SWB Yankees Spring Training Recap

A recap of what's been happening in recent SWB Yankee spring training games courtesy of Mike Vander Woude of the Above the Plate Blog.

Yesterday Jason Hirsh threw 4 shut out innings against the Indianapolis Indians (Pirates). He needed to throw only 39 pitches as he continues to build up arm strength for the upcoming season. The Yanks are being careful with Hirsh who has had some injury problems in the past and is projected to be in the SWB starting rotation. He is hoping to be at about 100 pitches before he breaks camp and will probably stay down in Tampa an extra week.

Mark Melancon picked up the win and Pat Venditte (who is ambidextrous) earned the save. Mike had a few interesting thoughts about the unique Venditte's performance yesterday in his blog post:

"I've seen switch hitters but never a switch pitcher. He faced six hitters, four as a lefty and two as a right hander. He has more of a conventional over the top motion as a righty and as a lefty is a side arm guy. He has a specially designed glove that allows him to switch hands and the most amazing thing is that he looks as equally comfortable regardless of what hand he throws with. The velocity seems a little higher as a righty but it doesn't seem to be a huge difference. Certainly from a pitching standpoint, he is the most unique weapon in all of baseball at any level with his ability to change it up from right to left. Watching him for an inning today has been the baseball highlight of the trip thus far."

The 25 year old Venditte, drafted by the Yanks in 2008, finished in High-A Tampa last year. It's unclear where he will be this year. I don't think he is considered a high level prospect mainly because he doesn't have much of a fastball (tops out at around 87 mph), but he has been slowly moving up the system. I sure hope he gets a shot with Trenton or SWB at some point this year, I would love to see him pitch. Consider the potential stalemate when the "switch pitcher" faces a switch hitter.

In fact The Professional Baseball Umpire Corporation (PBUC) released its official rules for dealing with ambidextrous pitchers, let's call it the Venditte Rule:

The pitcher must visually indicate to the umpire, batter and runner(s) which way he will begin pitching to the batter. Engaging the rubber with the glove on a particular hand is considered a definitive commitment to which arm he will throw with. The batter will then choose which side of the plate he will bat from. The pitcher must throw one pitch to the batter before any “switch” by either player is allowed. After one pitch is thrown, the pitcher and batter may each change positions one time per at-bat. For example, if the pitcher changes from right-handed to left-handed and the batter then changes batter’s boxes, each player must remain that way for the duration of that at-bat (unless the offensive team substitutes a pinch hitter, and then each player may again “switch” one time). Any switch (by either the pitcher or the batter) must be clearly indicated to the umpire. There will be no warm-up pitches during the change of arms. If an injury occurs the pitcher may change arms but not use that arm again during the remainder of the game.

Back to spring training action, on Friday, SWB was on the road and beat the Indians 4-1 behind the strong pitching of 26 year old Rumulo Sanchez. The righty gave up 1 earned run in 4 innings (57 pitches) with 3 strikeouts against his former teammates. He was hitting 97 MPH on the radar gun. Sanchez, a pick up from Pittsburgh in 2009, was a starter for SWB last year and is likely to join Hirsh in this year's starting rotation. With this prospect the more he pitches the more he impresses.

Quoting Yankees Minor League Pitching Coordinator Nardi Contreras in the Blog: "the more work a pitcher like Sanchez gets, the better he will become. "He is blessed with a powerful arm, a great fastball, power change and a great slider which he threw well this afternoon," Contreras said after Sanchez's outing. "With the continued repetition of working in the bullpen in between starts, he continues to gain experience and better control over all of his pitches."