http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaabb/news;_ylc=X3oDMTBpdXY1cHNhBF9TAzk1ODYyNzk2BHNlYwN0aA--?slug=uwire-redraidersawaitchallengeof&prov=uwire&type=lgns

I was looking through some articles on Yahoo's College Baseball page, and read this about the ambidextrous pitcher from Harvard.

quote:

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Facing Ivy League team Harvard, the Raiders will have the opportunity of a lifetime. Hays said Crimson sophomore pitcher Matt Brunnig has a certain talent for baseball that he has never witnessed first-hand.

"He throws both left- and right-handed," he said. "He could be their No. 1 and No. 3 pitcher. I've never seen that."

Not knowing if Brunnig has a separate ERA for each arm because it is Harvard's first game of the season, Hays said it will be a good sight to see a two-handed pitcher.

"I think he'll probably go right against Air Force and left against us, if they play him in two games," he said. "I don't know for sure, though. I just hope he can't switch arms in the middle of the game."

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That is freakin crazy. That guy could be a baseball god..

wow

Matt Brunnig was the SP in Harvard's 25-20 (yes 25-20) win against Air Force at Tech's tourney. Dude threw 2 innings, yielding 7 earned runs. Sounds like he needs to work on one of his two arms. I, too, can give up many runs throwing either right or left handed.

[This message has been edited by Aston94 (edited 3/8/2004 6:10p).]

I went to a camp once in Brenham and was throwing with a guy that was both left and right handed. Freaked me out, because he was throwing right handed, and then all of a sudden he threw one left handed. He had a 6 fingered glove. Turns out he was a pitcher and that day he threw 89 mph right handed and 87 mph left handed. I forget what high school he went to, but he said that he could switch arms in the same at bat. His favorite thing was to throw a slider right handed followed by a slow overhand curve left handed. Really screwed the hitters up. Glad I never had to face him.

There is a rules quiz question involving an amp. pitcher and switch hitting batter. It had to do with whether the pitcher had to declare what arm to use or whether the batter was stuck with whatever box he first stepped in (though could change after one pitch).

I don't remember the ruling, but LSU89, if he's still around, should know.

Satchel Paige threw both ways.

You can switch batters boxes in between pitches. I am an umpire, and I have been behind the plate when a kid did that.

i read an article on a kid from Austin Westlake that is in the Braves organization now that throws with both arms...i think he was at Westlake when Huston Street was there and he was their number 3 guy...his velocity is only like 7 mph slower with his left arm than his right arm...amazing...

"All right, brain, I dont like you and you dont like me, so lets just do this and ill get back to killing you with beer." - Homer J. Simpson

i'm a junior in high school, and the year my older brother(sophomore at TAMU) was a senior in high school, his baseball team (Austin Anderson) played Westlake, and that guy pitched. 6 finger glove, threw both ways...it was quite astonishing.

long live Sid Finch.........

I thought you could only switch batters boxes one time. For instance if you came in batting left and switch to right then you couldn't switch back to left. I don't know what happens when another pitcher enters the game but I'm sure you could change stance again if that happened.


I bet those six fingered gloves are extremely expensive for gloves. I am left handed and caught when I was 10. Yeah I know I played short stop too, and then played third even in high school. But my left handed catchers mit was like 400 bucks because they just don't make them. I would imagine a 6 fingered glove would run pretty high..

No, you can switch back and forth as many times as you want. This one kid was a real good switch hitter and bunter. He came in righty (against a lefty) with a runner on first and no outs. He was up there to hit away, but the runner stole second. Then he switched to lefty to drag bunt the runner to third. After a pitch or two, the runner at second got picked off. So the batter switched back around to hit away right-handed. I think he grounded out.

Anyway, once in little league, a kid switched back and forth between each pitch to confuse the pitcher. The coach had no intention of him swinging, but just to get a walk. It's crazy...but it's legal.

Yeah, that guy was from Westlake. I remember now.

There has been a big article about this before, in SI if I remember correctly. A kid that threw with both arms said that his coach got into an argument with the plate umpire because he came out for the 7th inning and began to throw with his left arm (he started the game as a righty). The umpire only gave him 6 pitches, and the coach argued that he should have had 8 warmup pitches because technically his left arm was entering the game as a reliever, so he should get the same number of pitches that a reliever gets. Strange.

lefty catcher, 3b, ss, huh?
there was a blip in sports illustrated about 10-15 yrs ago about a catcher in the minors who was left handed. I wasn't much of a baseball fan at the time, so i didn't realize how rare it is. I think it wouldbe kinda neat to see something like that in the majors.

If I remember correctly, the batter has to declare their box before the pitcher needs to select which hand they are going to use. The logic was that the batter needed to be in the box before a pitcher could throw, and since a pitcher doesn't need to change their position to the extent a batter does, this was the natural order. Well, to the extent that a switch hitter and switch pitcher is natural.

ok, i understand why infielders need to be right handed (1st base exception), but why does a catcher need to be right handed? i caught in high school (im right handed) and really see no reason a lefty couldnt catch except the throw down to third with a right handed batter up. To me the throw to first with a right handed batter was the easiest throw to make. However, i dont remember ever trying the throw with a lefty up.

The only other logic I can think of would be that the pitchers would have a mental adjustment to make throwing to a left handed catcher.

Throwing to second and third with a right handed batter (which is the majority) is harder to do with a left handed catcher. You would have to step around or move to get out of the way which could mean the difference between and out and a stolen base.

I think Sid Finch threw 168 at the Mets training camp. He learned how to throw from those Monks in Tibet. It's a shame he gave up on the game to master the French Horn. He could also hurl those hardened dung balls further then anyone per the last article I read on him in a 2000 SI. I think he's making a move to javelin though.

The kid from Westlake (Brandon Berdoll, sp?) played on my men's league team in Austin. He had a specialized glove made to wear on both hands. He threw left that whole summer, but I finally convinced him to switch it around for one batter. Freaked the other team out. He wasn't born with the ability. He taught himself to throw right handed when his little league coach told him that a left hander can't play short.

FYI

You cannot switch arms in the middle of an at-bat. So the person that said a guy threw one righty than one lefty was either wrong, or the umpire in that game did not know the rules.

OK, this is the second ambidexterous pitcher Harvard has had in the past 10 years. I very distinctly recall ragging Gus around 1995 because he'd somehow missed on the opportunity to ruin two arms with one scholarship. The guy that year was at Harvard as well, I believe.

I went to Westlake while Berdoll was there. His glove was the oddest thing ever. He was also a big atm fan

[This message has been edited by TexDub (edited 3/9/2004 9:23p).]

Rocks is right. It is against the rules to switch arms on a hitter during an at bat. Damn ambidextrous *******s.

Rocks: FYI, the NCAA (and, perhaps others) added the ampidextrious pitchers rule only within the last 5-10 years, and I wasn't aware of the addition until checking the rulebook tonight. You are correct in that the pitcher may not switch arms during an at-bat.

However, this hasn't always been the case, as the whole thing broke in the early 90's when the scenario I put above either happened, or someone thought it up. It was discussed at length in Referee Magazine, but not being a baseball umpire myself, I only read it in passing and didn't remember all details -- hence my scenario and quiz for LSU89. And, as stated, I wasn't aware of, or had forgotten about, the amp. pitchers rule in the NCAA.

Just for clarification.

[This message has been edited by 91AggieLawyer (edited 3/10/2004 11:56p).]

I only know that it was a rule 91-95, that is when I played at A&M

quote:

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I very distinctly recall ragging Gus around 1995 because he'd somehow missed on the opportunity to ruin two arms with one scholarship.

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nice.

where would one get a six fingered glove?

Brandon had to get his custom made. Not cheap.

yeah, I bet they would be expensive...then remembering the name of his high school, I would think he could afford it!

His family owns the pecan farms around Bastrop. That huge a ss message sign you see on sh 71 is their store.