Switch Pitching 101

Bert Campaneris  nicknamed  "Campy" Dagoberto (Bert) Campaneris Blanco Born: March 9, 1942, in Pueblo Nuevo, Cuba. Position: SS, Utility    (played all positions in a single game) Height/Weight: 5'10"  160 lbs Batted: Right Threw: Right Batting Average: .259 #FerrellTakesTheField In March 2015, actor Will Ferrell played 10 positions while playing for 10 teams in one day during MLB spring training. The goal was to match the amazing feat of Bert Campaneris, while raising money to support Cancer for College . Campy played all nine positions during a single game, including switch pitcher ... 50 years ago.  Campy played all nine positions in one game  and  was a switch pitcher on the mound On September 8, 1965, as part of a special promotion featuring the popular young player, Campaneris became the first player to play every position in a major league game. On the mound, he  pitched ambidextrously , ...

4/9/13: Cardinals starter Lance Lynn goes six innings, striking out 10 while allowing just one run on four hits against the Reds Effective Velocity Lance Lynn Effective Velocity Breakdown Lance Lynn Fastball Usage EV View Uses the fastball 80% of the time. Learn how he locates the 2-seam and 4-seam fastballs Lance Lynn EV Usage EV Report Fastball, 2 seamer, curveball, change, cutter/slide ..

Your browser does not support iframes. Carlos Pena talks about hitting and explains Effective Velocity - EV. Learn more about EV .

Switch Pitcher McCarty throws in first college game Aubrey McCarty photo: Vandy Baseball Vandy's Carson Fulmer strikes out 11 in 16-1 win By Adam Sparks, asparks@tennessean.com The Tennessean Friday, 27 Feb 2015 Joey Abraham and Collin Snider pitched hitless seventh and eighth innings, respectively, and "switch pitcher"  Aubrey McCarty , a freshman, made his debut. McCarty throws right-handed to right-handed batters and lefty to left-handed hitters, a skill he picked up at 11 years old when he injured his right arm and tried throwing from the opposite side. "It plays a mind game, especially if the other team doesn't know I can do it," McCarty said. McCarty struck out two right-handed, walked a batter lefty and allowed an RBI triple righty before finishing off the last out. Read More Aubrey McCarty Bio ...

No , but the majority of switch hitters are naturally right-handed. In the human population, about 10% of people are left-handed and 90% are right-handed. Only 1% of people are ambidextrous – both right- and left-handed. Henry Knight switch hitting in the Mickey Mantle state tournament. (composite photo by Tim Knight) It is rare for a natural lefty to bat right-handed, but I have coached a few lefties who throw and hit right-handed. It is not unusual for a natural righty to bat left-handed. Coaches prefer to have a few left-handed hitters in the lineup. In a PAC-12 game, six-of-nine batters for UCLA were left-handed. Switch Pitching 101 : Why are switch hitters rare? Hitting a baseball is hard to do. Learning to switch hit takes a lot of extra work, so you don't see many switch hitters. Switch hitters are very rare in high school. Only 1-2% of high school players are switch hitters. . Note: The original question about switch hitters w...

Video: Ferrell pitches for the Dodgers - MLB.com Spring training - 12 March 2015 3/12/15: Will Ferrell warms up on the mound for the Dodgers and records the out on a bunt before getting pulled by manager Don Mattingly. 0.00 ERA in 0.1 IP Will "Jabroni" Ferrell tells the catcher to give him the double-five signal for the "slurge" pitch that he learned in France. Notice how the catcher makes a leaping catch of the ball. Wow - that pitch had movement - it's unhittable. Your browser does not support iframes. Watch Will Ferrell warmup for the Dodgers >> I throw a lot of ground balls.  I'm a ground ball pitcher - pretty much.   - #19 Will Ferrell. source: mlb.com ..

Left Handed Katcher The Ogden Standard-Examiner (Ogden, Utah) 8 Jul 1948 Have you ever heard of a Katcher who also was a pitcher who did his hurling with either his left or his right arm - depending upon the circumstances? Well there is such a gent and he doesn't strangely enough, play for the Brooklyn Dodgers. His name is Ralph Katcher and he is a pitcher for the Lubbock Texas club of the class C West Texas-New Mexico league. It seems that Katcher was a fine southpaw pitcher in his high school days back in Stillwell, Oklahoma. Shortly after graduating from high school in 1942, Katcher entered the service. During the war he injured his left shoulder in a wrestling match in France and when he got back to the states he found he could no longer throw left handed. So the pitching Katcher decided to try pitching with his right arm and he did so well in amateur games around Stillwell, OK that he was signed by Texarkansas, Texas of the Class B Big State league....

Oakland A's Ambidextrous pitcher Pat Venditte threw with both arms in a Cactus League opener against the SF Giants on March 3, 2015. Venditte begins spring by recording an out with each arm A's hurler shows off switch-pitching skills in Cactus opener by Jane Lee / MLB.com MESA AZ -- What has become a routine act for Pat Venditte is an astonishing sight for those watching him. The A's switch-pitcher introduced himself to Cactus League on Tuesday, recording two outs against the Giants -- one with each arm -- as fans, and even teammates, ooed and aahed. Read more and watch the video A's switch pitcher Pat Venditte impresses again By Susan Slusser, SF Gate, Thursday, March 5, 2015 Mesa, Ariz. - Along with starter Barry Zito, the A’s had their other unusual non-roster pitcher in action on Thursday. Ambidextrous reliever Pat Venditte followed Zito, working the third inning, and he retired the top three men in the Cubs order, Dexter Fowler, Anthony Rizzo...

Ambidextrous Paul by Eddie Evin, Jr. The Index-Journal (Greenwood, South Carolina), 15 Jun 1954 Paul Richards, manager of the Chicago White Sox of the American League, is definitely after the world's championship this year and will say so at the slightest mention of a flag. ... All his pitchers are identified on the roster as either right-handers or left-handers. None, it is safe to assume is ambidextrous the way a certain Paul Rapier Richards had bee in his youth. "Oh, that," he says with a chuckle. This seemed as good a spot as any to pin down that monstrous fable Legend had it that Richards, a switch pitcher, had matched wits with a switch hitter. So tenuous was this tale that one version gave the locale as Waxahatchie High in a Texas schoolboy game and the other as with Muskogee in the old Western Association. "Both versions are correct." drawled Paul, his brown eyes twinkling. "It happened first at Waxahatchie but no one ever heard...

Goal Lines by Mit Maloney The Bryan (Texas) Daily Eagle, 25 Mar 1947 Switch Pitcher Roy Gibbens - ace of the Texas Aggie pitching staff  Switch Pitcher as well as switch batter is Roy Gibbens, ace of the Aggie pitching staff this spring. His left handed hurling developed when in grade school at LaPryor he hurt his right arm elbow and doctors told him he was through. So he took to throwing with his left. But he kept working with his right arm and eventually the old snap came back and he starred in high school baseball to such a degree that baseball scouts signed him for professional ball at the tender age of 16. His professional career was brief, however, and after a few appearances in the Arizona-Texas league he was given his unconditional release He returned to high school, but was ineligible for sports, so kept in trim with sandlot ball, still throwing with both arms. Was came and he enlisted in the marines, where he served with distinction, and rose to ...

Nicknames: Eddie, Ed,  Kickapoo Ed, Chief Ed Summers pitched for the Tigers Born: 5 Dec 1884 in Ladoga, Indiana Died:  12 May 1953 in Indianapolis, Indiana College: Wabash College, Crawfordsville, IN Team: Detroit Tigers 1908-1912 Batted: Both Threw: Both (primarily pitched Right-handed) Height: 6'2" Weight: 180 lbs Win-loss Record: 68-45 (.602) ERA: 2.42 Strikeouts: 362 Ed Summers, was one of baseball’s first knuckleballers. The ambidextrous Summers is recognized in one article as the " Father of the Finger-tip Knuckleball ". During his baseball career, Summers was commonly nicknamed Kickapoo Ed (after the Kickapoo   tribe in Indiana).  In his 1908 rookie season , Ed Summers emerged as the Tigers' best pitcher, finishing with a 1.64  ERA  in 301  innings pitched  and a 24–12 win-loss record. The following year, Summers threw 282 innings – finishing with a solid 19-9 record and 2.24 ERA.  He tallied...

York Castoff Is Switch Pitcher Harrisburg Telegraph (Harrisburg, PA) 8 Jun 1944 Jimmy Wadlow , 22-year-old pitcher who can throw from either port or starboard, is trying to make up his mind whether to be right or lefthanded when he tries out with Sacramento of the Pacific Coast League. Wadlow is registered as a righthander but he always has carried a pretty fair spare tire in his southpaw, even before he broke his right arm serving up a fast pitch in 1941. "I've got a lot more speed and a better curve when I'm a southpaw," said Jimmy while visiting his parents here. "But my control is bad from the port side." Read more .

Earl Jacobson - University of California Bear Nine Has Two-handed Pitcher Oakland Tribune,  6 feb 1927 An Ambidextrous pitcher of high calibre is one of the leading candidates for a hurlers' job on the University of California, according to Coach Carl Zamloch. Earl Jacobson, from last year's freshman diamond nine, is a right-handed hurler who can put a glove on his other hand and throw them almost as well. Zamlock declares that he will attempt to develop Jacobson's talens along this line, pointing out the deceptive value against a left-handed batter. Read more .

Ambidextrous Youth from Kinston Gave Griffith a Surprise The High Point Enterprise (NC) 12 Aug 1915 According to a story in the Washington POst of yesterday morning, a young North Carolinian has exhibited something to Clark Griffith, manager of the Washington team, that the astute leader, dubbed the "Fox," admits he never witnessed before. The youngster who opened Griffith's eyes is Will Lewis, and his home is at Kinston. The story of young Lewis, an  ambidextrous thrower, as it appeared in the Post, is as follows: "Two young pitchers worked for the Nationals in batting practice yesterday: Brazil, from New Jersey came here upon recommendation from one of Griffith's friends. He is a left-hander and did not make a very favorable impression. He is tho return home today. The other youngster was Will Lewis, from Kinston, N.C. He is here on a vacation with his brother and is one of the freaks of baseball. Lewis went to the ball yard early and asked M...

Maybe. Being a switch will make coaches take notice, especially if you can consistently hit the ball hard from both sides. Switch hitters are rare in high school - maybe 1 to 2% can switch hit. A good HS switch hitter is very rare since most guys don't get enough reps from both sides of the plate - during games. Looking at the college rosters there is an average of one switch hitter per team (out of 35 players) in Division 1. Vanderbilt has 4 switch hitters and they won the College World Series in 2014. Why are switch hitters rare ? Learn about switch hitters at all levels. On the decline of switch hitters in the MLB ... "The real decline that seemingly has led to an increase in reliance on left-handed hitting is the decline in switch-hitting . Back in 1994, 20% of all plate appearances went to switch-hitters, but that total was just 14% last year, continuing a long-term trend away from allocating at-bats to guys who hit from both sides of the plate."...

By Rob Gloster, AP Sports Writer, Indiana Gazette, 15 May 1987 Greg Harris has spent parts of 13 major league seasons as a right-handed pitcher. He appeared in a team-record 80 games for the Red Sox last season, all as a righty. But he longs to also pitch as a lefty in the majors, and says he is confident his switch-pitching ability could be effective. He would switch to his left hand to face a left-handed batter. "The point is it's for one batter," he said. "I haven't done this to make a joke out of the game. I'm serious about it." Read more Found on Newspapers.com .