Dodgers Reportedly Sign Pat Venditte To Minor League Deal

Are you waiting to find out where Giancarlo Stanton and Shohei Ohtani land? What about whether or not the Dodgers will re-sign free agents such as Brandon Morrow and Yu Darvish? Unfortunately, the stove is not that hot just yet, but moves are being made.

The Dodgers have reportedly signed Pat Venditte to a minor league deal, according to Chris Cotillo of SB Nation.

Dodgers signed switch-pitcher Pat Venditte to a minor-league deal, source confirms.

— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) November 28, 2017

Pat Venditte is not a household name by any means, but he does have a talent that is very unique: he is able to pitch with both arms. The 32-year was originally drafted by the New York Yankees back in 2007. He didn’t make his Major League debut until 2015 with the Oakland Athletics, where he pitched 28.2 innings and had a 4.40 ERA and a 1.186 WHIP. He then went on to pitch for both the Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners in 2016 and pitched a total of 22 innings, putting up an ERA of 5.73 and a WHIP of 1.591.

On March 12, 2017, the Philadelphia Phillies acquired Pat Venditte from the Mariners for Joey Curletta. Venditte spent all of 2017 with the Phillies’ triple-A affiliate, but he had a decent year. In 69.2 innings, Venditte put up a 3.36 ERA, a 1.29 WHIP, and held batters to a .217 batting average.

Watch the videos of Pat Venditte below to see how he utilizes both arms when pitching!

Here is what Pat Venditte had to say about the advantage that comes with pitching with both arms and more:

As far as the splits go, if you look at my Major League splits, I’ve faired a little bit better against left-handed hitters and I really think that it is due to the fact that I’m able to pitch to left-handed hitters as a lefty and you know switch on the right side as well. I think that’s the big advantage for me.

Left-handed, pretty much all sidearm, fastball, slider. Working a little bit more of a changeup. Then right-handed I’ll work both arm angles, over the top and sidearm as well. And I throw a little bit harder right-handed.

This is definitely not a huge acquisition, at least not immediately. Hopefully, this gamble pays off and Venditte is effective in the Dodgers’ minor league system. The Dodgers lost both Tony Watson and Brandon Morrow to free agency, so they have some openings in the bullpen. With that said, both Watson and Morrow were very successful during their time with Los Angeles, so it would be great to see them return!