Switch Pitching 101

Ambidextrous Venditte is pitching in the minors for the Phillies Pat Venditte (milb.com) Status:  Active Full Name:  Patrick Michael Venditte Age:  32 (June 30, 1985) Birthplace:  Omaha, NE Bats/Throws:  L/S  Ht:  6' 1"  Wt:  185 Draft:  Round 20 (2008, NYY) MLB Debut:  06/05/2015 School:  Creighton @ PatVenditte over 5,000 followers on Twitter! Current team :  Philadelphia Phillies  (Relief pitcher) Salary :  507,500 USD (2016) Spouse :  Erin Venditte Pat Venditte Stats, Highlights, Bio Pat Venditte Stats | Baseball-Reference.com Pat Venditte Stats - ESPN Pat Venditte » Statistics » Pitching | FanGraphs Baseball Pat Venditte Stats Summary LG LEVEL W L ERA G GS CG SHO SV SVO IP H R ER HR HB BB IBB SO AVG WHIP GO/AO Minors 2017 INT AAA 8 1 3.30 31 0 0 0 1 2 46.1 31 19 17 2 3 26 1 38 .194 1.23 1.09 Minors Career - Minors 29 24 2.58 329 11 0 0 53 69 519.0 417 168 149 30 16 160 6 577 .219 1.11 0.68 MLB

2017 MLB Draft News | MLB.com More than 100 shortstops were selected in the draft. There were a dozen  switch-hitters  selected who play shortstop - the most athletic position in baseball. Eight of those switch-hitters where out of high school, and only 4 switch-hitters selected played in college. Switch hitting is rare at the college level. 2017 DRAFT TRACKER No switch-hitters were selected in the first round of the 2017 MLB Draft. One HS outfielder who can switch hit - Drew Waters - was selected in the second round. Both sides now: Large's switch work pays off Blue Jays' 5th-round pick's ambidextrous approach could be ticket to bigs By Gregor Chisholm / MLB.com | @gregorMLB | June 15th, 2017 TORONTO -- Cullen Large's career as a switch-hitter began almost by accident. Messing around in the batting cage before a game led to some surprising results. Now it eventually could become his ticket to the big leagues. Read more Related articles...

News feature on Venditte's ambidextrous pitching style. Your browser does not support iframes. Throws sidearm left-handed; plus sidearm or 3/4 release right-handed. Watch video

Where is Pat Venditte pitching? 2017 -  Ambidextrous pitcher Venditte was traded to the Phillies by the Mariners. He is now pitching in AAA. Pat Venditte  5   P Lehigh Valley IronPigs Status:  Active Full Name:  Patrick Michael Venditte Age:  31 (June 30, 1985) Birthplace:  Omaha, NE Bats/Throws:  L/S  Ht:  6' 1"  Wt:  185 Draft:  Round 20 (2008, NYY) MLB Debut:  06/05/2015 School:  Creighton Pat Venditte Stats Summary Minors 2017 6-0 Record 2.29 ERA 23 games (14 June 2017)

Question: Do you know if there are USSSA rules allowing a pitcher to throw a certain amount of innings with one arm, and start over the inning count with the other in a different game possibly? Or has that been looked into by the larger youth baseball organizations? A: Typically, the pitch limit is per pitcher , not each arm. So, a Little League ambidextrous pitcher has the same pitch count as any other pitcher (the count does not double). This is true for most leagues that I have researched. Advice: Stick with the standard pitch count in youth leagues. This is the safe approach. Comment: I like to see a few kids pitch in games, rather than one pitcher. Kids enjoy a chance to pitch in a game, even for one or two innings. As a coach, it was a better strategy to rotate pitchers and keep the arms fresh. It also kept the hitters off balance when they had to adjust to a new pitcher. Once hitters see a pitcher a second or third time in a game, then hitting becomes easier.

Throwback to 2016... Call to arms: Ambidextrous Venditte shines in debut By Greg Johns / MLB.com | @gregjohnsmlb | August 30th, 2016 Acquired from Toronto in early August and promoted from Triple-A on Saturday, Venditte impressed in his first foray with the Mariners. "You want to show these guys that you can get outs," he said. "When you come in throwing with both hands, for the guys that haven't seen you before, you want to show them that you're here to win. They'll see what I'm about the next month here, but to get off on the right foot was big." Manager Scott Servais certainly liked what he saw in the 54-pitch outing from his versatile new reliever. "Venditte did a great job mixing and matching and doing what he does," Servais said. "It's pretty remarkable when you sit there and watch how he does it." Read More

Mizuki Akatsuka Rare switch pitcher and switch hitter from Japan. Rikkyo University in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, Japan. (freshman in 2017) Age 19 Pitches: fastball, off-speed, and breaking ball Velocity: 140 kph or 87 mph right-handed; 135 kph or 84 mph left-handed Dominant arm: right Glove: 6-finger custom glove like Pat Venditte Goal: Mizuki Akatsuka wants to be the first ever switch-pitcher, and switch-hitter to play in Nippon Professional Baseball, Japan has a college player that can switch-pitch, and also switch-hit POSTED ON  FEBRUARY 24, 2017   BY  僕は 野球 好き (REN) Mizuki Akatsuka. Ambidextrous pitchers are very hard to come by these days, let alone stay committed with it for quite a long time… but doing both switch-pitching, and switch-hitting at the same time? Now that is pretty much out of this world.  But, nope, not anymore ! Because in Japan, we have Mizuki Akatsuka (19 years of age) that can do all of that. Akatsuka is in college right now (first

Henry Knight switch hitting in the Mickey Mantle state tournament. (composite photo by Tim Knight) Switch hitters are rare in baseball, especially at the youth level,  since it takes extra work . Hitting is not easy. In fact, hitting a baseball is one of the hardest things to do in sports. Switch hitting takes coordination, balance,  and practice to develop the skill. Switch hitters need to take a lot of quality swings from both sides – facing right- and left-handers – to become good. What did Mickey do? "My dad taught me to switch-hit. He and my grandfather, who was left-handed, pitched to me everyday after school in the back yard. I batted lefty against my dad and righty against my granddad." – Mickey Mantle , Hall of Fame switch hitter Switch hitter vs Switch pitcher One issue for a switch pitcher is what to do when facing a switch hitter – do you throw right or left-handed?  Fortunately,  this situation rarely happens since switch hitters are