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| Spotlight
Player of the Week
Pat Venditte
Creighton University |
When reading the Creighton Bluejay roster you might assume
the proofreader may have accidentally let one slip by after
reading junior middle reliever’s Pat Venditte’s
position. His position is listed as, “LHP/RHP”…
a switch pitcher? In fact, the title is right on the money
as Creighton’s go-to middle reliever is the only known
ambidextrous pitcher in college baseball in 2007.
Venditte’s talent is far from being a lavish publicity
stunt. Last year he had a team-leading 30 appearances with
a 4-3 record and a 3.02 ERA for a Creighton team which made
the national top twenty rankings mid-season. He pitched a
career-high 62.2 innings in 2006 and recorded a team-leading
54 strikeouts.
Despite his unique skill and numerous high school accolades,
Venditte had to talk Creighton coach Ed Servais into letting
him pitch. He finally made the team after walking on, paying
his own way and winning over Servais with his determination
and competitiveness.
Servais openly admits that he was hesitant to have a switch
pitcher on his team, “I didn't want it to be a sideshow.''
Servais said. Even Bluejay teammate senior closer Scott Reese
acknowledged he thought Venditte was an oddity when he first
saw him work. However the novelty has long since worn off.
Venditte’s father, Pat Venditte Sr. came up with the
idea when he was tossing a ball to his son in the backyard
when he was only three. He used special drills to hone his
son's switch pitching which including throwing footballs left-handed
to build strength and muscle memory, and punting footballs
left-footed to develop the leg kick needed for pitching.
Because of his rare talent, Venditte Sr. had to contact Mizuno
and have a tailor-made glove made for this son. Ever since
Venditte Jr. was seven, they have been ordering the custom
mitts at a cost of almost $700 each. Mizuno makes the gloves
in Osaka, Japan from moldings cast from Venditte Jr.’s
hands. The ambidextrous glove has two thumb holes and a pocket
in the middle with four finger holes so he can switch from
hand to hand as needed.
Venditte pitched both left-handed and right-handed in 22
games last year. In more than half of those games (12) he
struck out batters by using both arms. His dad, coaches and
stats seem to agree that Venditte is equally good with both
arms.
His strength is control, not power, as he throws around 80
mph as a lefty and about 85 mph as a righty. Venditte's repertoire
changes with the arm: fastball, curveball, changeup as a righty;
fastball, slider, changeup as a lefty. Curiously, he had an
11.7 strikeouts per nine innings ratio with his left arm despite
being a natural right hander.
Rules require that Venditte must pronounce before each batter
which arm he's going to use before each batter steps into
the box. If a switch hitter is due up, CU pitching Coach Travis
Wyckoff signals which arm to use based on the scouting report.
Because Venditte throws with both arms, it almost is as if
there is an extra player in the Creighton bullpen. "If
another guy throws 30 pitches one day, I know I'm not going
to be able to use him the next day," said coach Servais.
"With Pat, if he throws 30 pitches, and 15 are right-handed
and 15 are left-handed, I know I can come back to him tomorrow."
This past summer Venditte earned MVP honors at the 2006 Central
Illinois Collegiate League All-Star game. He came in and struck
out two batters left-handed before switching and striking
out the last batter right-handed on 10 pitches.
This past weekend Venditte earned a victory for CU, pitching
the final 4.1 innings against the University of Arkansas-Little
Rock. He gave up just one hit and struck out a career-high
10 batters. His performance falls short of the all-time Bluejays’
mark for strikeouts by just four, as Peyton Lewis struck out
14 in 6.1 innings pitched on Apr. 17, 1999 against Missouri
State.
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