‘Switch-Pitcher’ Jurrangelo Cijntje Makes History, Goes 15th-Overall In MLB Draft

Imagine being good enough to play professional baseball as a pitcher. You’ve got to be able to throw, at minimum, 90mph these days with a ton of break on your secondary pitches and a good amount of control. Jurrangelo Cijntje can do that with both hands.

The Curaçao native made waves years ago at the Little League World Series when he became the first “switch-pitcher” in the legendary history of the LLWS. Now, he’s making more history.

Cijntje went 15th overall in the MLB Draft to the Seattle Mariners on Sunday evening. That makes him the highest pick a switch-pitcher has ever gone in the MLB Draft. That being said, there haven’t been many of them.

Take a look at this. It’s truly absurd!

There’s a chance the Mariners make him focus on just throwing right-handed at some point, as he throws harder from that side.  But, I hope they let Jurrangelo Cijntje continue to pitch with both hands because it’s really cool.

The Mississippi State sophomore threw 90 2/3 innings this year for the Bulldogs, pitching to a 3.67 ERA with 113 strikeouts.

Switch-pitchers have been few and far between in Major League Baseball. The most recent example was Pat Venditte. He pitched 72 innings in the major leagues for a variety of teams, tallying a 4.53 ERA with a 1.24 WHIP and 58 strikeouts.

But, Cijntje is a starting pitcher, unlike the reliever in Venditte. And, his stuff is much better, as he tops out at around 98mph from the right side. Venditte threw in the 80s from both sides.

In 2016, Cijntje represented Curacao in the Little League World Series, and brought out his switch-pitching in Williamsport.

Both the minors and majors have a rule to deal with switch pitchers, which makes the pitcher declare what hand they will pitch with prior to an at-bat. The pitcher is not allowed to change hands during an at-bat unless there’s a pinch hitter or an injury. Naturally, Cijntje pitches lefty against lefties, and vice versa.