Seattle Mariners 2024 First-Round Pick Predicted to Start 2025 With Low-A Modesto Nuts
The Seattle Mariners had an incredibly interesting 2024 draft that could pay major-league dividends as soon as 2025.
With their first and second round draft picks, the Mariners selected switch-pitcher Jurrangelo Cijntje out of Mississippi State and hard-throwing pitcher Ryan Sloan out of high school, respectively. The team's third round pick, Kansas reliever Hunter Cranton, got the final strikeout for Seattle's Low-A affiliate, the Modesto Nuts, to clinch a California League championship.
Cranton also registered the highest average fastball velocity out of any Mariners pitching prospect in 2024 at 97.2 miles per hour. He could make his major league debut as soon as 2025 according to a story from the Seattle Times' Adam Jude.
But Cijntje is undoubtedly the most interesting player in Seattle's 2024 draft class. He's the first legitimate ambidextrous pitching prospect since reliever (and former Mariner) Pat Venditte. Unlike Venditte, Cijntje projects as a quality starter with both his left and right arm. His progression will be one of the most intriguing minor league story lines for the next several seasons.
Cijntje hasn't made an in-game pitch since getting drafted, but he's become well-versed with Seattle's organization. He visited the club's Double-A affiliate, the Arkansas Travelers, during their Texas League championship run and was a part of the Mariners' High Performance Camp over the fall.
And a recent story from Seattle Times reporter Ryan Divish indicated where Cijntje is likely to start his professional career in 2025.
Divish laid out the projected 2025 starting rotations across the organization's major league and minor league teams. And he listed Cijntje on the depth chart for the Nuts:
(Current depth chart)
Low-A Modesto:
Walter Ford, RHP
Pedro Lemos, RHP
Aneury Lora, RHP
Jurrangelo Cijntje, SP
Cijntje posted a 3.67 ERA across 16 starts with 113 strikeouts in 90.2 innings pitched with Mississippi State in 2024. Batters averaged just .211 against him.
SWITCH PITCHER Jurrangelo Cijntje who was recently drafted by the Mariners. pic.twitter.com/MArGauzKdt
— Baseball’s Greatest Moments (@BBGreatMoments) November 28, 2024
Cijntje is an enigma and a double-edged sword rolled into one. The same way hitters and opponents will be ill-prepared for an ambidextrous pitcher, the stellar Mariners pitching development staff hasn't coached a player with Cijntje's skill set, either.
It makes sense for Seattle to start Cijntje in Modesto. The Nuts have won two straight California League championships. Cijntje would start off in a low-stakes environment but still get acquainted to a winning culture.
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