Pat Venditte: Pitcher For The Staten Island Yankees

Have you heard of Pat Venditte? He pitches for the Yankees Class A affiliate in Staten Island, NY.

Big deal, you say? Uh, yeah! Pat Venditte is a switch pitcher. He pitches both right-handed and left-handed. He made his professional debut Thursday night when he came in to pitch the bottom of the 9th inning against the Brooklyn Cyclones, the Mets Class A affiliate. According to MLB.com, Venditte got the first two outs on ground balls, then gave up a single. The next batter was switch-hitting Ralph Henriquez. What happened next was sheer comedy: Venditte, who uses a custom-made six-fingered glove (see photo, above), switched it to throw with his left hand. Seeing that, Henriquez moved over to the right side of the plate. It went on like this for a few minutes, the two players switching back and forth, until the umpires stepped in and, eventually, Henriquez batted right against Venditte throwing right. Henriquez struck out on three pitches to end the game.

I wish I had been at that park in Brooklyn to see that! I've seen footage of it, and if this doesn't go down as one of the all-time funniest baseball videos I don't know what will. I'm sure the New York Penn League will make sure nothing like this happens again, though, so the fun stopped Thursday night, at Keyspan Park in Brooklyn, New York.

The Lady

[Photo: George Napolitano]

It's Fine, Until Someone Loses An Eye...

...or their life.

Of all the decisions made by MLB GMs this week in Orlando, the most important one might just be the decision to have first and third bases coaches wear helmuts next season. Obviously a reaction to the tragic death of Mike Coolbaugh (left), the GMs don't want to see another coach lose his life on the playing field.

This is good news and it should be applauded. But why do these changes always happen after someone is killed? I'm of the opinion that pitchers should wear some type of helmut as well, and I know I'm not the only one who feels this way. Why can't it be done? A simple grandfather clause is all it takes: If you're a pitcher and you didn't wear a helmut before, say, 2009, you can continue to go helmutless. Otherwise, you must wear a helmut on the mound.

Pretty simple, yes? Why wouldn't MLB and the Players Association go along with something like that? Why should it have to take the death of pitcher before a change is made? It should be done and it should be done as soon as possible.

The Lady

The Final Frontier For Danny Almonte?

From Deadspin: Danny Almonte, notorious for that Little League World Series scandal several years ago, has been released by the Southern Illinois Miners, the independent minor league team he'd been playing for this year.

Earlier this year when I heard about Almonte beginning his pro career in the Frontier League, I was happy for him and full of hope for his future. Contrary to what a lot of people seem to believe, I don't think that whole LLWS debacle was all his fault. What will happen to him now? All anyone can (and should) do is hope for the best.

The Lady

New Frontiers For Danny Almonte

Remember Danny Almonte, the kid who led his 2001 Little League team to a third place finish, only to be disqualified when it was revealed that, at 14 years of age, he was too old to compete? Well today Almonte is a professional baseball player, for the Southern Illinois Minors of the independent Frontier League.

After his and his team's disqualification, Almonte returned to his Bronx, NY home. Eventually, he ended up pitching for James Monroe High School. While he was there the team won two Public School Athletic League championships. In 2004 he was named MVP of the title game.

In his last year at Monroe news reports filled the local papers about how big a prospect Almonte was. Supposedly, scouts of several teams were looking at him, including scouts from the Yankees. I'm not sure what came of all that scouting. The only other thing I remember hearing about him that year was that he got married, to a woman about a decade older than he was.

In a story on ESPN.com, Miners manager Mike Pinto was quoted as saying, "Danny is a nice addition to our pitching staff. Two different major league scouts, whose opinions I value greatly, gave me excellent reports after seeing him throw recently. There are not too many young lefties with his quality of stuff sitting out there. He has a 90s-plus fastball and an excellent slider. From our conversations, Danny is a quiet and shy young man who just wants a chance to showcase his talents. This will be the start to his professional career."

The start to his professional career, in an independent league. The fact that he's not in a Major League organization makes me wonder about "his quality of stuff." However, I'm happy for him. I hope he blows the hitters in that league out of the water and ends up on a Major League roster one day. "Everyone deserves a second chance," is the old saying. Almonte's first chance at fame was ruined by dishonest adults, so this is really his first chance. Good luck, Danny Almonte.

The Lady