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A’s manager invents new hand-signal to call in switch-pitcher

By Kyle Franzoni

Sep 9, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Athletics relief pitcher Pat Venditte (29) pitches the ball against the Houston Astros during the fifth inning at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 9, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Athletics relief pitcher Pat Venditte (29) pitches the ball against the Houston Astros during the fifth inning at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports /
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Having a switch-pitcher is an anomaly in baseball and it left Oakland Athletics manager Bob Melvin a bit confused in how to signal for reliever Pat Venditte.

Under most circumstances, a manager will tap his arm to indicate which reliever he wants from the bullpen; a tap on the left for a lefty or a tap on the right for a right-hander. Seems pretty simple right?

But what happens when you through an ambidextrous pitcher into the mix, and pair that with another reliever warming up in the bullpen at the same time? Well, in short, a bit of hilarity ensues.

Such was the case recently when Oakland Athletics manager Bob Melvin went out to yank his pitcher and call for switch-pitching Pat Venditte. Only to his chagrin, there was also another reliever in the pen. As you can see from the following GIF posted on Reddit recently.

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As you can see Melvin has no idea of how he wants to signal for Venditte, first two hands low, then going to the right only, double-six gun action, before finally waiving his hands in disgust.  He could have totally sold the move had he instead opted to imitate spinning the revolver and then holstering his weapons, but we’ll assume he isn’t quite used to being overly spontaneous.

Of course, in Melvin’s defense, Venditte is a one of a kind feature in baseball. However, he’s far from a sideshow either. The 30-year-old finally got his first crack at Major League Baseball in 2015, posting a 1-2 record with a 5.48 ERA, a 4.84 FIP, and a 6.3 K/9 ratio. Not exactly lighting the world on fire, but he’s shown glimpses on being a decent bullpen arm at times.

Oh, and for those wondering, he is more dominant with one over the other. As a right-handed pitcher, Venditte is holding hitters to a .220/.289/.415 slash-line, whereas he’s much better as a lefty against like-handed hitters, holding them to .138/.212/.310/

(h/t For The Win)

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