Jurrangelo Cijntje

Jean Michael Cijntje (born May 31, 2003) is a Dutch-born Curaçaoan professional baseball pitcher in the Seattle Mariners organization. He is a switch pitcher, having the rare ability to pitch proficiently with both his right and left arms. He was drafted with the 15th overall pick in the 2024 Major League Baseball draft by the Mariners.^[1]

Cijntje was born in the Netherlands and grew up primarily in Willemstad, Curaçao.^[2] He was a member of the Willemstad Little League team that played in the 2016 Little League World Series.^[3] Cijntje moved to Miami when he was 16 years old, where he lived with three older cousins who had played baseball at Florida National University.^[4][5] He enrolled at Champagnat Catholic School in Hialeah, Florida, where he was both a switch pitcher and switch hitter for the school baseball team. He also participated in the Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) program.^[6] He committed to play college baseball at Mississippi State University at the start of his senior year.^[7] He was selected by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 18th round of the 2022 MLB draft, but he opted not to sign and enrolled at Mississippi State.^[8]

Cijntje entered his freshman season with the Bulldogs baseball team as a mid-week starting pitcher.^[9] In his first collegiate start, he struck out seven Louisiana–Monroe batters, six while pitching right-handed and one as a lefty, while allowing one hit and one walk over four innings.^[10][11] He finished the season with a 3–5 win–loss record and 8.10 earned run average (ERA) in 14 games, 13 of which he started. He had 63 strikeouts in 50 innings pitched.^[12]

In his sophomore season in 2024, Cijntje was named a second-team All American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association^[13] and Perfect Game^[14] and was named to the South All-Region first team by the American Baseball Coaches Association.^[15] He finished the season with an 8–2 record and 3.67 ERA over 16 starts. He had 113 strikeouts in 902⁄3 innings pitched.^[12]

In 2024, Cijntje pitched primarily as a righty, not throwing a pitch left-handed for the final month of the college season.^[16] Mississippi State pitching coach Justin Parker said Cijntje would often forego the platoon advantage and pitch with his right arm to left-handed batters to improve his consistency. Parker said that Cijntje has higher velocity and better command with his right arm, but induces more groundballs as a lefty.^[17]

Cijntje was drafted by the Seattle Mariners with the 15th overall pick in the 2024 Major League Baseball Draft on July 14, 2024.^[1][18] Cijntje signed a $4.88 million contract with the Mariners on July 16.^[19] Following the draft, he was ranked as the Mariners' #7 prospect by MLB.com and the organization's #9 prospect by FanGraphs.^[20][16]

Cijntje's father, Mechangelo, played baseball professionally in the Netherlands as a catcher.^[21][22] Cijntje is naturally left-handed.^[23][24] As a child, his favorite baseball player was Andruw Jones, who is also Curaçaoan.^[25] He is friends with Ozzie Albies.^[5]

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference (Minors)
• Mississippi State Bulldogs bio