Friday, June 05, 2015

Major League Baseball's First (Full-Time) Switch-Pitcher of the Modern Era!

Now here is some awesome news: Pat Venditte, the first (full-time) switch-pitcher of the modern era, was called up to the Majors today by the Oakland Athletics. Sweet!

Now you might be wondering what would happen if Venditte goes up against a switch-hitting batter? Well, there is a rule as to how much each of them is allowed to switch during a given at-bat (possibly because of this hilarious incident, which you definitely want to watch). Back when I was growing up, Greg Harris once pitched using both arms in one game, but for Venditte this is a regular thing. So awesome!

(And tip of the cap to Pravesh Patel for the link to the video on YouTube.)

Update (6/09/15): And for his next trick, perhaps Venditte will also try pitching underwater. (Tip of the cap to Jonathan Adams for this link.)

Update (3/19/18): Tony Mullane was a pre-20th century switch pitcher. (Thanks to Tom Maccarone for that information.)

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