Rare switch-pitcher Jurrangelo Cijntje 'down to do everything' for Mariners after MLB draft

FORT WORTH, Texas – Jurrangelo Cijntje was 7 or 8 years old when he started throwing right-handed, for the most wholesome and relatable reason.

“I wanted,” he said Sunday night, a Seattle Mariners jersey dangling from his frame, “to be like my dad.”

That unlikely road yielded the biggest dividend Sunday, when the Mariners selected Cijntje with the 15th overall pick in the Major League Baseball draft – in part because of his ability to pitch both right- and left-handed.

Know this: Cijntje is no Pat Venditte. The majors’ most recent ambidextrous pitcher was a serviceable reliever a decade ago. He did not run his fastball up to 97 mph, sitting at 95 with a handful of delectable secondary offerings to beguile hitters.

Nor did he sit at 93 mph with his off hand, physical facets that were unimaginable when Cijntje began his journey in the Netherlands, to Curacao and finally Mississippi State, where he struck out 113 batters in 90 innings over 16 starts this season.

He was projected as a supplemental or second-round pick for most of the spring, but picked up “helium,” as evaluators say, late in the process and on Sunday was, surprisingly, the third pitcher off the board overall.

The Mariners, highly skilled at developing pitching talent, will get a pitcher who simply applies recovery methods to both sides of his body. If he takes a hot or cold tub after a game, he makes sure both arms get a good soak. And doubles all his arm care.

Cijntje made no promises of how quickly he’d move through the Mariners system, professing he will “stay in the moment” always, through every rung of the minors. He grew up idolizing Curacaoan center fielder Andruw Jones, but now counts Atlanta’s Ozzie Alibes as his favorite from his island.

At 5-11, Cijntje says he models himself after Yankees right-hander Marcus Stroman, who at 5-8 would look up just a bit at Cijntje.

Yet there truly is no model. And Cijntje is quietly adamant that he will try to give the Mariners a frontline starting pitcher to add to their stable – and a lefty reliever when they get in a jam.

“I will be down to do everything,” he says, “especially to help them win.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Switch pitcher Jurrangelo Cijntje picked by Mariners in MLB draft