Switch-Pitching Prospect Could Vye For Cardinals Rotation in 2027

A student of the game, president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom will regale anyone who will listen about how it was the St. Louis Cardinals and then-team president/GM/field manager Branch Rickey that invented the Minor League system in 1919.

Frustrated with his inability to nab young talent through open bidding – sound familiar, Cardinals fans? – Rickey convinced owner Sam Breadon to purchase controlling interests in Minor League franchises in Houston and Fort Smith, Ark., that would develop and produce young talent for the big-league club.

Bloom, who just completed his first season while running the Cardinals’ front office, has done extensive studies on Rickey’s work more than a century ago and how many of the franchise’s 11 World Series titles were fueled by a Minor League system that was far more developed than any other in baseball for decades.

When that system fell into disrepair, it was Bloom’s job to fortify a player development process that the Cardinals know must be their lifeblood in a free-agency world. Rightly so, Bloom made re-tooling the franchise’s Minor League system his top priority – in terms of adding coaches, evaluators, analytics staff and top-tier players.

While trading veterans Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras, Nolan Arenado and Brendan Donovan and later Dustin May, JoJo Romero and Lars Nootbaar, Bloom’s return was more than a dozen prospects and draft picks. All his work, while adding prospects such as Alexander Frias, Josiah Ragsdale, Tai Peete, Trevor Condon, Tegan Kuhns, Jurrangelo Cijntje, Yhoiker Fajardo, Sandro Santana and Daniel Eagen, allowed the Cardinals’ Minor League system to zip to No. 2 in the MiLB rankings, per Baseball America and No. 4, per MLB Pipeline.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be breaking down the top 30 prospects in the Cardinals’ Minor League system. Today’s prospect capsule is on starting pitcher Jurrangelo Cijntje, the occasional switch-pitcher who was one of three players acquired from the Seattle Mariners in the trade involving All-Star infielder Brendan Donovan.

Player name: Jurrangelo Cijntje

Age: 23

How acquired: The Cardinals acquired outfielder Tai Peete, outfielder Colton Ledbetter, Cijntje and two draft picks from the Mariners for Donovan on Feb. 4, 2025.

2026 statistics: 28 games/28 starts (at Double-A Springfield and Triple-A Memphis), 5-9, 4.87 ERA, 133 IP, 118 hits, 72 earned runs, 16 homers allowed, 162 strikeouts, 67 walks, .236 batting average against.

MLB Pipeline rankings: NR MiLB/No. 12 with Cards 

Key numbers: Cijntje piled up 62 of his strikeouts in 52 2/3 innings after being promoted to Triple-A Memphis. He only allowed two homers to Triple-A hitters. Fun fact: Cijntje became a switch-pitching sensation in the 2016 Little League World Series while playing for Curacao.

Looking back at 2026: Dealt just a few days before the start of Spring Training, Cijntje successfully made the transition from the Mariners organization to that of the Cardinals. Because his father, Mechangelo, pitched professionally in the Netherlands, Cijntje – a natural left-hander – he learned to pitch with his right hand. While he might pitch in the big leagues some day as a left-handed reliever, Cijntje projects as a right-handed starter at the big-league level. His fastball is graded at 60 on an 80/20 talent scale, while his slider is rated at 55 and his changeup is at 50. It comes as little surprise that he pitched better at Triple-A Memphis than he did for Springfield in the hitter-friendly Texas League. Of the 16 homers he allowed, 14 came while opening the season with Springfield. Two of his best outings came with Memphis: He struck out 11 over 6 1/3 innings against Durham on Aug. 13; and he tossed 5 1/3 scoreless innings against Nashville on Sept. 16.    

Looking forward to 2027: Already 23 years old after pitching two years at Mississippi State before being selected No. 15 overall in the 2024 MLB Draft by the Mariners, Cijntje could be in the mix for a spot in the Cardinals starting rotation in 2027. He has a mid-90s fastball and an upper-80s slider that he uses to miss bats. His solid strikeout stuff would be a welcome addition to a Cardinals pitching staff that often pitches to contact.