baseball

Friday, April 6, 2007

Throwing Batters Curves Before Throwing a Pitch


Well this is rare; an ambidextrous switch-pitcher. NY Times has the scoop: “Venditte (pictured) is believed to be the only ambidextrous pitcher in N.C.A.A. Division I college baseball, the ultimate relief specialist. A junior, he throws left-handed to lefties and right-handed to righties, and effectively… Against Nebraska last year, a switch-hitter came to the plate right-handed, prompting Venditte to switch to his right arm, which caused the batter to move to the left-hand batter’s box, with Venditte switching his arm again.”

It’s looking like MLB could see its first legitimate switch-pitcher. Theoretically speaking, the dude could pitch twice as many games as the other guys. Crazy.

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Monday, April 2, 2007

I’m in over my head playing adult baseball

Long-time Smooth Harold readers know I like baseball. I like to watch it, and I like to play it. After becoming eligible this year (I turn 28 in July), I will be playing in an adult baseball league starting next week. Not softball, baseball. The problem is I haven’t formally played the game since being a freshman in high school some 13 years ago.

Rumor has it a handful of ex-college players in the league can throw upwards of 80 miles per hour. Yikes! To further compound the problem, a lot of pitchers put quite a bit of junk on the ball, so that’ll be a challenge as well. I hit some fast-pitch balls on Saturday at the local batting cages and made a lot of contact, but keep in mind these balls don’t move position, nor do they break. Oh, and my arm is way out of shape.

I’m really in over my head…

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