March 04--MESA, Ariz. -- Here's something you don't see every day: an ambidextrous pitcher.
A's switch-pitcher Pat Venditte managed to record outs with both arms on Tuesday in the A's Cactus League win over the Giants.
Venditte, an ambidextrous reliever from Creighton, induced a groundout pitching right-handed to Justin Maxwell to end the third and got a called strikeout pitching left-handed against Brandon Belt to start the fourth.
Before bringing Venditte into the game, A's manager Bob Melvin had to ask plate umpire Mike Everitt an unusual question about signaling in his unique reliever.
"I go: 'Look, I don't know how many guys we've got up down there, but I've got a switch-pitcher coming in, so I don't know what arm to use," Melvin said. "Just want to left you know."
Venditte is trying to make the A's roster and become the first switch-pitcher in a major league game since 1985, when Greg Harris, an Expos right-hander, switched to his left hand in during an inning against the Reds in one of the final games of his career.
On Tuesday, Venditte warmed up right-handed to start the fourth, then switched the glove and warmed up left-handed to face the left-handed hitting Belt. He uses a custom-made, six fingered glove with a thumb hole on each side and switches from his left to right hand, or vice-versa.
"We really were only going to have him clean up an inning and that was it, or have a full inning," Melvin said. "But you just couldn't resist (using him from both sides). You knew he was going to come out a left-hander the next inning. It's good both ways. Even the umpires were saying- 'Hey, it's not a gimmick. This guy's got pretty good stuff. (Everitt) asked me 'You got any more guys like that over there I have to beware of?'
"It's fun, and I know for him to be able to get in there the first game, too, and get an out right-handed and get an out left-handed."
