The Chicago Cubs have welcomed back former first round pick Ryan Jensen to the organization, signing the right-handed pitcher to a minor league deal. Jensen, 27, was last in the Cubs minor league system back in 2023, when he was at Triple-A before the Seattle Mariners claimed him off waivers.
Jensen was selected with the 27th overall pick in the 2019 MLB Draft out of Fresno State by the Cubs. The righty came up as a starting pitcher, but was eventually switched over to the bullpen in 2023. He pitched well for the Mariners at Triple-A after he joined their organization, posting a 3.18 ERA in 13 appearances with 12 strikeouts and a save.
Jensen didn't stick around with Seattle for long as he was claimed off waivers following the 2023 season by the Minnesota Twins. He's remained at Triple-A the last few years and while Jensen's strikeout rate has been good, 30 percent across 85.1 innings, his walk rate has been through the roof at 19 percent.
In 2025, Jensen recorded a 6.59 ERA in 28.2 innings. The Twins released Jensen on June 25.
Jensen has been assigned to the Arizona Complex League, where he's surely to get re-evaluated before being assigned to the Iowa Cubs at Triple-A.
Cubs Lose Ryan Jensen to Mariners
The Chicago Cubs tried to pass Ryan Jensen through waivers in order to get him off the 40-man roster, but they have now lost their 2019 first round pick to the Seattle Mariners.
On Tuesday, the Mariners announced that they claimed Jensen off waivers from the Cubs.
Jensen, 25, was taken with the 27th overall pick in the 2019 MLB Draft out of Fresno State.
The right-handed pitcher has had some flashes of success in the minors, but Jensen still has not be able to put it all together in the Cubs system. So far in 2023, Jensen has a 5.77 ERA in 53 innings, which includes a 6.10 ERA in 20.2 innings at Triple-A. During his time with the Iowa Cubs, Jensen struck out 26 batters, but he also walked 24 in 16 relief appearances.
In 2022, Jensen made 17 starts at Double-A, where he posted a 4.25 ERA in 59.1 innings.
The Cubs' 40-man roster is now down to 38 players. So, it sucks that Jensen was lost to the Mariners for nothing, but there was a good chance the pitcher was going to end up somewhere else in the offseason anyway. Unfortunate to lose a former first-round pick, but the good thing is the Cubs do have a deep farm system and Jensen just was not getting it done after getting moved to a bullpen role.
Looking back at that 2019 Cubs draft class, Jensen might just be the poster boy for the organizational failure that was happening in the scouting and development departments. Following the 2019 season, the Cubs revamped their staff and hired Dan Kantrovitz as the new vice president of scouting. The hiring of Kantrovitz followed the promotion of Craig Breslow to director of pitching and the hire of Justin Stone as director of hitting that also happened after the 2019 season.
So far, none of the players the Cubs picked and signed from the 2019 draft have made it to the major leagues.
*Four players who were picked and signed by the Cubs from the 2019 draft have now made it to the big leagues. Porter Hodge, Hunter Bigge, Bryan King and DJ Herz.
