Pat Venditte’s Major League Debut a Bright Spot in A’s Loss
Entering Friday’s game with the Boston Red Sox, the Oakland Athletics owned a 4.86 bullpen ERA, the worst mark in the big leagues. They needed some relief help. Enter Pat Venditte.
Venditte, the ambidextrous pitching phenom, was having a great season with the Nashville Sounds, Oakland’s Triple-A affiliate. In 17 games and 33 innings, he posted a 1.36 ERA and .970 WHIP. He had allowed 19 hits, and just one home run. It was a perfect fit for the A’s: a reliever who could get righties and lefties out to calm their bullpen madness.
To bring Venditte up to the major league roster, the A’s transferred Coco Crisp to the 60-day disabled list, allowing them to select his contract and put him on the 40-man roster. They then optioned reliever Dan Otero (6.29 ERA and 1.479 WHIP in 24.1 innings), allowing Venditte to take his spot on the active roster.
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In the seventh inning, with the Athletics trailing 4-2, Venditte would enter his first major league game, making his debut in front of friends and family. When he threw his first pitch, he became the first full-time switch-pitcher in the MLB’s modern era.
The first batter he faced was the left-handed hitting Brock Holt, so Venditte placed his double-thumbed glove on his right hand to throw with his left. He showed a nice frisbee slider falling way away from Holt, and he eventually recorded his first career out on a groundball to first baseman Mark Canha.
The next batter was the right-handed hitting Hanley Ramirez, so Venditte switched his glove hand again, receiving a perplexed look from Ramirez in the process. Ramirez would single into left field on the second pitch of the at-bat. The next batter was right-hander Mike Napoli, and on the very first pitch, the sidewinding Venditte forced Napoli to bounce a ball to the second baseman, starting the inning-ending double play. He threw 10 pitches in his first inning of work.
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Venditte would take the mound again in the eighth, and continue to throw with his right hand against Xander Boegarts. After a nine-pitch battle, where Venditte showed off a nice right-handed slider, Boegarts eventually bounced out to short. Right-hander Mookie Betts followed with a meager flyball to right field.
Venditte’s final batter of the night would be his most interesting. For the first time in Major League Baseball history, we saw the implementation of the “Pat Venditte Rule“, as he faced switch-hitter Blake Swihart. As per the rule, Venditte has to declare with which arm he will throw, then the batter must do the same, and they can’t change, unless an injury or substitution were to occur.
Venditte declared his right arm as the one he would use, and Swihart, in an effort to gain the platoon advantage, batted left-handed. Venditte would win the battle despite the perceived disadvantage, collecting his first career strikeout with a 73 mile per hour changeup.
Overall, Venditte threw 28 pitches (18 strikes) in his two innings of work, seven (four strikes) as a lefty and 21 (14 strikes) as a righty.
At less than a month away from 30 years old, Venditte wasn’t some hot shot prospect who tore the minor leagues, dominating his way to the major leagues in a short time. Far from that, actually. Venditte spent eight years perfecting his craft in the minor leagues, including seven years in the New York Yankees’ organization, and appeared in 259 minor league games before finally getting his first big league call-up.
Now that he’s finally in the major leagues, Venditte has a legitimate chance to find a role in the Athletics’ bullpen, beyond just a few appearances. In all the dysfunction the A’s have experienced, a pitcher that can go multiple innings and get hitters out from both sides of the plate can be a great asset.
Though he may seem like a novelty act, Venditte is much more. He’s a very good pitcher, and he may just be a huge help to the Athletics’ bullpen.