Dodgers pitcher, Pat Venditte, joined Rick Monday to talk about how he warms up in order to be able to pitch with both arms.
"It does take a little more preparation and as I get older and advanced in this game, you learn just how important the mental side of things are and for me especially throughout my delivery I have different checkpoints you know with my left compared to my right. Each day presents a different set of challenges that I work through to find out where my release point is going to be that day maybe what I am doing with my front side, the back side it's just something that you work out in the pre-game and on the bullpen mound."
Venditte says that being a switch-pitcher was never a goal of his and that it was a natural instinct when he was young.
"It started when I was three years old. To me it was just playing in the backyard with my dad. It wasn't something that you even think about you know you just switch the glove over and go. As you get older you realize that there is more that goes into it and you know what you have to do to get the ball where you want it go. But because I was able to start at that age I was able to it because in life I cannot do anything else left handed."
Being able to pitch with both pitch with both arms makes Venditte a special pitcher. However in order to do so, he needed a special glove to accommodate his unique talent.
"You know Greg Harris was a right handed pitcher who was able to pitch in one or two big league games with his left hand and he had the glove from the Mizuno company in the early 90s. My dad faxed the company in Osaka, Japan where the headquarters was and just traced my hand. So they had the trace of my hand and about two months later I had my first ambidextrous glove and I have been getting those for the last 25 years."
Photo: Getty Images