Updated signings list
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- June
- 11
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Here are the latest Yankees, via Damon Oppenheimer
11. CF Ray Kruml (South Alabama)
12. RHP Luke Greinke (Auburn)
17. SS Addison Maruszak (South Florida)
18. RHP Brandon Braboy (Indianapolis)
20. RHP Patrick Venditte (Creighton)
22. RHP Corey Arbiso (Cal State Fullerton)
23. 2B Ryan Wilkes (Kentucky)
24. 3B Michael Lyon (Northeastern)
25. C Jeff Nutt (Arkansas-Fayetteville)
28. RF Chad Gross (Cuesta JC)
31. INF Spence Lucian (Princeton)
34. RHP Brad Rulon (Georgia Tech)
35. RHP Andy Shive (Azusa Pacific)
39. 1B Erik Lovett (Mt. Olive College)
42. LHP Clint Preisendorfer (San Diego Christian)
47. RHP Ryan Flannery (Fairleigh Dickinson)
The Yankees also signed two non-drafted free agents: RHP Mike Obradovich (Florida Atlantic) and C Ryan Baker (Cincinnati).
All college players, which is about what you would expect at this point. The Yankees are now listing Venditte as a right-hander. He, of course, is the vaunted switch-pitcher.
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on Wednesday, June 11th, 2008 at 5:41 pm by Peter Abraham.
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Chad Jennings
Sam Borden
One left hander on that list.
Are you counting Venditte???
I wonder what they’ll do with Venditte, if they’ll make him choose one side or let him stick with both
Chad Jennings is reporting that JB Cox is on the seven day DL retroactive to Sunday.
No word on what ails him unfortunately.
Although I love the idea of a switch pitcher, I doubt he iwll ever become something and if he makes the majors, it is probably as a relief pitcher and that means with 7 guys in a bullpen, we could have eight different pitchers almost. Interesting…
“One left hander on that list.”
Who cares? You take the best players you can. Passing up on a superior talent just to get _a_ lefty would be dumb.
Well I hope whatever happened to Cox is minor. I think Robertson is ready. Wait is Robertson a “prospect” or a journeyman type like Giese. Melancon adn Cox are probably aroudn the same point although Melancon might be ahead now
I’m calling smoke screen , it begins.. Melancon to Scranton he has 45 IP and is near ready, also I forgot to mention Humberto Sanchez threw BP yesterday. (for what it’s worth he will be assigned to relief somewhere soon)
There’s lefty and then there is lefty who is dominating and can pitch out of the bullpen. Chase Wright is neither and same for Sean Henn and Traber and any other lefty we had recently
Maybe we could pay Venditte a bonus to be the teams instructor to our sorry pitchers in how to pitch with the opposite hand. Cant produce a worst result.
List
Farnsworth
Hawkins
Igawa
?
Blake Monar rejected offer # 1 from the Yanks they will offer him another deal later this summer. He throws 92 mph for a LHP a couple of good secondary pitches.
I’m excited to see what Venditte might be able to do. I hope that they continue to let him develop with both arms.
whozat: Was just making an observation, nothing wrong with that.
raymagnetic: Isnn’t it kind of weird to go on the DL without a specific injury?
7 day DL retroactive to Sunday? Why not Saturday? the last day he pitched was friday…
smoke screen indeed…
“I’m calling smoke screen , it begins.”
Are you saying that Cox might have one of those phantom injuries?
Does the switch pitcher have to go to the dug out and change his glove every time he faces a righty or a lefty?? That will be against the MLB’s policy to save time..:)
the phrase phantom injury always makes me think of Rodney in Caddyshack
No, he’s got a glove with six finger holes and he just has to adjust his mitt to the appropriate hand while on the mound. It wouldn’t really be against the policy since he could switch while the batter was getting into the box.
“Does the switch pitcher have to go to the dug out and change his glove every time he faces a righty or a lefty??”
He has a special made glove thats fits both hands.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8U2xkHOTvvw
You can check out the video on him and see some of the pitches he throws.
If i was a switch hitter i would move from the right box to the left box over and over. Hoping to mix him up and have him pitch on the opposite side. Anything to get an advantage.
27 this year- Robertson is a prospect, not a minor league veteran. He is only 23, and went to University of Alabama.
You can’t do that, though. He’d had that problem before. The ump has the switch hitter declare what side of the plate he will bat from and then the pitcher will commit to the direction he will throw from. You cannot switch the side of the plate you will bat from during an AB.
Venditte is crazy when you think about it. imagine him in a bullpen. “my right arms a little sore, but i can throw an inning lefty if you need me to”. tommy john on one arm in the morning, recording a save with the other arm at night… craziness…
I think just being a switch pitcher IS an advantage. I hope this guy is real good–it would be amazing if he could make it on the team.
Steph,
3 things.
a.I would call time out and switch or
b.I would tell the ump “I declare switch hitter side” which is only fair.
c.If i cant do both. Then i would tell the ump. Tell me which side he’s pitching from and ill tell you mine.
BTW. Im not a switch hitter. So i guess its a moot point.
If he ever lost that special glove. He could always do a Jim Abbott and put it on after the pitch.
if he comes into a game and only pitches right-handed, can he come back into the game later and only pitch lefty?
we’d give him a fake mustache the 2nd time out…
You can’t call time out to switch, though. I was a switch hitter when I was playing baseball. Once you declare, you’re stuck to that for the entire AB. I started to learn to throw both ways after I separated my shoulder, but I never had the velocity on some of my throws from the opposite side.
saucy,
That is crazy. Whats crazier than that would be if a game went extra innings and he could throw up to 200 innings. Or if he doesnt feel his pith on one side then he could switch and throw the pitch he needs for a strike on the other hand.
In the urinal…? Forget it.
Steph,
That is an interesting story. I never really tried hitting on the left side. But when my boy was in tee ball. I taught him how to hit from both sides(his natural side was right). For the next 3 years. He was the only switch hitter in his division. He plays football now. But i wish i would have taught him how to throw from the left side. Left handed pitchers are few and far between. Less competition which in turn gives you a better chance to make it.
-meant 200 pitches-
I started doing it because after I got my shoulder reset and I had my arm in a sling, I wasn’t allowed to throw righty for about 5 or 6 weeks so the bones could set and heal. So I asked my dad if I could throw lefty and catch lefty, which wasn’t really breaking a doctor’s order. Switch hitting was much easier for me because my dad had me doing it back when I played t-ball.
It is useful, though. I can write both ways and everything, but if you’re going to teach someone to throw both ways, it should definitely be when they’re younger. It takes a lot more time to develop the muscles, muscle memory, etc, if you start later. I was 12 when I tried and it really was difficult.
That insane. he could probably complete almost every start or they could use him as a #4 and #5 starter.
I thought the switch pitcher was drafted last year? Did he not sign and we drafted him again or is this a different switch pitcher?
Thanks Matt
Venditte did not sign last year
He was drafted and not signed. I think they drafted him in round 48 or 49. He decided to go back to school for his senior year, which turned out to be a nice decision for him. He probably got some extra signing money and developed a lot more over the year. Venditte is the same pitcher the Yanks drafted in 07.
Steph,
I noticed you said baseball. Did you play on a guys team? Or are there actually girls baseball teams out there. Im in so cal. myself and didnt think there were any.
” Did he not sign and we drafted him again or is this a different switch pitcher?”
no, same guy.
we just drafted his right arm last year.
this year we got his left one.
Thanks, guys. They must really like him.
Yeah, I played on a guy’s team. My hands were always too small to get around a softball when I was younger (thankfully they’ve grown), so it was almost default, but I enjoyed it a lot more. There were two other girls on my team. Most Little Leagues have special rules as far as girls are concerned, but they can play with the boys. There did have to be a female coach in the dugout for us. I remember that as one of the conditions.
randy,
Ah. That explains the move up in the draft.
” The Yankees are low listing Venditte as a right-hander.”
Randy,
I think its the other way around.
randy l -
no, same guy.
we just drafted his right arm last year.
this year we got his left one.
What can I say? Terrific line!
Guess the $750 All-Star tickets aren’t enough:
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York City officials confirmed that the New York Yankees are seeking more public financing to build their new stadium.
State Assemblyman Richard Brodsky of Westchester, whose committee investigates public debt projects, said Wednesday that the Yankees now say that if they don’t get another $400 million in public financing the club might not be able to finish the stadium.
Janel Patterson of the New York City Economic Development Corp. that is working with the Yankees said the project isn’t threatened. But she said the city is working to relieve an Internal Revenue Service regulation that prohibits more public debt to be incurred for the stadium. Brodsky says that IRS change also is being sought to help
stadium and arena projects for the Mets and Nets.
The Yankee’s new stadium is scheduled to open next year.
Having Patrick Veniditte in the bullpen is like having a 26-man roster or the same as having the luxury of a extra position player.
Blake Monar doesn’t just have average secondary pitches, his curveball is one of if not the best I have ever seen at the high school level. Plus, his ability to throw 4 pitches for strikes is unbelievable.
doreen-
back in a cape cod semi pro league league
we had a college pitcher from kansas who had pitched with both arms.
he has just finished winning a couple of games in the college world series when he came to our team, the chatham pirates.
he could throw 90 righty and 80 lefty.
he was only doing so so after a few games when i talked him into just throwing all righty fastballs because he had so much movement on them.
i told him they couldn’t touch his fastball in our league.
after 5 straight hits to lead off the game without an out, he called me to the mound and told me if i called another fastball he was going to beat me to death with both arms.
Well, obviously the Yankees can’t sign Bleich until his college season ends, and Stanford’s in the College World Series. Otherwise, the big left hander to look for is Blake Monar, and the Yankees are going to wait until they see him pitch in the summer to decide whether throwing third-round dollars at him, since he reportedly rejected fifth-round money.
On a tangentially-related note, I have to disagree with Kevin Goldstein’s assessment over at Baseball Prospectus–a guy I generally respect when it comes to prospect rankings. He seems to be the only person I’ve found claiming that Bleich’s ceiling is as a lefty reliever; personally, I think that if reports that he can get his four-seam velocity sitting between 90 and 91 (anything over that I’d take as gravy), he’d be a solid mid-rotation starter.
Cole Hamels generally sits in the lower-90s, and I’d say he’s doing quite well for himself down in Philadelphia. I’m not comparing Bleich to Hamels, just pointing out that velocity isn’t the end-all for lefties the same way it can be for righties.
Randy -That’s quite a story!
I’ll be excited to hear about Venditte’s progress through the system. I would be upset if the Yanks try to make him give up being a switch pitcher. That’s what makes him stand out and he’s been successful doing it to this point.
Being that the guy doesn’t have four legs, I don’t think you can double Venditte’s pitch count from what a normal pitcher would do.
Living in Omaha (where Creighton is) I have seen Venditte pitch several times, sometimes as a starter, sometimes as a reliever. While I would say he is an above average pitcher in D1 college, I currently would not view him as above average in the minors at this point. The Yankees do have an excellent farm system, though. They were able to turn Joba into a well above average Major League pitcher when at Nebraska he wasn’t a completely lights out pitcher like he was as a reliever for the Yanks. Then again, I thought Joba needed to pitch his senior year and get more experience so what do I know.