Pat Venditte’s pitching line in the box score of Tuesday’s A’s-Giants spring training game was wholly unexceptional: two batters, two outs, one strikeout. But when you consider that Venditte got one San Francisco batter out while throwing right-handed and the other out with his left, it becomes something else.
Take a look:
The switch-pitching Venditte is trying to make Oakland’s roster this year after again reaching Class AAA in the New York Yankees’ organization last year (New York drafted him in the 20th round of the 2008 amateur draft out of Creighton).
Per Cliff Corcoran of SI.com, Venditte’s father taught him to pitch with both arms as a 3-year-old in hopes that it would ease his route to the major leagues.
Venditte made his minor league debut in 2008 with low-Class A Staten Island. His battle that year with switch-hitter Ralph Henriquez became high comedy when both pitcher and hitter kept switching sides, prompting MLB to create a rule requiring any switch-pitcher to announce which arm he’ll be using at the start of an at-bat and banning him from switching in the middle of an at-bat.
Venditte isn’t the first switch-pitcher in major league history — a number of pitchers did it in the 19th century, and Greg Harris of the Montreal Expos tried it out during a game in 1985 — though he seems to be the first player to attempt to make a career out of it in the modern era. He uses a special six-fingered glove.
As for his chances of making the A’s roster, it could be a long shot. But Venditte has averaged nearly 1 2/3 innings per appearance in the minors and, as Corcoran notes, he could find a slot as a middle reliever, thanks in part to his very rare versatility.
After spending the first 17 years of his Post career writing and editing, Matt and the printed paper had an amicable divorce in 2014. He's now blogging and editing for the Early Lead and the Post's other Web-based products.
No comments:
Post a Comment