Pat Venditte: Switch Pitcher

Pat Venditte is a switch relief pitcher for the Tampa Yankees in the Florida State League who has a 1-0 record and 1.73 ERA.

He is unique in that he can throw from both the left and right side. This enables him to switch to the side that gives him the advantage over the batter.  It really gets interesting when he faces a switch hitter—he needs to know which side a switch hitter hits the worst from to have the advantage in that situation.

The Yankees selected Venditte in the 20th round of the 2008 draft as their 620th overall pick. They had previously drafted him in 2007 in the 45th round as their 1,345th pick.

Venditte pitched collegiate baseball for Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, where he compiled a 21-8 record. He was born in Omaha on June 30, 1985.

He has struck out 62 batters in 52 innings while walking 10. Opposing hitters are only batting .183 against him, and he has given up just 34 hits and two home runs with an excellent WHIP of 0.84.

His minor league lifetime numbers are also very impressive with a 6-2 record, a 1.60 ERA, and a 0.91 WHIP. He has struck out 191 in 152 innings while walking only 31, and he has only given up 108 hits.

The question is: Why is Venditte pitching in A-ball for the third straight season? His numbers are great across the board, and he is striking out 11.3 batters per nine innings, walking only 1.7 batters per nine innings, and allowing 0.4 home runs per nine innings.

He has proven that he's more than just a novelty pitcher who throws from both sides. He needs to be promoted to see how he fares past A-ball. At the age of 25 he deserves a chance to pitch for the Yankees someday if he continues to have success at the minor league level.

At the rate he's going now he may not reach the majors till 2011 or 2012. He will probably be 26 or 27 if or when he is called up to the majors. So time is not on Venditte’s side, but the Yankees could at least promote him before the end of this season.