The Youth Of America

[Guest themetfairy]

Tonight at 7:00 SNY is televising a game between the Cyclones and the Staten Island Mini MFYs.

[metirish]

Who are the booth commentators?

[Guest themetfairy]

I'm not sure.

[Vic Sage]

i went to the game on Tuesday ... opening day at Keyspan park. It was a beautiful night, and the Clones won a 3-1 pitcher's duel, with some sparkling plays, some power pitching, some speed on the bases, and a couple of clutch hits down the line.

top picks Reese Witherspoon and Tim Holt were on the roster but did not play. Crash Davis is apparently not yet signed.

One of the picks, the CFer Neuwinheise (or something like that) was pretty impressive. Big, athletic guy... got a few hits, threw a guy out at 2b.

There were a bunch of guys on the roster who had been with the savannah sand gnats last year. Isn't that a demotion? Or a lateral move, at best? That doesn't bode well.

[Guest AG/DC]

Not really a demotion, the continuum of levels designated as A are.

	Short Season	Full Season
Rookie		Gulf Coast Mets
Low A	Kingsport Mets	Savannah Sand Gnats
High A	Brooklyn Cyclones	St. Lucie Mets

They're maybe not exact parallels, but Kingsport is beneath Brooklyn as Savannah is beneath St. Lucie. Beneath the Gulf Coast Mets are the Dominican Mets and the Venezuela Mets, I guess.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I wonder about that myself. That is, I wonder about what the organization's attitude is regarding their different Single A teams.

It's pretty clear that St. Lucie is the top level, one step below Binghamton. And it also seems like well-regarded prospects, such as Havens, can see some time at Brooklyn.

But it looks like Savannah plays a subordinate role to St. Lucie, and Kingsport does the same for Brooklyn. My hunch is that Kingsport and Savannah are for lesser prospects, guys not on the fast track but on the alternative track. If that's true, then a Savannah guy going to Brooklyn can feel that he's making some progress, but he'd be happier if he went to St. Lucie.

[Vic Sage]

gotcha.

there were a few guys from Kingsport on the roster too. But mostly it seemed like college guys.

[metirish]

Tony Bernazard is the Vice President, Player Development , so those kids better watch their backs.

[Frayed Knot]

The full season leagues are all considered to be above the short-season ones although the S-S leagues often have some recently drafted players who may be of full-season quality.

Also, in the case of the Mets, they have a bit of an incentive to showcase their NYC-based, team-owned affiliate.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

They don't even pretend to hide that fact anymore. Back in the day, every AAAer with a scrape was sent to BKLYN for a "rehab assignment" coinciding with the playoffs. Shameful stuff.

[Guest Kong76]

Thanks for pointing the game out, fairy ... I'm gonna enjoy watching a game
that means nothing but fun ... at least for a few innings.

Edgardo's brother Edgar looks like he's approaching 60. I'd love to know once
and for all how old Edgardo really was but I guess I never will.

[seawolf17]

Pitcher wearing #1... I like it!

[Guest themetfairy]

I missed this because I was watching the even younger youth of America (i.e., MK's Little League team) playing this evening. How did the baby Mets do?

[Frayed Knot]

Vic Sage wrote: One of the picks, the CFer Neuwinheise (or something like that) was pretty impressive. Big, athletic guy... got a few hits, threw a guy out at 2b.

Kirk Nieuwenhuis - 3rd round pick (#100 overall) in this year's draft out of Azuza Pacific Univ

[soupcan]

They lost 7-2.

In the 9th inning the SI Yankees put in an ambidextrous pitcher who was using a six-fingered glove that he'd put on either hand.

He got the first two righty batters throwing righty. The next batter singled and the next guy up was a switch-hitter. He stood in the box righty and then when he saw the pitcher - Pat Venditte I think was his name - getting ready to throw righty, he turned around to bat lefty. Venditte then switched his glove to the other hand to throw lefty. The batter then moved to the other side of the box again. Hilarity ensued.

The managers and umpires conferred for a good 5 minutes until it seemed that they decided that the batter had to choose a side to bat from for the entire at-bat but the pitcher could do what he wanted. Batter stood in righty, pitcher threw righty and struck him out on 4 pitches I think.

It was interesting.

[Guest themetfairy]

Thanks for the report Soup.

[Frayed Knot]

]The managers and umpires conferred for a good 5 minutes until it seemed that they decided that the batter had to choose a side to bat from for the entire at-bat but the pitcher could do what he wanted. Batter stood in righty, pitcher threw righty and struck him out on 4 pitches I think

The way I've always understood it is that the pitcher was the one who had to declare which hand he was going to pitch with and stick to it for the length of that AB -- but I may be wrong and I guess it's been mostly a theoretical rule up to this point.

The Yanx drafted this kid [Pat Venditte] a year ago but he didn't sign and went back to school -- but they remained intrigued and drafted him again this year (20th round - Creighton Univ).
I've read that scouts consider him to be somewhat of a prospect from one side (right, I think) and more a novelty from the other. But hey, if you can get away with fewer pitching changes and use him twice as often (half the shoulder strain) it's worth a try.

[soupcan]

The umps didn't seem to have clue as to what the rule is, so you could quite possibly be correct.

I think that the announcers (Gary Apple was one, couldn't recognize the other voice) said that Venditte had more velocity - high 80's to mid 90's - from the right side, but could only get it up to about 85 from the left. They did say he had a good 'frisbee slider' from the left side.

They showed the at-bat on Geico Sports Nite so if you watch a re-run late tonight or tomorrow you'll see it.

[soupcan]

Here's an article and a video of the last two at-bats (including the switch-hitter) of the game.


June 21, 2008

Double-Barreled Pitcher Provides Shot of Confusion

By VINCENT M. MALLOZZI

It was a lefty-righty matchup for the ages.

Make that a righty-lefty matchup for the ages.

Pat Venditte, an ambidextrous pitcher for the Staten Island Yankees, eventually got the matchup he wanted: right-hander vs. right-hander, which resulted in a game-ending strikeout after a long and bizarre pitcher-batter sequence � make that batter-pitcher sequence.

On Thursday night at KeySpan Park in Coney Island, the Yankees led the Brooklyn Cyclones, 7-2, when the 22-year-old Venditte, making his professional debut, strolled to the mound in the bottom of the ninth inning and took part in his own version of the double switch.

Venditte, a switch-pitcher from Creighton who can reach 90 miles an hour from the right side and the high 70s from the left, retired the first two batters he faced while pitching right-handed.

Still pitching right-handed, Venditte allowed a single by Nicholas Giarraputo. Up next was designated hitter Ralph Henriquez, and he and Venditte engaged in a routine more vaudeville than Mudville.

As Henriquez walked to the plate, Venditte, assuming Henriquez would bat left-handed, stood behind the pitching rubber with his glove on his right hand and the ball in his left. Henriquez, looking out at Venditte, then stepped across the batter�s box, determined to hit right-handed and gain a righty-lefty advantage. Seeing this, Venditte quickly switched his custom-made glove to his left hand and put the ball in his right, hoping to gain a righty-on-righty advantage.

Henriquez stepped out and began asking the home-plate umpire, Shaylor Smith, to lay out his options, then summoned his third-base coach. With the matter unresolved, Henriquez again stepped across the batter�s box in an attempt to bat left-handed. Again, Venditte switched glove and ball. The cat-and-mouse game reached full comedic gear when Henriquez again strolled across the batter�s box to hit right-handed, and Venditte responded with the old switcheroo, setting up as a righty.

�My interpretation of the rule is that we each get to switch once,� Venditte said before Friday night�s Yankees game against Hudson Valley at Richmond County Bank Ballpark on Staten Island. �After that, I thought I had the final decision.�

Pat McMahon, the Staten Island manager, and Edgar Alfonzo, the Brooklyn manager, trotted onto the field for a discussion with Smith, setting off a series of separate discussions by confused members of the teams, which are Class A affiliates of the Yankees and the Mets.

In the midst of those discussions, Venditte tossed warm-up pitches � with both arms.

�I don�t think the umpires really knew how to handle it,� Venditte said. �It�s not something you see every day.�

After a seven-minute delay, Smith ordered Henriquez to step into the box as a right-handed batter, and Venditte, now pitching right-handed, proceeded to strike him out, swinging.

When asked before Friday�s game if he had ever seen anything like it before, McMahon paused before uttering softly, �Uh, no.�

But Venditte, drafted this month by the Yankees in the 20th round, said he was involved in a similar situation during his sophomore year against Nebraska. In that game, umpires ruled that Venditte had to declare which arm he would use before throwing his first pitch and could not switch until the at-bat ended. Venditte decided to pitch left-handed, and a right-handed batter �hit a laser,� he recalled, �but fortunately, it was caught.�

McMahon, who said Friday that he was waiting for an official ruling from higher baseball authorities on the subject of switch-pitching to switch-hitters, said that the way he understood it, �the rule dictates that the hitter establish the box and the pitcher establish the throw, and then each team can make one move, and then it�s play ball.�

�That�s the rule that we got from the rule book of minor league baseball,� he said.

McMahon, who said he shared that interpretation with Smith before Friday night�s game and would go over it with umpires as part of ground-rules discussions before every game, tipped his cap to Venditte.

�I thought Pat handled it very well,� he said. �Here you had a switch-hitter facing a young man who throws with both arms. It�s a unique experience and one that players and umpires will probably take a little time to get used to.�

[Guest themetfairy]

Today we saw the B-Mets play the Trenton Thunder (a/k/a the AA MFY's). Jonathan Niese started - he gave up three runs in the second inning, but that was all he gave up, ultimately pitching 6. Ambiorix Conception hit a 2-run homer in the 8th, and Mike Nickeas and Nick Evans both homered in the 9th to give the B-Mets a 7-3 victory. The kids are alright!

[Guest AG/DC]

Dan Murphy, putting up an .862 OPS for Bingo, gets shipped out to Brooklyn? Is that a rehab stint?

[Guest AG/DC]

Looks like it is.

Meanwhile, Brad Holt, five hitless innings in his first professional start.

[Guest themetfairy]

We're going back to Trenton tonight. Niese is pitching again for the B-Mets.

Hopefully it'll be as good as the last time we saw Niese pitch.

[MFS62]

More on Murphy.
He's a third baseman who has been getting starts at second base lately.

Later

[Guest AG/DC]

[Guest Grote15]

Frayed Knot wrote: The full season leagues are all considered to be above the short-season ones although the S-S leagues often have some recently drafted players who may be of full-season quality. Also, in the case of the Mets, they have a bit of an incentive to showcase their NYC-based, team-owned affiliate.

Cardinals Matt Morris, Chris Duncan & Skip Schumaker played for the NJ cardinals in that circuit

[Guest themetfairy]

It was a fun time in Trenton. Niese pitched 7 scoreless innings, but didn't get the decision. Tim Lavigne gave up a run to tie the game 1-1 in the 8th before the B-Mets scored two (thanks to shoddy Thunder fielding) to ultimately win the game 3-1.

The Mets win. The B-Mets win. And we got fireworks. It was a good night all around.