I remember reading about Pat Venditte when the Yankees drafted him. He’s the only ambidextrous (switch pitcher) I’ve ever seen or really heard of. I hope he makes it, mainly to see him switch throwing arms on different batters. I’m not sure how good his stuff is, but if he has some good movement he will always have a favorable match up. He has a six fingered glove that allows him to use the glove on both hands. Anyways, the at-bat below between him and a switch hitter towards the end of the season in Class A ball game for the Yankees prompted The Professional Baseball Umpire Corporation (PBUC) to make the following rule. If nothing else happens, and he doesn’t make the pros, at least he put his stamp on the game!
The Pat Venditte Rule
- The pitcher must visually indicate to the umpire, batter and runner(s) which way he will begin pitching to the batter. Engaging the rubber with the glove on a particular hand is considered a definitive commitment to which arm he will throw with. The batter will then choose which side of the plate he will bat from.
- The pitcher must throw one pitch to the batter before any “switch” by either player is allowed.
- After one pitch is thrown, the pitcher and batter may each change positions one time per at-bat. For example, if the pitcher changes from right-handed to left-handed and the batter then changes batter’s boxes, each player must remain that way for the duration of that at-bat (unless the offensive team substitutes a pinch hitter, and then each player may again “switch” one time).
- Any switch (by either the pitcher or the batter) must be clearly indicated to the umpire. There will be no warm-up pitches during the change of arms.
- If an injury occurs the pitcher may change arms but not use that arm again during the remainder of the game.
By
cali4dre
chappy81
dyslecix
mceezy
Doin Work 
March 30th, 2010 at 2:07 pm
chappy
I don’t know that Venditte will bring that much to the Yankees and their pitching roster. It’s already good to begin with !
Do you honestly believe that the Raiders obtaining McNabb merely for a year will be good for the organization ? Given the fact that the player is in the last year of his contract and he seeks a long term deal . If they tag him as a ‘franchise player’ it could well mean them having to pay him $20 million for one year. Do you think that’s prudent ? But then again we’re talking about the Raiders aren’t we ? Where stupidity and complete lack of common sense go hand in hand !
Alan Parkins
March 30th, 2010 at 3:07 pm
Your comment was that the Raiders have a solid defense ?
Here are the stats from the 2009 season . Click link to view ……….
http://www.nfl.com/teams/oaklandraiders/statistics?team=OAK
Tell me what’s so special and solid about those figures ?
Alan Parkins
March 30th, 2010 at 3:12 pm
I did not know all this and now that I do, I feel complete 😉 As for me I’d rather fight than switch!!!
March 30th, 2010 at 3:48 pm
Always glad to inform 🙂 I read somewhere that his fastball from the left side is only in the 70’s, so I’m not sure why he isn’t just right handed and go with that 90mph heat from the right side…
March 30th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
chappy 81
You’ll be hard pressed to prove your case concerning the Raiders’ defense given the fact that in the most important categories they don’t even rank in the top ten at all !
http://nfl.com/stats/team Click on the link and then read the complete stats’ file .
Alan Parkins
March 30th, 2010 at 3:42 pm
It’s because their offense only has the ball for ten to twenty minutes a game! If you actually watched them play, you’d see they aren’t THAT bad on D… When you are ranked last in offense, the defense will suffer…. The Jets were dubbed the best defense by many people, yet they’re only ranked 8th on these lists you sent, stats don’t tell the whole story…
March 30th, 2010 at 5:06 pm
chappy
The real problem with the Raiders is they’re nowhere as consistent as they should be and the so called defense that you claim is so stout is far from that. If they’re on the field for all of that time then what the hell is the offense doing when they’ve got the ball ? Obviously either turning it over or going three and out !
The offense is wasting are talents of McFadden and Bush and that’s sad. Those guys will up and leave when their contracts are up that’s for sure. And it won’t be because of Russell but the pi_s poor coaching ability of Cable and his staff .
That Raiders’ coaching staff has to be amongst the worst in the entire NFL .
Alan Parkins
March 30th, 2010 at 6:13 pm
Great find on this video, wherever you came across it. It’s definitely just another thing you’re liable to see at the ballpark. Not sure if anyone noticed, but well played by the music guy on the song in the background with “One Thing Leads To Another.” Something tells me Pat Venditte isn’t going to be the last Pat Venditte.
March 30th, 2010 at 11:48 pm
I watched part of his game against my Braves at work today. I got to see a little of his pitching, but it was really just too weird to do any sort of breakdown about what was going on. I hope he makes it just because it’s so bizarre. I love baseball.
I could be wrong about this and I’m headed to bed so I don’t feel like looking it up, but if my memory serves me correctly isn’t Billy Wagner a natural righty but he broke his arm a couple times and just taught himself to throw lefty? And taught himself to throw 100 mph as a lefty, no less.
March 31st, 2010 at 8:39 am
Yup he sure did. I think it was waay back when he was a kid, and he did teach himself to throw lefty when he broke his arm! Just one more reason why you baseball is the home of where amazing happens! I too want to see him succeed just so there’s some more versions of him later down the line!