THE BOOK--Playing The Percentages In Baseball

If he hurts one arm can he still pitch with the other?  Not sure I know the answer.

Jesus, 80 strikeouts, 11 walks, and 5 earned runs in over 60 innings.

I agree that he probably won’t make it at higher levels, but at least give him a chance to prove it.

Plus, not only the platoon advantage, but how about how often he can pitch, like the Times article said?  The fact that he can save other relivers’ arms is worth something on its own.

It wasn’t clear to me in the article. Does he get a platoon advantage against switch hitters or not?

This is insane.  I realize it’s A-ball, but 38 K’s and 1 BB in 28 IP this year… and he hasn’t turned 24 yet.  He’s not super young, but come on.

Actually, nevermind.  May as well let him go, Yanks.

Matt/#3: When he was in college, the batter first had to declare what side of the plate he was batting from, and then Venditte could choose which arm to throw with. I’m not sure of the rule in the minors or in the majors, though.

If he has the dominant advantage over switch hitters that I bet he does, he could be a valuable arm somewhere as a guy to come in and retire a tough switch hitter. 

How can he not have a dominant advantage over switch hitters?  They haven’t seen a ball from a pitcher of the same handedness since...high school, maybe earlier?  There’s a lot of guys in the majors that can’t hit guys of the same handedness despite getting regular plate appearances against them; its difficult to imagine even great switch hitters like Chipper and Teix having a chance against the guy.

From wikipedia:

The Pat Venditte Rule

The Professional Baseball Umpire Corporation (PBUC) released its official rules for dealing with ambidextrous pitchers. These guidelines were reached after PBUC staff consulted with a variety of sources, including the Major League Baseball Rules Committee.

It reads:

* 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.

I’ve got to say, that’s a dumb ruling.  I suppose it must have come from some “interpretation” of the existing rules… but I’d think you’d want to err on the side of giving the pitcher the advantage, if at all possible.  There’s hundreds of switch hitters in the minor and major leagues, and only one switch pitcher.  You want this guy on Sportscenter and on the nightly news if you’re the MLB.  No sense in taking away part of the advantage he’s earned.

#3: there’s a classic video of just this scenario (click on my name). And yes, the at bat really did take eight minutes.

If I’m not mistaken, (and I am never mistaken...never) Mike Maddux used to wear an ambidextrious glove because he had the ability to pitch with both arms. I don’t believe he ever did it in a major league game, but it was often a topic of conversation for the announcers.

Perhaps it wasn’t Mike Maddux.

Greg Harris, and I think he did it close to his last game in MLB