on pace to set a career-best mark in that category.

2. RHP Ryan Gallagher – South Bend Cubs - 5 GS, 2.33 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, 27 IP, 17 H, 9 BB, 40 K
Gallagher turned in a monster May for South Bend, going 3-2 with a 2.33 ERA (7 ER/27 IP), whiffing 40 batters. After making his professional debut in April and posting a 4.50 ERA (5 ER/10 IP) over three games, the Sacramento native was simply untouchable last month, posting a 0.96 WHIP and holding opponents to a .179 average and a .513 OPS at the plate. Gallagher posted an eye-popping 38.5% strikeout rate and walked batters just 8.7 percent of the time over his five starts. He allowed two runs on six hits in just 2 2/3 innings in his first start of the month on May 3 at Cedar Rapids, but proceeded to work 6+ innings in each of the next four starts, posting quality starts in three of those contests. In all four of those ballgames, Gallagher struck out at least eight batters, including a career-high 12 on May 17 at Lansing. The Cubs’ sixth-round pick out of UC Santa Barbara in the 2024 MLB Draft tossed 6 shutout innings on May 10 vs. Fort Wayne, allowing no hits to go along with eight strikeouts, earning him Midwest League Pitcher of the Week for the first time in his career.

1. RHP Will Sanders – Knoxville Smokies/Iowa Cubs - 5 GS, 2.77 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, 26 IP, 20 H, 4 BB, 29 K
Sanders dominated hitters at Double-A Knoxville to begin May, going 3-1 with a 1.71 ERA (4 ER/21 IP) in four starts, earning himself a call-up to Triple-A Iowa on May 30, where he earned the win by allowing four runs over 5 innings of work, picking up six strikeouts. Sanders’s numbers may have looked even more impressive had he made a fifth start for the Smokies, but the promotion was well deserved for the Cubs’ fourth-round selection in the 2023 draft. The South Carolina product turned in his first quality start of the season, and best outing of May, on the 17th, blanking Columbia over 6 innings, allowing just one hit and striking out seven without issuing a walk. He was later named Southern League Pitcher of the Week on the 19th for that effort.

That outing was the final contest of a three-game stretch here Sanders allowed one earned run or fewer. During that span, he racked up 18 strikeouts while issuing just two walks. Sanders turned in a solid April, where he posted a 3.47 ERA (9 ER/23 1/3 IP) with 21 strikeouts and nine walks. Then, he not only lowered his ERA but also improved his WHIP from 1.39 to 0.92 and his strikeout-to-walk ratio from 3.5 to 7.3. The Atlanta native has needed a couple of starts to adjust to each level he’s appeared at in his professional career, so if he finds his footing with the I-Cubs, he could definitely make some more noise within the organization and potentially earn himself a spot on the Cubs’ top prospects list.

View full article