Pat Venditte

Pat Venditte is unique in MLB history as the only pitcher who specialized in throwing with both arms. Think about it. Most pitchers devote years of hard work to build up one arm, forget two. Venditte had two Major League quality pitching arms. 

One of four children, Patrick Michael Venditte Jr. was born on June 30, 1985 in Omaha, Nebraska. Originally a righthander, he threw with both arms in little league and was sometimes mistaken as identical twins. Funny, they never saw both twins at the same time… At any rate, his father encouraged his pitching style and it helped him to much success, as he could gain the platoon advantage against essentially every batter he faced. Although he pitched in little league and high school, he played college baseball mostly as a catcher. However, he returned to the mound as a pro and slowly made his way to the Majors. 

Venditte played eight seasons in the minors, plus three seasons in winter ball, before he made the Majors. He made his MLB debut for the A’s on June 5, 2015, shortly before his 30th birthday, and threw two scoreless innings against the Red Sox. 

During his first season in the minors (2008), Venditte and switch hitter Ralph Henriquez engaged in a very interesting test of wills. Since neither player wanted to give up the platoon advantage, they repeatedly switched sides, which caused a seven minute delay. When the umpires finally had things sorted out, Venditte pitched righthanded to Henriquez, batting righthanded, and struck him out. This exchange prompted a change in the rules, which is effective in the Majors as well. Rule 8.01 reads, 

A pitcher must indicate visually to the umpire-in-chief, the batter and any runners the hand with which he intends to pitch, which may be done by wearing his glove on the other hand while touching the pitcher's rubber. 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. In the event a pitcher switches pitching hands during an at-bat because he has suffered an injury, the pitcher may not, for the remainder of the game, pitch with the hand from which he has switched. The pitcher shall not be given the opportunity to throw any preparatory pitches after switching pitching hands. Any change of pitching hands must be indicated clearly to the umpire-in-chief. 

Venditte bounced around in the Majors, pitching for six teams in his five seasons. While he had a mediocre 4.73 ERA, Venditte allowed only 7.7 hits per nine innings for his career. After he was left off the Marlins’ postseason roster in 2020 (having pitched only 4 ⅓ innings during the season), he decided to call it quits. 

Although he wasn’t around for very long and didn’t have a very successful Big League career, Venditte is certainly worth remembering. In this day and age a good switch pitcher doesn’t come around every day. It was a joy to watch him pitch. 

Venditte’s six fingered glove