Ambidextrous pitcher Pat Venditte back in Bay Area with Giants

SAN FRANCISCO - In a sense, Pat Venditte is two people.

When he sits in a corner by himself at Giants media day, you can’t tell. He looks ordinary. A typical 6-foot-1, 185-pound man with thinning brown hair. The type you see every day. Certainly not a major leaguer. Maybe a bat boy, or the guy who takes your blood pressure before you meet the doctor.

In the corner, Venditte keeps his head down and browses through his phone with his right hand. He can’t do much with his left. He’s right-handed.

Except when he pitches.

On the mound, he’s not ordinary. He’s a switch-pitcher - the only one in the major leagues. The second one since 1894. He’s Right-handed Pat and Left-handed Pat. The 33-year-old reliever throws with both arms.

He signed a one-year, $585,000 contract with the Giants this offseason.

“I am two different guys out there,” Venditte said in a soothing, quiet voice. “There are two different mentalities. The pitch grips are different. I even have a couple different pitches right-handed compared to left. So, when I switch hands, I step off the mound for a second, think about what I’m trying do, and then reload into my left-handed delivery or my right-handed delivery.”

This is the story of the two Vendittes:

The beginning

It starts when he was 3 years old.

The native of Omaha, Nebraska, never learned to write or brush his teeth with his left hand. Didn’t care to learn. But when he picked up a ball, one hand wasn’t enough. He had a fixation to throw it equally well with both. And he always could.

“As soon as coach pitch ended in Little League and we were allowed to pitch, I’d switch back and forth,” Venditte said. He was 7 years old. Most kids that age can’t throw over the plate with their dominant arm. And most kids can’t hit, either.

Imagine Young Pat, the future major leaguer, mowing down the left-handed 7-year-olds with his left arm, then mowing down the right-handed 7-year-olds with his right arm. Using advantages kids don’t even need. Giving those whippersnappers no slack.

Who IS this guy?

“I actually had two gloves at the time,” Venditte explained. “One would stay behind the mound, and then I would switch them out. By my second year of pitching, I had a switch glove. I was 8.”

The switch glove

Like Venditte, it almost appears normal. It looks like a six-fingered outfielder’s glove, the one in which the sixth finger is the webbed pocket between the index finger and the thumb.

But, Venditte’s glove has two thumbs and two pockets. It seems fit for a Martian.

“There are two thumbs and four finger slots,” Venditte said. “And it’s pretty evenly shaped. You catch the ball off to the side. You don’t catch it directly in the middle.”

The Mizuno Company originally made an ambidextrous glove for Greg Harris - a 15-year big leaguer and a right-handed pitcher. He could always pitch left-handed, too, and did so for one full inning with the Montreal Expos in 1995 - his final season in the majors. His coaches never let him become a full-time switch-pitcher, because he was so effective right-handed. They didn’t see the need for a switch-pitcher, or the advantage.

“He had that glove before I did,” Venditte said. “So, my dad traced my hands, and faxed the tracings to the company in Osaka, Japan. Three or four months later, I had my first ambidextrous glove.”

He’s had dozens since then. He took them to Creighton, where he played college baseball. He took them to the minors, where he dominated hitters for the better part of 11 years. His career minor-league ERA is a stellar 2.55.

And he has taken them to the majors, where he has played for the A’s, Blue Jays, Mariners and Dodgers. Last season with the Dodgers, he threw 9? scoreless innings during his final 10 games - the best stretch of his major league career.

Now, he takes his Martian gloves to the Giants.

The different Vendittes

“I’m just like every other guy in this room,” Venditte said at media day, looking at his teammates. “Except when it comes time to play catch, I’ve got to do double. I get the same amount of throws in with both arms.”

Venditte doesn’t switch back and forth. He throws a 30-pitch bullpen session with one arm, then another 30-pitch bullpen with the other.

He’s a different pitcher from each side.

“There are different mental trigger points,” Venditte explained. “I have things that I go through during my delivery that are different left-handed compared to right. My release points are different. My arm slots are different - it’s a little bit lower from the left side. I manipulate my breaking pitches differently. My left-handed one, I throw off of my middle finger. My right-handed one, I throw off of my index finger.”

Former A’s right-handed pitcher Jesse Chavez taught Venditte the index-finger method in 2016.

Venditte throws an 85-mph fastball with both arms. That’s where the similarities between the two Vendittes end.

“Left handed, I predominantly throw a fastball and slider,” he said. “From the right side, I throw a fastball, a slider and a changeup sidearm, and then a fastball and changeup overhand.”

Meaning Venditte has one delivery with his left arm, and two distinct deliveries with his right.

In that sense, he’s three people.