The Cardinals have a chance to give Jurrangelo Cijntje a real big-league test before this season runs out, and there’s a pretty clean case for doing it.
Cijntje, the top prize from the Brendan Donovan trade this offseason, has taken his lumps along the way this year. He wasn’t sharp for long stretches, but he found his footing at Double-A, then moved up to Triple-A in July. After needing a little time to get used to throwing the Major League ball, he’s been rolling on the mound.
Over his last seven starts, Cijntje has posted a 2.86 ERA with 41 strikeouts in 34.2 innings. His 28.9 K% and 7.7 BB% in that span stand out, and he’s also carrying a 2.44 FIP. In his final regular-season start of the year for Memphis, he threw 5 1/3 scoreless innings.
The numbers back up the bigger point: this is a Cardinals team still trying to sort out who belongs in the 2027 rotation, and Cijntje deserves a look. He already ranks second in all of minor league baseball in strikeouts this season, sitting just ahead of another Cardinals prospect, Daniel Eagen, who came over in the Lars Nootbaar trade at the deadline. For an organization trying to stockpile more swing-and-miss arms, getting Cijntje in front of Major League hitters now could be part of the development process.
That matters because he’s shown a pattern of starting slowly whenever he’s bumped to a new level before settling in and dealing. A September call-up would let him feel what it’s like to pitch on that stage, see how his stuff plays, and head into spring training with a better sense of either what he can already do or what still needs work.
There are also two roster complications to weigh. The Cardinals have two open spots on the 40-man roster, but Cijntje is not Rule 5 eligible until next December, which means they could leave him off the roster all offseason and still bring him to camp as a non-roster invitee. If he pitches well there, he can still earn a job.
The other issue is what happens if Major League Baseball misses games next year. If Cijntje is on the 40-man roster, he would not be able to pitch in minor league games during a lockout. If he stays off it, he would still be able to play because he’d be covered by a different collective bargaining agreement.
Even with those considerations, this feels like the kind of move that could help both now and later. And yes, it would be fun to see him soon.
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