The Dodgers have selected the contract of ambidextrous reliever Pat Venditte from Triple-A Oklahoma City, per a team announcement. They sent right-hander Brock Stewart to OKC in a corresponding move.
Venditte earned his promotion with a stellar start this year in the minors, where he has pitched to a 1.53 ERA with 9.68 K/9, 3.06 BB/9 and a 50 percent groundball rate over 17 2/3 innings. The 32-year-old is now set for his first major league action since 2016, when he combined for 22 frames of 5.73 ERA ball between Seattle and Toronto. Venditte, who previously debuted with Oakland in 2015, has logged 50 2/3 innings in the majors and recorded a 4.97 ERA with 7.46 K/9, 4.09 BB/9 and a 36.2 percent grounder mark.
While Venditte clearly hasn’t posted great stats in the majors, the fact that he’s able to pitch from both sides makes him a standout. It’s worth noting that Venditte has been far more successful as a southpaw than as a right-hander, having held lefty-swingers to a .179/.242/.366 line and given up a .277/.380/.523 slash to righties.
The return of the switch pitcher!
I love Pat Venditte! Go Pat Go!!
This could go either way.
#gotheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeem
Well played Rickey.
Give em the heater Ricky!!
Hopefully the newspaper headline avoids using the word “amphibious” this time.
2 for the price of one
What second basemen was able to do this back in the late 80s?
Habeebo?
Wow didn’t realize he’s 32 now. Hoping he sticks this time around, very cool what he can do
Admittedly small MLB sample size, but I wonder with those splits whether Venditte eventually may try throwing LH against both left- and right-handed hitters.
At 32 I assume his lot is set; he’s an ambidextrous pitcher for better or worse. FWIW, Venditte’s a natural right-hander, as in, he writes right-handed.
I wonder if that’s why he is more successful as a lefty? Unnatural range of motion that makes it difficult for batters to predict.
Yeah, or his arm is just in better shape from that side.
Writing right-handed doesn’t make you a natural righty. I know several people who should have been left-handed that were forced to write right-handed in school.
I’m glad that didn’t happen to me because I’m super left-handed. There’s very little I can do well as a righty
What happens when he faces a switch hitter?
The hitter gets the first choice about which side he bats from, then Venditte gets to pick.
Which is very dumb. They definitely need to encourage the novelty of switch-pitchers and give them an advantage by making the hitter go first.
Wrong, Venditte has to pick first. Then the batter gets to pick.
He has th choose what arm he’s throwing with first
Oh okay. I remembered it wrong.
Why hasn’t Venditte been getting paid in Korea or Japan?
32 years old.
His stuff isn’t especially well suited for those leagues. If he just wants to get paid as a novelty act he can do that when he’s 40.
The way things are going, they should also have him hit.
If only Ohtani could emulate Venditte, he’d truly be the Swiss Army knife of the major leagues in every way. I’m rooting for Pat to succeed on the mound, but right now the Dodgers need an offensive boost, so let’s see what he can do with the bat.