Are there any good "switch pitchers"?

[DK]

Yeah, one of my favorite players of all time is defintely Jose Oquendo. He pitched rather regularly for the Cards in the late 80's and early 90's. During the 88' season, he played every position on field for alteast one game; The only NL player ever to do so.

I guess this is why he's a hell of a 3rd base coach.

I wouldn't say six innings in a career is rather regularly.

Oquendo's plaque is on the utility room at the Hall of Fame, which is the perfect fit for him.

[Tavish]

I do really appreciate fielders who also pitch. It's a pitty they aren't used more often.

I remember reading about how great of a catcher Jim Abbott was in high school but they finally switched his position when pitchers were having trouble reading the pitch signs.

[BeefSandwiches]

There was a kid profiled by SI a few years back who was a switch pitcher for Harvard. He wasn't pro calibur but he had some good stuff that favored one side over the other - he would take both gloves out to the mound with him each inning and once he committed to one arm for a batter, he couldn't switch back.

He probably made a bit more money with his Harvard degree than he would have bouncing around the minors...

[stepsinsc]

This has always seemed like such a cool idea to me, but I doubt anyone but some god-like athlete could do it. Pitching involves your whole body, not just which hand you throw with. For a guy would need to work hard enough to have decent major league stuff from both sides probably isn't humanly possible. Pitchers develop "muscle memory" that enables them to repreat with great consistency a fluid and powerful delivery. I don't see how you could retain that on both sides of your body.

I think its more a matter of natrual ability...being ambidextrious for one. Left-handers especially are more likely to be ambidextrious. But yes, it would be hard to have great stuff from both sides.

Tyler Lumsden, who is in the Sox organization, is ambidextrious.

He was drafted out of Clemson, and he was there the same years I was. He throws a low 90s heater left-handed, and in the mid 80s right handed. I don't think he ever did it in a game at Clemson.

http://clemsontigers.collegesports.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/lumsden_tyler00.html

Nicknamed "Lump"...is ambidextrious in terms of throwing a ball; he was clocked throwing a pitch right-handed 80 mph in high school and throws over 90 mph left-handed...majoring in PRTM...born Tyler Ryan Lumsden on May 9, 1983.

[RyanK]

i think it would be a great way for a pitcher to break many records..

if i could do it i wouldnt do it in a game, id pitch one start righty, then one lefty... know how much money you could command that way...

[looptid]

If you want to go back a long way, Tony Mullane was an ambidextrous pitcher:

http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseball ... e_Tony.stm

More recently, Greg Harris threw with both arms in the same inning of a Reds-Expos game on September 28th, 1995:

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B09280MON1995.htm

He got Reggie Sanders out throwing right handed, switched to left handed and threw his first pitch to Hal Morris over the catchers head and to the backstop and proceeded to walk Morris on four straight pitches. He did get Ed Taubensee as a lefty on a tapper infront of the plate, and then switching back to throwing righty, got Bret Boone on a bouncer back to the mound. Didn't give up a hit.

Toyotoshi Chikada was an ambidextrous pitcher that pitched an inning in 1988 in Japan.

[mcmahojl]

Jose Canseco pitched, and blew out his arm...