Saturday night's game was a relief, with McClung enjoying a great outing, the bats turning back on (though just barely enough, with too many left stranded) and a jam-packed ballpark. Good to be going into today's game with the possibility of a series win.
But while I love the Brewers, the coolest baseball news this week, to me, isn't about them. It's about Pat Venditte, the Yankees' new Class-A pitcher.
If you haven't read much about Pat, you should check out this article. You've heard of switch-hitters, well this guy is a switch-pitcher. Says Sporting News:
He brings a different arsenal of pitches and style of delivery from each side. He throws overhand from the right side and three-quarters and sidearm from the left. "From the right side I rely a little more on a power game," he said. "From the left side, I rely more on off-speed pitches and locating with my fastball, curveball and predominantly a slider from a three-quarters angle. That's what I threw mostly in college."
Most interesting of all is what will happen to baseball if he makes it to the majors. He already has a custom-made glove with four fingers and two thumbs, so he can change on the fly.
But how often is it OK to change? There's a great video here of what happened in Thursday's game when he came up against a switch hitter in the bottom of the 9th. Watch it - it's fascinating!
One of the things I love about baseball is all the intricate rules. It's just that much more fun to find a situation where the rules haven't even been written yet.
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