Switch Pitching 101

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Minor league switch pitcher Pat Venditte talks about his custom Ambidextrous Glove made by Mizuno How to  Order  a  Mizuno Ambidextrous  Baseball  Glove  >> .

The Shuuto  - Tailing Fastball Shuuto - "The Great Equalizer" Watch batters turn into pretzels when trying to hit the shuuto pitch The shuuto pitch breaks down and in on right-handed batters, so as to prevent them from making solid contact with the ball. The shuuto is also thrown to left-handers off the plate to keep them off balance. The Shuuto by Jamie Kelly Anyone who has seen Yu Darvish pitch knows that he has some really filthy stuff. His sickest pitches can make professional hitters look like beer league dropouts, swinging wildly while it appears someone has paused time and thumped the ball. What is Yu doing that is so completely baffling batters? One of Yu’s signature pitches is called the shuuto. Several Japanese pitchers have thrown the shuuto here in MLB; among them are Hiroki Kuroda, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Hisanori Takahashi, and the Rangers’ own Yu Darvish. Getting an exact definition of the shuuto is difficult.   Read more Two-seam Fastball

Pat Venditte switch pitching in games. Enjoy the show. .

4 minute video |   8 minute video June 19, 2008 Staten Island Yankees @ Brooklyn Cyclones bottom of the 9th reliever Pat Venditte closes out the ball game. Pat Venditte - ambidextrous pitcher with the Yankees minor league organization, faces a switch hitter - creating a lot of confusion for the umpires regarding the rules. "This very situation might create a change in the rulebook." - states one of the commentators. He was right – the situation did lead to a new rule for ambidextrous pitchers: Read about the Pat Venditte Rule Minor League  Switch - Pitcher  Sets Off Confusion - NYTimes.com .

Justin Bieber  throws out the ceremonial first eephus  pitch  before the White Sox game at U.S. Cellular Field on May 3, 2010. An  Eephus pitch  (also spelled  Ephus ) in baseball is a very low speed junk pitch. The delivery from the pitcher has very low velocity and usually catches the hitter off-guard. The Eephus pitch is thrown overhand like most pitches, but is characterized by an unusual, high arcing trajectory with a peak around 20–25 feet. ( Wikipedia ) ............... Ted Williams hit a three-run homer off the ''eephus,'' an arching blooper pitch, thrown by Rip Sewell, that reached a height of 25 feet before coming straight down toward the plate. Read more Baseball Pitching : How to Throw an  Eephus Pitch  - YouTube How To Throw A  Eephus  - The Complete Pitcher Carlos Villanueva's 57-mph  eephus pitch  vexes Jayson Werth A-Rod crushes  eephus pitch  for home run .

How to Throw Harder - Pitching Tips from a Former Boston Red Sox - increase stride length - gain momentum toward home plate - use the lower half to drive off the rubber 23 Youth  Pitching Tips  For Beginning Baseball Pitchers Mariano Rivera Teaches 3 Important  Pitching Tips  - YouTube .

What is the highest batting average of a switch hitter in professional baseball?      Highest Batting Average  (In a Season by a Switch Hitter)  AA Tommy Tucker Baltimore .372 1889 AL Mickey Mantle New York .365 1957 NL Chipper Jones Atlanta .364 2008    source: Batting Average Records by Baseball Almanac Career Batting Stats for Major League Switch Hitters Chipper Jones  chalked up a .303 batting average as a switch hitter, recording  2,726 hits and  468 home runs while playing 19 years with the Braves. Mickey Mantle  posted a .298 batting average as a switch hitter, with 2,415 hits and 536 home runs, while playing for the NY Yankees. Pete Rose tallied a .303 batting average as a switch hitter, with 4,256 hits and 160 home runs over a 24 year career. Major League Baseball : Ranking the Top 10 Active  Switch - Hitters Why are switch hitters rare? ..

Jorge Rubio Born:  April 23, 1945 (age 68),  Mexicali, Mexico Height/Weight: 6-3, 200 lbs. Batted: Right Threw: Right  (Ambidextrous ability) MLB Teams: California Angels 1966-1967; Cincinnati Reds Minor League: Seattle Angels 1965-1966 MLB Record: 2-3 ERA: 3.19 Jorge Jesús Rubio Chávez is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who played for two seasons. A natural right-handed pitcher, Rubio was encouraged to throw  ambidextrous by the Cincinnati Reds in the late 1960s.  Best Performance with the Angels: Jorge Rubio had a complete game shutout with 15 strikeouts against the Cleveland Indians on Sunday, October 2, 1966 at Anaheim Stadium. Jorge Rubio - the ambidextrous pitcher March 11, 1968 Some Hot Rookies For A New Season - SI Vault , March 11, 1968 No matter how you look at it, there is a challenge facing Jorge Rubio. Statistically, he is 22 years old and merely one of the 100 and more rookies who will be trying to force themselves into the maj

After watching UCLA pitchers dominate in the 2013 College World Series, my son Henry noticed that they got a lot of hitters to swing at the high fastball – like in Little League. We refer to the high heater as the UCLA fastball . At UCLA they refer to the high fastball as the " one spot ." The traditional low fastball can lead to errors Pitching coaches over the years have emphasized locating pitches low in the strike zone – to induce ground ball outs. But grounders can be difficult to field and players rush the throw, so routine ground ball outs sometimes turn into errors. And hard grounders become infield hits. So keeping the ball low in the zone to induce ground balls it's always the best strategy. Mixing in the high fastball yields outs High fastballs, on the other hand, can lead to swinging strikes, pop-ups or easy fly outs. This was the case in the recent Little League World Series. Players swung at the high pitches because they looked good to th

Yank Robinson William H. "Yank" Robinson   (September 19, 1859 – August 25, 1894)  Yank Robinson was a  Major League Baseball  player who played ten years in the Major Leagues from  1882  -  1892 . Positions: Infielder, played every position including pitcher Batted: Right  .241 BA Threw: Right In 1885 and 1886, Yank Robinson wound up playing every position except shortstop for the Brownies and in '86 stole 51 bases. He would continue on as a utility player for the majority of his career, even doing a little pitching for the Browns in 1886. Read more Yank Robinson, who was normally an infielder, also experimented with ambidextrous pitching  ( Chicago Journal , February 12, 1888). World Series Champion: 1886 (St. Louis Browns) Yank Robinson  Statistics and History -  Baseball -Reference.com Yank Robinson Baseball  Stats by  Baseball  Almanac source:  A Game of Inches: The Stories Behind the Innovations That Shaped Baseball ...   By Pe

Henry Clyde "Pea Ridge" Day Born August 26, 1899 in Center, Missouri (1899-1934) Day, whose attempts to come back from arm surgery were unsuccessful, sadly took his own life in 1934. Nicknames:  Pea Ridge, Hog Calling Pitcher Teams: St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, Brooklyn Robins (Dodgers), Kansas City Blues  The man we know as Pea Ridge was called Clyde from a young age, though his given name was Henry. Day was decent sized, about 6 feet and 190 pounds, and possessed a strong build chiseled from his days working on the farm. He continually bragged about being the strongest man in professional baseball. Day made his reputation, though, for his stunts on the field. A newspaper said of him, “Pea Ridge has more color than a funny name. He is a hog caller. He made so much noise yelling, even when he was pitching, that the umpires and players protested.” Day would hoot, holler, or break into a prolonged hog call while on the mound after a strikeout or other

Nick "Bo" Bohannan Hometown:  O'Fallon, Missouri Fort Zumwalt North High School (Class of 2016) Summer Team:   Missouri Renegades Select 18U Height/Weight : 6'1", 175 Positions : RHP/LHP, OF, 1B Bats:  Both   Throws:  both - ambidextrous Dominant hand:  right Velocity: 78 mph with both arms (2015) FB, CV, CH Glove:  Mizuno custom made six-finger glove HS Sports: Basketball and baseball Nick Bohannan is a hard throwing ambidextrous pitcher from Missouri. An online video shows that he has good mechanics and control from both sides. For switch pitching, Nick uses a unique six-finger glove that was custom-made by Mizuno ($450).  Visit Bohannan's website Why he started pitching with both arms Nick was about two years old when he started throwing wiffle balls playing catch with his dad. Over time he learned to throw the balls back with both hands for fun. His dad said that his son liked to catch the ball with hi

Some college coaches like switch hitters and others don't. There are coaches at every level who think that switch hitting is a waste of time or just a gimmick. Coaches who like switch hitters know that the players are self-motivated and put in a lot of extra work. College coaches like players who are used to putting in the work every day to get better. Over the past decade, coaches were focused on recruiting power hitters – especially left-handed hitters. Switch hitters tend to hit above average, but are not typically power hitters from both sides. What College Coaches say about switch hitting One D1 college baseball coach told my switch hitting son: "If your coach tells you to stick to hitting from only one side, then it's time to find a new team." The coach believed that switch hitting was an advantage and he suggested that Henry should keep hitting right- and left-handed. Another college coach suggested that my son should focus on hitting left-hand

Real Workouts: Justin Verlander Developing Rotational Power Eric Cressey gives MLB pitcher Tim Collins step-by-step instructions in these videos:  Hot Feet Recoiled Shotput exercise Half Kneeling Deceleration Catch Bottoms-Up Kettlebell Carry Lateral High Knee Skips Baseball Workouts  | STACK  >> Special Conditioning for Pitchers A pitcher completes a very explosive movement that lasts about 3 seconds and then rests for 20 seconds. The goals for pitcher conditioning should be to mimic the physical stresses of competition and train the same energy system. .