http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=4145564

 

 

How do you beat a guy who throws righty and lefty? You don't.

 

Or, you could always score some runs off of him. Maybe draw some walks, I dunno. Or maybe he means, how do you "top" it?

 

You'll probably never witness an unassisted triple play in your lifetime, right? (There have been only 14.) Or see an intentional walk with the bases loaded. (Six.) Or watch one player hit two grand slams in an inning. (Once.)

 

I dunno why, but it's funny to me that he named two things that happened just this past season.

 

His name is Pat Venditte, he's 23, and he's pro baseball's only ambidextrous pitcher. This living piece of history is more than a YouTube star; he's throwing almost daily for the Charleston RiverDogs, the Yankees' Single-A club. And he's not just throwing: He's blowing through hitters like a Cub Scout through Skittles. At one point in April, the closer's ERA was 0.00 in 6 1/3 innings, and he hadn't blown a save in five games.

 

I guess the Skittles reference is kinda funny, but I can't help but wonder if Cub Scouts really are all about Skittles. I guess I'm just not up with the times. Also, not blowing a save in 5 games isn't that much of a feat.

 

Last season, he had 23 saves for the Staten Island Yankees, with a 0.83 ERA. And best of all, the kid can relieve himself!

 

How does an editor not catch this and explain to Mr. Reilly that masturbation references do not belong in sports' articles? (Unless they're about Hideki Matsui's porn collection.)

 

He wears a specially made six-fingered Mizuno glove with two thumbs. (His Dominican teammates call him Pulpo, Spanish for "octopus.") When he warms up, he throws four pitches righty and four lefty. You should see the opposition when he does it. It's as if they had seen a ghost. Wait?did you just see that? If a righty is up, he throws righty, and vice versa. Whenever Venditte switches sides, everybody in the Charleston ballpark is encouraged to switch seats.

 

I can just imagine people at the ball-park. Lefty comes up and Venditte switches to throw lefty, and someone behind home-plate with his kids is enjoying the game. Guy comes up to him saying "Hey! Vendy is switching sides, switch seats with me!" *Man points to seat 35 rows up* I have a feeling people like that, or also fat people, would start to hate that tradition.

 

Also, what happens when he faces a switch hitter? Do they just keep switching sides over and over until the ump calls a balk or something?

 

His college pitching coach called him Dexter, and opposing managers call him an ulcer. What's the point of saving your righthanded pinch-hitter for the ninth if Venditte is just going to switch to righty? Strategy is futile. Remember in The Princess Bride when, halfway through the sword fight, Inigo Montoya suddenly says, "I know something you don't know: I am not lefthanded!"?

 

Strategy COULD involve, I dunno, having a switch-hitting pinch-hitter. Maybe he'll take off his glove at that point and then hide the ball behind his hands, then throw with both at the same time, try to fool the hitter as to which arm it's coming from. Actually...that sounds good. *Notifies RiverDogs' manager*

 

I imagine Rick running this by is co-workers and saying "Remember in The Princess Bride when......." and they just stare at him.

 

"What? NONE OF YOU HAVE SEEN THE PRINCESS BRIDE?!!"

 

More blank stares.

 

"Oh you guys are just assholes!!!" *cries*

 

All this was Pat Sr.'s idea. When his son was 3, Dad noticed Pat threw balls with both hands. So he fed it. He had him throw footballs both ways, punt both ways, kick field goals both ways. Pat was homeschooled by his mom, Jan, who had him write both ways and eat both ways.

 

Bisexual joke seems too easy here.

 

And switch-hitters will switch batter's boxes, making Venditte switch the glove, starting a cat-and-mouse game that can go on for 10 minutes. Minor league umps now have the Venditte Rule: At the start of an at-bat, the pitcher must declare his throwing arm, then the hitter can pick his side, with each man able to switch once. Phew.

 

Aw man, there goes my joke. But at least I can take solace in the fact that it happened at least once, before they made a rule. If only I could have seen it.

 

More than 120 years ago, three guys are believed to have done it occasionally. The best was Tony Mullane, who stood on the mound with no glove and the ball cradled in both hands so nobody would know which way he was going to pitch until his windup. I've had bosses like that.

 

What? You've had bosses that would stand on a baseball mound with no glove and then start to wind-up to throw at you randomly from one arm or the other?

 

 

 

 

Overall opinion: Decent article, interesting subject. I've always wondered when we'd see something like this. But since he doesn't have dominating stuff from either side, I don't see him doing anything great.

You are assuming that people haven't seen the Princess Bride. I would assume that you would be incredibly wrong.

Iden Nazzario pitches with both arms. Was drafted by the Nats after turning down the Sawx--- Pitches for UM now.

VORP since you put so much time into it I'll delete mine, lol.

 

 

I was always curious whether there was a rule that specified whether you could actually pitch with a different hand in the same at-bat...

VORP since you put so much time into it I'll delete mine, lol.

 

 

I was always curious whether there was a rule that specified whether you could actually pitch with a different hand in the same at-bat...

 

If the batter switches sides of the plate, the pitcher can switch hands, but I don't think either can happen mid-at bat, I could be wrong. I do, however, remember this guy having a standoff with a switch hitter some time last year and they literally kept switching sides/hands until the umpire just got fed up and had them pick a side and stick to it.

VORP since you put so much time into it I'll delete mine, lol.

 

 

I was always curious whether there was a rule that specified whether you could actually pitch with a different hand in the same at-bat...

 

If the batter switches sides of the plate, the pitcher can switch hands, but I don't think either can happen mid-at bat, I could be wrong. I do, however, remember this guy having a standoff with a switch hitter some time last year and they literally kept switching sides/hands until the umpire just got fed up and had them pick a side and stick to it.

I remember that too. I beleive the umpade the batter choose his side then the pitcher threw from what ever side the batter chose.

You are assuming that people haven't seen the Princess Bride. I would assume that you would be incredibly wrong.

 

XD maybe, or perhaps I'm assuming his co-workers stare at him for actually bringing it up in a baseball article.

VORP since you put so much time into it I'll delete mine, lol.

 

 

I was always curious whether there was a rule that specified whether you could actually pitch with a different hand in the same at-bat...

 

If the batter switches sides of the plate, the pitcher can switch hands, but I don't think either can happen mid-at bat, I could be wrong. I do, however, remember this guy having a standoff with a switch hitter some time last year and they literally kept switching sides/hands until the umpire just got fed up and had them pick a side and stick to it.

I remember that too. I beleive the umpade the batter choose his side then the pitcher threw from what ever side the batter chose.

 

That or the rule at the end of the above article where the pitcher chooses his spot then the batter... It's more fair that way anyways, because the pitcher always has an advantage just inherently built into the game.

You are assuming that people haven't seen the Princess Bride. I would assume that you would be incredibly wrong.

You'd be surprised. It's really sad, actually.