Pat Venditte: the Switch Pitcher

Over the years there have been many great switch hitting batters. One of the greatest players of all time, Mickey Mantle, was a switch hitter. The all time hit king Pete Rose hit from both sides of the plate and some more recent perennial All Stars like Chipper Jones, Bernie Williams and Lance Berkman are also great switch hitters. We've seen many ambidextrous batters, but what about pitchers?

There is only one pitcher in Major League Baseball history that has been a "switch pitcher" but currently there is a switch pitcher in college baseball.

Pat Venditte of the Creighton Bluejays has gotten attention lately for his ability to his pitch from both sides. Pat Venditte has improved as his career has gone on and currently has a 3.29 ERA. Pat Venditte is the perfect relief specialist and could be chosen late in the baseball draft simply because of his unique ability.

Often relievers are brought into the game for nothing other than match ups. If your team is in a tight spot and there is a lefty at the plate a manager will often bring in a left handed pitcher to face him. Then if the next batter is right handed they might bring in a right handed pitcher the very next batter. Now you've used two pitchers in just one inning. A pitcher that can switch which arm they pitch with can pitch to both and you won't use as many relievers.

A relief switch pitcher also wouldn't get as tired easily. If you have a switch pitcher he could come out of the bullpen and pitch an inning left handed, the next day he could pitch right handed. Then the next day his left arm won't be tired because it had the day off the day before. Venditte's ability to pitch with both arms allowed him to pitch in two games of a double header earlier this season.

The baseball draft isn't just a few rounds like the NFL or NBA, the baseball draft is 50 rounds. Even if Venditte is not the best reliever in college baseball, having a pitcher that can pitch with both arms would be someone worth taking a shot on in the late rounds of the baseball draft.