The Oakland Athletics have just called up without a doubt the most interesting pitcher I’ve come across since I’ve started watching baseball. There’s the uniqueness of the knuckleball pitchers like Tim Wakefield and R.A Dickey who made so many hitters look foolish by throwing a pitch that broke in multiple different ways. There was Daisuke Matsuzaka’s gyro-ball that when he first came to the United States, fooled hitters by showing them something they had never seen before.
We’ve seen plenty of switch hitters in the Major Leagues. They’ve found success because it took away the advantage of the lefty-lefty or righty-righty matchups. Now, welcome to the big leagues, switch pitcher Pat Venditte. The 29 year old has been fighting for a spot in Oakland’s bullpen and now it looks like he’s going to get his shot. It will be incredible to watch as he literally changes sides as right handed and left handed hitters step to the plate against him in the same inning.
Venditte was drafted by the New York Yankees in 2008 and slowly but surely fought his way up their minor league system until he suffered a torn labrum in his right shoulder in 2012. The team didn’t invite him back to spring training in 2014 and he signed a minor league contract with the Athletics as a free agent.
Fast forward to this season. Everybody will be interested to watch this particular pitcher regardless of the success he has because this is a kind of talent that we just aren’t used to seeing. If he’s effective, the fact that he can pitch using both arms automatically makes him even more valuable because he can come out of the bullpen and be used against both left and right handed hitters. He throws over the top and harder right handed, and can also mix in a curveball as well as a slider. Left-handed, he throws side-armed and his fastball is in the mid-80s and he can throw a slider. Venditte uses a custom-made glove that allows him to switch from hand to hand in the middle of an inning.
This is absolutely amazing and unique to imagine somebody pitching effectively with both arms in the major leagues, and I’m hoping that he can be effective so that he can have a long career and help a team that is currently one of the worst teams in baseball. It will also be interesting to see what happens when he faces a switch hitter and who gets the advantage. This will probably lead to more rules as to which player can switch over to the other side of the plate during any given at bat.
