14 Responses to “Ambidextrous Pitcher vs. Switch Hitter = Chaos”

1. #1 |  David Z |  June 21st, 2008 at 11:35 am

   bizarre!

   I’ve never seen or heard of anything like that, either.

2. #2 |  Greg N. |  June 21st, 2008 at 12:04 pm

   Maybe he should have hit left-handed.

3. #3 |  Hunter |  June 21st, 2008 at 1:10 pm

   @Greg N.

   Certainly you were making a joke, but I’ll offer the explanation.

   Switch hitting is relatively common compared to pitching with both arms. It is advantageous to hit from the opposite side of the plate than the pitcher throwing, because it turns out that it’s easier to hit a curveball or slider that’s curving toward you rather than away from you.

   The only rule that really governs that situation is that the hitter may not make a mockery of the game by switching sides over and over. It doesn’t really comment on what the pitcher may do, though ultimately, the umpire may adjudicate any situation not covered in the rulebook as he sees fit. Thus, at some point, the umpire stopped the hitter from switching sides while the pitcher was allowed to continue.

4. #4 |  KBCraig |  June 21st, 2008 at 2:10 pm

   My grandfather played semi-pro baseball and was totally ambidextrous. I never heard of this situation before, though!

   That glove is crazy.

5. #5 |  Greg N. |  June 21st, 2008 at 4:44 pm

   Hunter,

   I get it. I meant because he K’d on 4 pitches, 2 of them looking.

6. #6 |  Alex |  June 21st, 2008 at 5:06 pm

   We were talking about this last night, and, to my surprise, it’s not unprecedented.
   http://www.baseballlibrary.com/ballplayers/player.php?name=Greg_Harris_1955

7. #7 |  Larry |  June 21st, 2008 at 11:48 pm

   I’m writing my Congressmen to demand hearings.

8. #8 |  Jaisn |  June 22nd, 2008 at 2:26 am

   Larry,

   Hilarious.

   Also, the pitcher REALLY had an itch.

9. #9 |  ctyri |  June 22nd, 2008 at 2:58 am

   Crazy stuff. Don’t get Specter started…

10. #10 |  Jonathan Hohensee |  June 22nd, 2008 at 3:18 pm

    I only find sports bloopers funny if Yankity Sax is playing in the background.

11. #11 |  Eric Crampton |  June 22nd, 2008 at 7:47 pm

    Easy solution: Umpire asks each separately which way they plan on playing, where neither knows what the other says, then holds each of them to it. No?

12. #12 |  Psion |  June 22nd, 2008 at 8:00 pm

    That’s the solution I came up with watching it just now … but I have the benefit of years of GM-ing role-playing games, so I’m used to making rules up on the fly.

13. #13 |  Jack |  June 23rd, 2008 at 10:29 am

    There actually is a rule for this. The pitcher must declare which side he will pitch from prior to the batter deciding from which side he will hit. The pitcher must also use that same throwing hand for the entire at bat.

14. #14 |  Gabriel |  June 23rd, 2008 at 1:55 pm

    http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3455201

    Apparently, there is not such a rule- or at least, neither ESPN nor the executive director of the Professional Baseball Umpire Corporation are aware of it. That rule does exist in the MVC, which I’m assuming is where the pitcher played college ball, but MLB is still working on their response.

---