The Cardinals may be reaching the point where Jurrangelo Cijntje is no longer a curiosity - he’s a starter they need to prepare for.
What began as a switch-pitching experiment is drifting toward a much more conventional future. Cijntje, who entered pro ball as someone capable of working both as a power righty and a crafty lefty, has almost fully settled in as a right-handed starter, and that’s the lane the Cardinals should keep him in as he closes in on his big-league debut.
Baseball America recently detailed the shift, and the numbers back it up. Across 28 starts between Double-A Springfield and Triple-A Memphis, Cijntje posted a 4.87 ERA. The results got better once he moved out of the hitter-friendly Texas League and into the International League, dropping from a 5.04 ERA to 4.61.
The stuff is still plenty real. Cijntje works with a five-pitch arsenal - four-seamer, sinker, slider, sweeper and changeup - and his four-seamer sat at 96.2 MPH in Triple-A.
He also handled left-handed hitters just fine from the right side, holding them to a .223/.295/.340 line with 77 strikeouts and 24 walks in 2026. When he pitched left-handed, though, the walk issues showed up quickly, as he issued seven free passes to 27 lefties faced.
That’s why the Cardinals should treat his switch-pitching days as a thing of the past. In what amounts to his 40-man season, Cijntje looks more valuable as a right-hander who can settle into a major-league rotation than as a novelty act with more risk attached.
The prospect stock is strong enough to support that approach. MLB Pipeline ranks Cijntje No. 12 in the Cardinals system, behind Liam Doyle, Quinn Mathews, Tanner Franklin, Tegan Kuhns and Brandon Clarke.
FanGraphs is even higher on him, slotting him as the club’s No. 4 prospect in its updated 2026 rankings. Both outlets peg his MLB ETA for 2027.
He also checks the box that matters most: he’s close. Cijntje has 12 starts at the highest level of the minors, and the path from here looks straightforward - a final tune-up in Memphis to open 2027, then waiting for the right opening in St. Louis.
The timing matters because the Cardinals already have a projected rotation taking shape. Going into the offseason, it’s Kyle Leahy, Matthew Liberatore, Michael McGreevy, Andre Pallante and Quinn Mathews. All five have multiple years of team control, with Pallante’s two remaining years the shortest.
That gives St. Louis some flexibility, but not endless room. The club will need to keep an eye on both Cijntje and Doyle, with both pitchers likely to debut in the second half of 2027 unless an injury speeds things up.
There are a couple of ways the Cardinals could clear the runway. One would be to sell high on Pallante, who just turned in a 3.83 ERA and 3.74 FIP in 2026. He doesn’t pile up strikeouts - his strikeout rate was 16.2% - but he kept opponents on the ground at a 62.1% clip.
Another option would be to move Liberatore out of the rotation. The left-hander is arbitration-eligible this offseason and owns a 4.82 ERA in his career. The Cardinals probably won’t cut bait completely, especially after he was a useful bottom-of-the-rotation arm as recently as 2025, when he produced 1.8 fWAR.
However they handle the roster, the direction around Cijntje feels clearer by the day. The experiment made him notable. The role he’s tracking toward is the one that could matter most.
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