Pat Venditte

Pat Venditte
New York Yankees – No. --
Relief pitcher
Born: June 30, 1985 (1985-06-30) Omaha, Nebraska
Bats: Right	Throws: Switch

Patrick Michael Venditte Jr. (born June 30, 1985 in Omaha, Nebraska) is an American baseball player. He is a minor league baseball player currently in the New York Yankees organization. After attending Creighton University, the Yankees drafted Venditte in 2008. He currently pitches for the Class-AA Trenton Thunder in the Eastern League.

Venditte is a "switch pitcher", meaning he can throw and pitch proficiently with either arm. He is recognized as the only active professional pitcher who is able to do this. Venditte's rare ability to pitch with either arm required minor league baseball to create a rule for ambidextrous pitchers, known colloquially as the "Pat Venditte Rule".

Early life

One of four children of Pat Sr. and Janet Venditte, Pat Jr. was born on June 30, 1985 in Omaha, Nebraska Pat Sr. noticed his son's ambidexterity when Pat Jr. was three years old, and encouraged vigorous ambidextrous athletic training throughout Pat Jr.'s childhood. Toward this end, the Venditte backyard included astroturf, a batting cage, a radar gun, and a pitching machine. In addition to training both arms from a young age, Pat Jr. practiced punting footballs with both legs to establish the leg motion needed when pitching with each arm.

Venditte used both arms when playing in little league which sometimes caused him to be confused for twins. In high school, Venditte played for Omaha Central High School, achieving a 5-4 record his senior year and All-Nebraska second team honors.

College career

Venditte joined the Creighton Bluejays in 2005 as a walk-on. Creighton head coach Ed Servais did not allow Venditte to pitch with both arms during his five appearances his freshman year fearing the spectacle would become a "circus" . However, Venditte has regularly used both arms in collegiate play since his sophomore year in which he attained a 3.02 ERA in 62.2 innings. In his junior year, Venditte appeared in 36 of Creighton's 58 games before going into the 2007 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament. His opponents batting average of .185 was the fourth best in the nation, and he achieved an 1.85 ERA. At one point during the season, Venditte had a streak of 43⅔ scoreless innings. In the 2007 season, Venditte earned first-team all-conference honors for the Missouri Valley Conference and led Creighton to its first conference championship in which he was named the tournament MVP. On May 28, 2007, Collegiate Baseball named Venditte the national player of the week. He was named to the All-American third team for the 2007 season. Venditte was also voted Midwest Region Pitcher of the Year by online pitching magazine InsidePitching.com.

On June 8, 2007, the New York Yankees selected Venditte in the 45th round of the 2007 Major League Baseball Draft with the 1345th pick. Venditte was surprised by the pick because he had told all major league scouts that he intended to return to Creighton for his senior year. The Yankees called him during the 30th round of the draft asking him how much it would take to sign him, but Venditte refused to set a price. Ultimately, the Yankees were unable to sign Venditte before the August 15, 2007 signing deadline. Venditte said that he was not quite ready to turn professional and wanted to build velocity with his left arm and add another pitch with his right arm.

Venditte played 2006 summer ball for the Central Illinois Collegiate League's Quincy Gems, and 2007 summer ball for the Wisconsin Woodchucks in the Northwoods League. As the Woodchucks' closer, he had a 4-1 record, 9 saves, a 1.76 ERA, and a .154 opponents' batting average.

He was again drafted by the Yankees in the 2008 Major League Baseball Draft, in the 20th round with the 620th overall pick, and decided to sign.

Professional career

Venditte pitching for the Trenton Thunder left-handed

His initial assignment was to the Staten Island Yankees of the Short-Season New York–Penn League. On June 19, 2008, in his first minor league appearance with Staten Island against the Brooklyn Cyclones, Venditte pitched a scoreless ninth inning for a Yankees win. Before Venditte faced the last Cyclone batter, Ralph Henriquez, a switch-hitter, upon choosing to bat left- or right-handed (with Venditte subsequently choosing to pitch with the same hand), Henriquez would then go to the other side of the plate (and adjust his shin guard—which is worn on the front leg when a batter takes his stance) to regain the advantage. After this had happened several times the teams appealed to the umpiring crew, which ruled that the batter must first select from which side of the plate he intended to hit, and that the pitcher would then be allowed to declare with which arm he would pitch. Venditte subsequently struck out Henriquez, who slammed his bat against the dirt, to end the game. A film of the incident received notoriety on the Internet and the tale was recounted in a number of places, including within the baseball compendium Rollie's Follies.

Venditte completed the 2008 season with 23 saves in 30 appearances with a 0.83 ERA. His performance earned him a spot on the New York–Penn League All-Star team and the Minor League Baseball Yearly Award for Best Short-Season Reliever.

For the 2009 season, he was assigned to the Charleston RiverDogs of the Class A South Atlantic League. He was promoted to the Tampa Yankees of the Class A Advanced Florida State League on June 26, 2009. He finished the regular season with a 2.21 ERA and 2 saves in 21 appearances. In October, Venditte pitched for Águilas del Zulia in the Venezuelan Winter League.

Venditte pitched for the Yankees in a spring training game against the Atlanta Braves on March 30, 2010, giving up one earned run on two hits and a walk in 1 ¹⁄₃ innings. He started the 2010 season in Tampa, posting a 1.73 ERA through 72 ²⁄₃ innings in 41 appearances. On August 31, 2010 Venditte was promoted to the Class AA Trenton Thunder of the Eastern League.

Though Venditte is considered a fan favorite and has excellent minor league numbers, he is not considered a top prospect because of his age and underwhelming fastball velocity. Though Venditte was eligible to be selected in the Rule 5 draft during the 2011–12 offseason, the Yankees chose not to protect him. However, he was not chosen by any MLB team.

During the 2011-12 offseason, Venditte pitched in the Mexican Pacific League.

Pitching style

When using his right arm, Venditte delivers over the top and can throw a curveball as well as a fastball at around 87 miles per hour (140 km/h) that tops out at 94 miles per hour (151 km/h). His left-handed delivery is side-armed in which he throws a slider and a significantly slower fastball. Venditte uses a custom made six-fingered glove with a thumb-hole on each side allowing him to easily switch back and forth. He generally pitches with his right arm against right-handed batters and left-handed against left-handed batters which minimizes his opponent's advantage when strategically ordering batters in the line-up based on which side of the plate they hit from. Furthermore, by splitting his pitches between his arms, he is able to pitch longer than traditional pitchers before becoming fatigued.

The Pat Venditte Rule

Venditte's rare ambidextrous abilities prompted the Professional Baseball Umpire Corporation (PBUC) to issue a new rule for dealing with ambidextrous pitchers, limiting the number of times that a switch-pitcher and switch-hitter can change sides during one at-bat. After consulting with a variety of sources, including the Major League Baseball Rules Committee, the PBUC issued its new guidelines on July 3, 2008. 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 with which arm he will throw. The batter will then choose which side of the plate he will bat from.
• The pitcher is not permitted to pitch with the other hand until the batter is retired, the batter becomes a runner, the inning ends, the batter is substituted for by a pinch-hitter or the pitcher incurs an injury.
• 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.

See also

• Greg A. Harris, the only "switch-pitcher" in major-league baseball's modern era

External links

• Career statistics and player information from The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• YouTube: CSTV Segment on Pat Venditte
• YouTube: Pat Venditte earning his 23rd save (SI Yankees record)
• Player profile on riverdogs.com
• Pat Venditte Fan Club
• E:60 Pat Venditte
• Pat Venditte - MiLB statistics