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Giants ‘close to deal’ with former A’s and Dodgers switch-pitcher [report]

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(Photo credit: Keith Allison)


The Giants ‘are close’ to a deal with former A’s and Dodgers reliever Pat Venditte, according to Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area. Venditte is ambidextrous, and can pitch from both sides of the plate, almost always throwing with the hand needed to gain the platoon advantage.

Venditte, 33, was solid in limited time with the Dodgers in 2018, while new Giants VP of baseball ops Farhan Zaidi was the club’s general manger. Venditte posted a 2.57 ERA in just 15 appearances as he bounced back and forth from Triple-A. Venditte broke into the big leagues with the A’s in 2015, and has also spent short stints in Toronto and Seattle.

Venditte has faced 143 batters as a right-handed pitcher and 135 as a left-hander. Left-handers have a .186 career batting average while right-handers have had far more success, posting a .279 average.

Venditte is a natural right-hander who was taught how to pitch left-handed by his father to give him a competitive advantage. Veditte uses a six-finger that allows him to switch to either hand. According to MLB rules, Venditte must declare which hand he is going to pitch with before the batter steps into the box.