Seattle Mariners Jurrangelo Cijntje, who drafted Mississippi's Jurrangelo Cijntje, the 15th overall pick in the 2024 MLB draft. Cijntje is from Curacao, the Caribbean Island in the Netherlands, and his father was a professional baseball player as a Dutch catcher. It's already a cool backstory, but it's hardly what makes Cijntje so appealing.
Cijntje is a rare “switch pitcher” that is a phenomenon rarely seen throughout the eternal history of baseball. As the story progresses, Cijntje was born with a natural left-handedness, but he wanted to be like his father who threw with his right hand. Cijntje learned how to do both. He played in the Little League World Series in 2016, then moved to Miami at the end of his high school career, where he won a scholarship as a switch hitter and switch pitcher.
Cijntje took the mound on Friday night as the Mariners faced Cleveland Guardians With MLB Spring Training. He showed off his ambidextrous pitching in his fifth victory as he followed a 92 mph left-handed pitch on the right pitch in the fifth. Watch Cijntje's Ultra-Rare Switchpitching video here.
What's so cool about Cijntje is that he has different weapons by hand. The right thing to do is to throw fastballs in the mid-90s, sliders in the 80s, and changeups. As a left-hander, he relies more on fastballs at lows in the 90s, and on sweepers at lows in the 80s. Cijntje throws correctly and more accurately, but he can throw more ground balls with his left arm.
MLB Switch Pitcher History and Rules
MLB reportedly had several switch pitchers in the 19th century, but went without one throughout the 20th century until Greg A. Harris did it at the Montreal Expo in the second game in 1995.
Baseball didn't actually see the switch pitcher until 2015 when Pat Bendit broke into the majors at the age of 30. Venditte spent five years pitching 72.1 innings during his major league career. It is probably best known for having MLB set rules about switch pitchers. “Pat Bendit Rules” Essentially, the pitcher states that he cannot change his arm while facing the same batter. The pitcher must show the batsman and the referee the move he is pitching and cannot change his hands until that batsman retires.
Venditte was a traveler in the true sense of the word. What makes Cijntje so exciting is that he is talented enough to be the first round pick and could eventually show up as a reliable major league pitcher or a star.
For a background on Cijntje, please see here. He's likely to start a minor season, but he hopes that this switch pitcher will not be long before he can be seen at MLB level.
