Huge news out of Oakland today as ambidextrous — and amphibious — pitcher Pat Venditte was placed on the disabled list with a strained right shoulder:
#Athletics place Pat Venditte on the 15-day DL with a strained right shoulder; recall Arnold from Nashville.
— Oakland A's (@Athletics) June 12, 2015
Of course, this allowed Twitter users everywhere to express their originality with the same goddamn joke question:
https://twitter.com/Matthew_Haddock/status/609478074376175616
@Athletics I thought the beauty of the thing was he could still pitch with left arm?
— Montreal Rays (@MTLBaseballFan) June 12, 2015
https://twitter.com/MorboKnowsBest/status/609467049601953793
@Athletics pitch with the left!
— Ricky (@HaloFishFantasy) June 12, 2015
@Athletics he can't rehab while throwing lefty?
— Phillip D. Cortez (@phillipdcortez) June 12, 2015
But seriously, can’t he just go lefty? The answer is actually yes! But according to A’s beat writer John Hickey of Bay Area News Group, the club would rather have him fully heal:
The strength of Venditte’s game is his ability to match up with the opposing lineup, throwing right-handed against right-handed batters and lefty against left-handed hitters. He isn’t overpowering from either side, but his matchups tend to negates the opposing hitters’ strength.
So while he could still conceivably throw left-handed only, his biggest weapon would be gone, so the A’s decided to do what they can to get him well because he’s proven in just a week to be an asset in the A’s bullpen.
