Comments on: An ambidextrous pitcher is turning some heads

By: mtorresbaseball

mtorresbaseball — Sat, 26 May 2012 02:56:46 +0000

Switch pitching is not a novelty as most baseball fans might believe.

Northern California ambidextrous pitcher, Alexander Trautner, 16U varsity pitcher at San Ramon Valley High School in Danville, CA has been switch-pitching competively since his youth in the local little league (DLL-District 57) and throughout his travel ball career.

By: dmazzott

dmazzott — Tue, 24 May 2011 03:11:14 +0000

How’d he like them apples?

By: bigleagues

bigleagues — Tue, 24 May 2011 00:40:16 +0000

How does Greg A. Harris not get a mention anywhere on this? He’s the only pitcher in the modern era to actually pitch in major leagues games with each arm.

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Greg_Harris_%28pitcher,_born_1955%29

By: CJ

CJ — Mon, 23 May 2011 21:06:25 +0000

shockingly, this came up in the minors I believe last year. Pitcher must declare first, then batter may decide.

By: spudchukar

spudchukar — Mon, 23 May 2011 20:56:43 +0000

Make this guy a reliever. The starting option won’t fly, because you use the same legs, and because of that he wouldn’t be able to start that much more often. But as a reliever, he would be dynamite, always going righty/righty, lefty/lefty, and Lord knows how many appearances he could produce.

By: oikosjeremy

oikosjeremy — Mon, 23 May 2011 20:55:15 +0000

So what’s the rule if he faces a switch hitter, and the hitter wants to keep switching sides every time the pitcher switches hands, and vice-versa? What’s the rule the forces one or both of them to make a choice so that a pitch can be thrown?

By: kopy

kopy — Mon, 23 May 2011 20:44:24 +0000

Not anymore!

By: marshmallowsnake

marshmallowsnake — Mon, 23 May 2011 20:32:53 +0000

Harvard has good pitchers?

By: evanhartford

evanhartford — Mon, 23 May 2011 20:32:13 +0000

I think its still a novelty because its so new. It will become a pattern as more and more switch pitchers start maturing. All it takes is one “Michael Vick” type player to come along and suddenly it will be the talk of the town. However, just like in football, this person is going to have to be a great pitcher (quarterback) first and a switch pitcher (scrambler) second, not the other way around.

I mean, in theory, a switch pitcher could spend nearly the same amount of time practicing with both arms as a traditional pitcher assuming they take a few days off to rest their respective arm(s).

Where it gets REALLY exciting is imagining a starting pitcher that could pitch every other day or perhaps back to back games. They could also pitch well over 100 pitches per night and could switch based on the batter’s preference. Imagine the value of a pitcher (even if they were the 4th man in your rotation), that could do that.

By: cur68

cur68 — Mon, 23 May 2011 20:32:07 +0000

Ricky you’d never need to buy your own beers with stories like that.

By: RickyB

RickyB — Mon, 23 May 2011 20:16:58 +0000

I faced an ambidextrous pitcher in college. He pitched for Harvard, threw right-handed against Duke on a Monday, then left-handed against us on Wednesday. I hit a one-hopper right off his noggin that caromed into center field, and I always say I nearly knocked out two of Harvard’s pitchers with one shot!

By: Craig Calcaterra

Craig Calcaterra — Mon, 23 May 2011 20:11:40 +0000

My bad. You’re right. I didn’t look closely, just saw the seasons. Will correct.

By: kopy

kopy — Mon, 23 May 2011 20:11:25 +0000

So THIS is why the Twins are dropping two-thirds of their games. Seriously though, I encourage the use of working both arms. I’d hate to see him stop one to work on the other, because at this point you wouldn’t know which arm is good enough to get you to the show.

Plus, he may have to get Tommy John surgery someday, which would result in him just switching to the other arm exclusively while he recovers.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 23 May 2011 20:07:45 +0000

Craig, Pat Venditte had pitched only 2 innings in AA before this season. I don’t think it’s fair to say that he’s “repeating” the level.