In the 2025 MLB Draft, the Cubs used their first-round selection on a speedy, left-handed center fielder whose slug and power emerged as the name of his game.

[MLB Draft 2025: Cubs select Wake Forest OF Ethan Conrad at No. 17]

Doesn’t that sound familiar?

That’s not to say that Ethan Conrad, the Cubs’ No. 17 overall pick in this year’s draft, is a carbon copy of Cubs All-Star Pete Crow-Armstrong. However, they have a few things in common — and Conrad is already a huge fan of his potential future teammate.

“He’s a stud, man,” Conrad told Marquee Sports Network’s Cole Wright in an exclusive interview on Sunday. “He’s someone who I’ve seen and looked up to ever since he was in the minors. Seeing him go crazy this year is just unbelievable.”

Watch the full, exclusive interview with Ethan Conrad only on the Marquee Sports Network app.

Conrad, a native of Saugerties, New York, was well aware of Crow-Armstrong even when the latter was in the New York Mets organization four years ago.

“He’s someone who I’ve seen and looked up to ever since he was in the minors. And just seeing him go crazy this year is just unbelievable.”

Ethan Conrad is excited to work with PCA 👏 pic.twitter.com/WTTFy4SkTA

— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) July 14, 2025

“My dad always brings it up to me, about how he was on the Mets and how great he could have been for them,” Conrad said.

The New York connection isn’t the only invisible string tying Conrad and Crow-Armstrong together.

Conrad, who was enjoying a breakout year in his first season at Wake Forest University, dislocated his left shoulder while diving for a ball in center just 21 games into his campaign. The subsequent surgery to repair a torn labrum ended his season prematurely in April.

[MORE: Cubs not fazed by 2025 MLB Draft pick Ethan Conrad’s shoulder injury]

It’s a similar injury to the one that Crow-Armstrong was nursing when the Cubs traded for him in 2021.

At the time of the 2021 trade deadline, the Cubs’ now-All-Star was in a sling after tearing his right labrum. His season in High-A had ended in May of that year once he was ruled out. Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said in June of this year that the Cubs were “fortunate” that Crow-Armstrong was hurt, because it took him off the Mets’ radar as an untouchable prospect.

“Out of sight, out of mind a little bit,” Hoyer had said of the deal that sent Javier Baez and Trevor Williams to New York and made Crow-Armstrong a Cub.

Just as the Cubs saw value in Crow-Armstrong despite the injury, they liked what they saw in Conrad.

“When you look at Ethan, what you see is what you get — which is a dynamic talent,” Cubs vice president of scouting Dan Kantrovitz said on Sunday. “You hear about a five-tool player. We think he’s a five-tool player in a premium position.”

The prospect of seeing two all-around talents like Conrad and Crow-Armstrong take the field together in the future was certainly enticing for the Cubs. For Conrad, he’s pumped about the opportunity to do so in the future.

“He’s awesome and I’m just excited to see where his career goes,” Conrad said. “Hopefully, (I’ll) be up there with him soon.”