Jurrangelo Cijntje, the St. Louis Cardinals’ No. 5 prospect, made his first switch-pitching start of the 2026 season on April 22, recording outs from both sides of the mound for Double-A Springfield.
This outing marked Cijntje’s first time pitching as both a right-hander and left-hander since joining the Cardinals through the Brendan Donovan trade. The unique performance drew attention as he delivered 4 2/3 innings, allowing one earned run on three hits with four strikeouts and three walks in a game where Springfield topped Midland, 5-4.
Cijntje began by facing his first six batters as a righty, giving up a leadoff home run and two singles before ending the inning. In the second inning, he switched to pitching left-handed and struck out one batter before returning to his right-handed delivery. He hit one batter and induced what could have been a double-play ball that was disrupted by a throwing error; these were his only two batters faced from the left side during this appearance.
The moment was significant for Cijntje, who has primarily focused on pitching right-handed since joining St. Louis but is known for his ability to pitch with both arms. Selected as the 15th overall pick in the 2024 draft, he has now lowered his season earned run average to 5.50 with a total of 20 strikeouts over 18 innings pitched this year.
This is Cijntje’s second stint at Double-A after making seven starts in 2025 with a reported ERA of 2.67 while playing for Seattle.
