Mariners promote top prospect and switch-pitching phenom to Double-A
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SEATTLE -- A weekend that began with splashes at the Trade Deadline and a new-look lineup electrifying packed crowds a T-Mobile Park finished with similar waves being made in the Mariners’ farm system, with Seattle promoting No. 1 prospect Colt Emerson and No. 8 prospect Jurrangelo Cijntje -- the organization’s famous switch-pitcher -- to Double-A Arkansas, sources told MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo and Daniel Kramer.
Emerson, MLB Pipeline’s No. 15 prospect overall, is coming off a month in which he hit .296 with four doubles, four home runs and 13 RBIs at High-A Everett, earning the Mariners’ Minor League Hitter of the Month award for July.
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Seattle’s first-round pick in the 2023 Draft out of Glenn High School (New Concord, Ohio), the 20-year-old is nearly a year exactly removed from his last promotion. After going from Single-A Modesto to Everett last Aug. 5, Emerson finished last season with 29 games for the AquaSox. This season, he’s slashed .281/.388/.453 in High-A with 11 home runs.
But he won’t be making the trip to Arkansas alone.
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Joining him will be Cijntje, Pipeline’s No. 70 prospect, who has become arguably the most famous pitcher in the Minors thanks to his ambidextrousness. The Mariners began the season by having him alternate between switch-pitching starts and left-handed relief appearances but moved to a more normal starter’s schedule in May. Since the change, the 2024 first-round Draft pick has pitched to a 3.92 ERA with 61 strikeouts compared to 19 walks in 57 1/3 innings, primarily throwing right-handed but picking spots to switch sides.
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Cijnje’s last two starts for the AquaSox turned out to be his most impressive. On July 26, he went a season-high seven innings. Then on Saturday, he turned in a season-high 10 strikeouts.
The two join Lazaro Montes (Mariners No. 2, No. 23 overall) and (No. 4, No. 58) as top 100 prospects to make the jump from High-A to Double-A this season for Seattle. Emerson’s promotion means that three of the Mariners’ top four prospects will be in Arkansas, while No. 3 prospect Harry Ford is in Triple-A Tacoma.