The St. Louis Cardinals completed their teardown by trading their lone All-Star from last season, Brendan Donovan, to the Seattle Mariners. In return the received a trio of prospects and a pair of picks, but for this review, let’s focus on the headliner, Jurrangelo Cijntje.
Cijntje was the No. 15 overall selection by the Seattle Mariners in the 2024 MLB Draft. A unicorn in his ability to pitch both right and left-handed during his time at Mississippi State and into his first professional season last year in the Mariners system, even pulling it out during the All-Star Futures Game last summer.
Cijntje is No. 91 on MLB Pipeline’s top 100 prospect rankings heading into 2026 and was No. 7 in the Mariners' farm system. The switch-pitching prodigy debuts in the Cardinals' top 30, ranked No. 4. With his right-handed fastball dialing up to 98 mph, and a slider in the mid-80’s that will occasionally crack 90 mph, there is no doubt about the talent that the Cardinals saw during the process of making the trade with Seattle.
Flipping to his left side, where he drops his arm down, Cijntje utilizes a low-80s sweeper paired with a low-90s fastball. While not nearly as overpowering from the left side as he is from the right, it could still come in handy as the Cardinals evaluate their newly acquired prospect. During his press conference following the trade, Cardinals POBO Chaim Bloom said, “Broadly speaking, we see his strengths and his upside, I think similarly to Seattle.” This was in reference to the Mariners decision to have their 2024 first-round pick focus on pitching right-handed in games, while still throwing left-handed in bullpens.
Last season, Cjintje racked up 111 strikeouts pitching from the right side while only walking 32, across two levels of the minors. Compared to his smaller sample size as a left-hander, just 62 batters faced as a southpaw, he struck out nine while walking 19. The future seems to be brighter from his right side, but if he can dial in the consistency as a left-hander in bullpens, he could utilize the ability when the moment calls for it. While this is far from pitching with both hands regularly, he might have a faster track to Busch Stadium as a right-handed starter. A 1-2 punch of Liam Doyle and Cijntje in the future, along with the rest of the Cardinals' crop of highly touted pitching prospects, can set up the Cardinals with a rotation that has their careers in front of them instead of behind them, as the rotation has looked in recent seasons.
The Cardinals' addition of Cijntje, along with outfielder Tai Peete from the Mariners system, marks the 3rd and 4th players added to the Cardinals farm, slotting in the top 15 of the organization's prospects.