ESPN Chicago report from the first spring game of the Cubs had this weird item:
The Weird: A’s pitcher Pat Venditte had (Cubs Dexter) Fowler confused
for a moment. Venditte is an ambidextrous hurler who warmed up mostly
from the right side to begin the third inning, so the switch-hitting
Fowler took his warm-up swings lefty.
“I was swinging left-handed because he was throwing right-handed,”
Fowler explained. “Then he gets up there and switches, so I asked the
umpire. My whole thing was I should be able to take some practice swings
instead of just walking up there and having to hit.”
According to Fowler, the pitcher has to declare which side he’ll
throw from for the at-bat before the hitter gets in the batter’s box --
but that’s too late for him.
“I wish he would have done it earlier,” Fowler said. “That’s what should happen.”
Fowler took notice that after throwing lefty to him and then Rizzo,
Venditte threw a couple of times to his second baseman as a right-hander
because righty Starlin Castro was entering the batter’s box. In other
words, Venditte got in a couple of warm-up throws before facing Castro.
Fowler didn’t think that was fair.
“It was kind of weird,” he said.
The current rules for switch hitters should and does apply to "switch" pitchers.
A batter may surely switch sides during an at-bat; he may do so as long as the pitcher
is not in the "ready position" (see Rule 6.06) and he shall be called out
if the batter attempts to switch sides during the pitcher's
windup. There is no rule in the MLB rule book that states how many times a
batter can switch sides during an at bat. However, once the pitcher
steps on the rubber, whatever side the batter is on is the side he must
bat from for that pitch.
Per above, there is no rule in the rulebook that states that he cannot
change from one batter's box to the other in the middle of an at-bat.
The only rule about switching boxes is 6.06b which says that he cannot
switch boxes if the pitcher is in the ready position. Otherwise, no
problem.
yeah they can i have done it before
In regard to Venditte, the current rule states a pitcher must indicate which arm he will use to
throw the next pitch and then the batter must take either box. This means the pitcher and batter could actually waltz their way through an at-bat.
In all the traditions of baseball, it is refreshing to find that the game itself can add oddities and new twists like switch pitchers, and the strategy of using them against an opponent.
