Meet Mississippi State's Ambidextrous Flamethrowing Pitcher
By Baron Dionis
The Mississippi State Bulldogs have a pitcher who throws over 90 miles per hour. Normally, baseball fans would think that's normal, but for Jurrangelo Cijntje, it is historical.
Cijntje is an ambidextrous pitcher, which means he can pitch with both arms. Not a lot of people can even write with their non dominant hand, which makes this pitcher even more remarkable.
Major League Baseball has only had eight different ambidextrous pitchers in the history of the league. Pat Venditte is the most recent out of the eight of all time. He pitched in the MLB from 2015-2020.
Venditte only topped out at 85 miles per hour with his right arm and with his left arm he only topped out at 83 miles per hour. Cijntje can throw over 90 with each, which makes this even more impressive.
Cijntje is in his sophomore season with Mississippi State and it has been great for him so far. After struggling in his freshman season, he got an opportunity in the weekend rotation and is dominating.
In his freshman season, Cijntje had a record of 3-5 with an earned run average of 8.10 in 50 innings pitched. He also struck out 63 batters and had a WHIP of 1.56.
It was not great, but he got better over the offseason and is now a weekend starter.
Through five games, Cijntje has a record of 4-0 with an earned run average of 2.70 in 26.2 innings pitched. He also has struck out 41 batters and has a WHIP of 1.18.
What Jurrangelo Cijntje is doing is absolutely incredible and has only been done a few times. If he continues to put up good numbers, like he has done so far this season, then his name will be called upon in the 2025 Major League Draft.
Tomorrow afternoon, at two o'clock central standard time, Cijntje will be the starting pitcher for the Bulldogs as they prepare for game three against Texas A&M.