2019 Cubs draft pick calls it a career after spending six years in the minors

Six years after the Chicago Cubs selected him in the second round of the 2019 MLB Draft, infielder Chase Strumpf is retiring, according to Des Moines Register Iowa Cubs beat writer Tommy Birch.

Strumpf, who will turn 28 in March, put up some big numbers at UCLA, prompting the Cubs to select him with the 64th overall pick. Throughout his time in the Cubs' farm system, he was never much of a batting average guy, evidenced by a career .231 mark, but he got on base at a solid clip (.364) and could cover multiple positions, defensively.

Over the last two seasons at Triple-A Iowa, Strumpf saw regular action at first, second and third but, again, the bat just never looked quite ready to make the jump to the big leagues (although, I have to say, it's hard to envision him playing worse than some of the guys that got reps of the Cubs' bench in 2025).

He never made an appearance on any major publication's top-100 prospect rankings - and last appeared on MLB Pipeline's Cubs organizational top-30 in 2023, when he checked in at #25. Wishing him all the best as he decides what's next in his post-playing days.

Cubs still have some infield prospect depth to play with

Looking at Pipeline's latest rankings, the Cubs are still solid in the infield. Jefferson Rojas is the organization's highest-ranked infield prospect (#4 in the Chicago system, and is joined by Jonathon Long, whose road to the big leagues just took a hit when the team signed former Yankees prospect Tyler Austin to a one-year deal.

Rojas is still a couple of years away from cracking the MLB roster - but former top prospect Matt Shaw is likely to factor into the team's plans in 2026, assuming he's not traded. The Cubs are deepest in the outfield, where they're already set at the big-league level, but have Owen Caissie and, soon, Ethan Conrad, knocking on the door.

The big difference-maker would be if the Cubs start developing pitching, something they've historically been pretty awful at. Cade Horton is the exception, hardly the rule, and Chicago will have to rewrite that narrative if they want to build a cost-controlled, sustainable winner in the years to come.