Greg Hoogkamp's Live Looks: Frisco Roughriders at Arkansas Travelers 8/9/25

When I heard the Mariners had promoted Colt Emerson and Jurrangelo Cijntje to Double-A (after promoting Lazaro Montes and Michael Arroyo a month ago), I knew I had to make a trip to the ballpark. Especially since one of my favorite prospects, Sebastian Walcott, was in town visiting. I was also very intrigued to see Jose Corniell pitch opposite Cijntje; I think he can be a solid mid-rotation option for the Rangers in short order. Here are my observations.

Jurrangelo Cijntje, SHP SEA (Double-A)

One of the most intriguing prospects to come along in recent years, Cijntje made his Double-A debut on Saturday evening in Little Rock for the Travelers. Cijntje is one of only a handful of pitchers to throw with both arms professionally. He was drafted in the first round of the 2024 MLB draft out of Mississippi State and has now arrived in the high minors after 74.1 innings at High-A Everett.

Cijntje’s numbers aren’t staggering, but remember that minor league numbers don’t always tell the story. During his 19 appearances (16 starts and 3 relief appearances), Cijntje has a 4.58 ERA (4.31 xFIP) and 1.19 WHIP. His current 15.3% K-BB rate, while solid, doesn’t show the potential that Cijntje has in his arm. During his Sophomore season in Starkville, his K-BB was 22.0%. His walk rate (11.1%) is the main culprit for the difference in results. There are typically adjustment periods for most top prospects, and I expect this to be the case with Cijntje.

Cijintje throws predominantly two pitches from the right side (4S and SL), although you could argue his slider is two different pitches because of the way he manipulates it. He is also working on a changeup, but throws it sparingly due to a lack of command.

Our Director of Amateur Scouting, Nate Rasmussen (@rasmussenbase), has put together a comprehensive video of Cijntje’s pitch arsenal and mechanics, grading his skill set. He also tackled the interesting task of how the Mariners will deploy his one-of-a-kind profile going forward. Please check it out!

In this game, Cijntje began the next chapter of his professional journey and threw pretty well against the Frisco RoughRiders, the Double-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers.

I took great interest in Cijntje’s warm-up regimen, as he would have to essentially do everything twice. As expected, the process was meticulous. He began every set of exercises/warm-up with his left side and followed it with his right. Even before he took the mound, he had replicated multiple up-and-downs (it was about 95 degrees in Little Rock), taking on water and towel off. Once he got on the bullpen mound, he went through his entire arsenal, again, starting with the left side and switching over to the right. Cijntje’s oversized custom Nike glove (which helped him make multiple plays on comebackers) is easily moved from right hand to left, keeping the switch-pitcher in rhythm.

Cijntje managed to work through 5 innings, allowing three earned runs on five hits. He also allowed two walks, throwing 52 of his 81 pitches for strikes (64.1 Str%). Cijntje was narrowly missing his spots all night, which could have been nerves, a mechanical issue, or a combination of the two. One thing I did notice is that he did a much better job of throwing strikes when he was pitching out of the stretch. He had a 59.0% Str% (26/44), but in the stretch, he bumped that mark up to 68.4% (26/38). Cijntje threw left-handed to 4 of the 21 hitters he faced, retiring three of them (single by Mieses in the 4th), one by strikeout. He threw 11 of his 16 pitches from the left side for strikes (68.7 Str%). I will note that the strike zone seemed especially small tonight, but again, I had no Trackman data to view.

Cijntje’s stuff is notably better from the right side; he sat 93-95 mph with his 4-Seam, and he touched 96 in this outing. Conversely, from the left side, he sat at 91 mph while touching 93. From the right side, Cijntje struggled to command his slider, missing arm-side consistently. He also threw a handful of changeups, a couple of which led to whiffs. I didn’t have access to exit velocity data, but only one of the hits he surrendered was loud contact; the rest were blooped over the infield.

Overall, I was impressed with Cijntje’s mound presence, especially when he had runners on. From my conversation with him at the Futures Game, I gathered that he was a cool customer, and he used this to his advantage when he was in a jam. I also liked how he deployed his left side against left-handed hitters, alternating between each hitter’s first and second at-bats to give them a different look. Seeing an 0-2, low-slot, left-handed sweeper at 81 mph in your first at bat and then a 2-2, mid-90s, right-handed, four-seam on the outer black in your second at bat is about as diametrically opposed as you can get. This is exactly what Aaron Zavala dealt with in his first two at-bats, whiffing on both pitches.

My opinion is that Cijntje has all the building blocks to be an effective starting switch-pitcher at the highest level. If he can pick up a tick or two more velocity from the left side, he would feel even more confident.

Jose Corniell, RHP TEX (Double-A)