Baseball history (and its present) has many instances of great switch-hitters, who could bat for high average/power from either side of the plate. Many of them (such as Mickey Mantle) were not naturally ambidextrous, but developed their “off-side” hitting skills through training and repetition.
Given the premium placed on switch-hitting as a counterweapon to the left- or right-handed ace or specialist relief pitcher, how is it that we have not seen the similar development of a switch-thrower on the pitcher’s mound? Is the skill level of throwing major-league “stuff” simply too high to develop for both arms even in naturally ambidextrous people?
I have personally met a couple of naturally ambidextrous people who could write equally well with the left or right hand, without too much effort, so it seems like the possibility at least exists.
And supposing such a pitcher did exist, and threw to a switch-hitter. Is there anything in the baseball rulebook governing how many times a hitter or pitcher is allowed to change their stance? Or is an “infinite loop” possible as the pitcher switches to his lefty glove, the batter then to his righty stance, and so on back and forth ad infinitum? Would they flip a coin, shoot odds-and-evens, go rock-paper-scissors, do the fist-over-fist-on-the-baseball-bat thing, or what?
If the umpire doesn’t grant time, then the pitch counts.
Also there’s an experimental rule currently in effect that prevents the batter from leaving the box at all:
Again, the umpire would have to grant any call of “time.”
Finally:
Essentially, the umpire can just refuse to grant the batter’s request for time, and he’s stuck in the batter’s box.
Very thorough set of cites on the issue of whether the batter is allowed to change sides of the plate during an at-bat, Reality Chuck.
Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t quite see how it addresses the question of whether any pitchers have ever had the skill of delivering pitches from either arm. Could you kind of nudge me in the right direction?
:smack: D’oh! I get it now. You were just answering the question of whether the pitcher and batter would be allowed to play “Vizzini and the Pirate” ad infinitum.
Please forgive.
Would the rulebook even allow the pitcher to have a spare glove up on the mound with him? If not, a switch pitcher could always use Jim Abbott’s glove technique, I suppose.
[QUOTE=RealityChuck]
According to the rules:
…lots of rules snipped…QUOTE]But the batter’s box covers both sides of the plate. Couldn’t the batter just step over the plate and bat from the other side? Is there a definition of the batter’s box such that it is only one side of the plate at a time?
For me, the most impressive example is Billy Wagner. He broke his right arm a few times as a kid so he taught himself to throw lefty. You can kind of tell when you see him deliver (kind of herky-jerky) but man does he throw gas.
I vaguely recall reading about a pitcher who pitch a game right handed, then pitched the next game of a double header left handed. But it could have been unbelievable BS that somebody wrote as a joke/april fools joke/etc.
i heard mentioned on sportsnet the other day an ambidextrous pitcher who had a reversible (six fingered) glove, and threw with both arms in the same inning…
a quick google turns up this mlb.com story:
Speaking of ambidextrous gear, minor league players are required to wear batting helmets with both earflaps. Major leaguers may wear a single flap. Most of them do, but they have the option to wear two earflaps.