Jurrangelo Cijntje

Jurrangelo Cijntje (born May 31, 2003), nicknamed "Loo",^[1][2] 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.^[3]

Cijntje was born in the Netherlands and grew up primarily in Willemstad, Curaçao.^[4] He was a member of the Willemstad Little League team that played in the 2016 Little League World Series.^[5] Cijntje played second base and batted second for the Netherlands under-15 team at the 2018 U-15 Baseball World Cup in Panama. He had a 1.076 on-base plus slugging and 6 RBI while committing two fielding errors in eight games at the youth tournament.^[6]

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.^[7][8] He enrolled at Champagnat Catholic School in Hialeah, Florida, where he was both a switch pitcher and switch hitter for the school's baseball team. He also participated in the Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) program.^[9] His high school record was 7–6 with a 2.32 earned run average (ERA), striking out 166 batters in 81 innings.^[10] He committed to play for Mississippi State University before his senior season,^[11][12] and he enrolled there after not signing with the Milwaukee Brewers,^[13] who selected him in the 18th round of the 2022 MLB draft.^[14]

Mississippi State: 2023–2024

Cijntje began his freshman season with the Bulldogs as a mid-week starting pitcher.^[15] 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.^[16][17] He finished the season with a 3–5 record and 8.10 ERA in 14 games, 13 of the starts. He had 63 strikeouts in 50 innings pitched.^[18]

As a sophomore in 2024, Cijntje was named a second-team All American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association^[19] and Perfect Game^[20] and was named to the South All-Region first team by the American Baseball Coaches Association.^[21] He finished the season with an 8–2 record and 3.67 ERA over 16 starts. He had 113 strikeouts in 90+2⁄3 innings pitched.^[18] Cijntje pitched primarily as a righty in 2024, not throwing a pitch left-handed for the final month of the season.^[22] 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 Cijntje has higher velocity and better command with his right arm but induces more groundballs as a lefty.^[23]

Cijntje was drafted by the Seattle Mariners with the 15th overall pick in the 2024 Major League Baseball Draft on July 14, 2024.^[3][24] Cijntje signed a $4.88 million contract with the Mariners on July 16.^[25] Following the draft, he was ranked as the Mariners' #7 prospect by MLB.com and the organization's #9 prospect by FanGraphs.^[26][22] Cijntje did not pitch for the Mariners in 2024 but participated in the team's High Performance Camp at their Arizona complex in October.^[27][28]

Cijntje's father, Mechangelo, played baseball professionally in the Netherlands as a catcher.^[29][30] Cijntje is naturally left-handed^[31][32] and began throwing when he was six years old to mimic his father.^[10]

Cijntje is friends with Ozzie Albies.^[8] As a child, Cijntje's favorite baseball player was Andruw Jones, who is also Curaçaoan.^[33] In high school, he said his favorite MLB pitchers were lefty Clayton Kershaw and righty Marcus Stroman,^[11] who scouts have compared him to given their similar size.^[3]

Cijntje can speak fluent English, Spanish, Dutch, and Papiamento.^[11]

• Career statistics from MLB, or Baseball Reference (Minors)
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