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Phillies ambidextrous pitcher Pat Venditte uses a six-finger glove

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Pat Venditte traced his son's hand onto a piece of paper, inserted it into a fax machine, and forwarded it to Osaka, Japan.

It was a far-fetched and pricey idea in 1992 to custom-order a six-finger glove from across the world so that his ambidextrous son - also named Pat -  could pitch with both hands in Little League. But it proved to be the start of a journey that has since reached the major leagues.

Venditte arrived in Phillies camp on Thursday afternoon after being acquired Sunday in a trade with Seattle. He will compete for a spot in the team's bullpen. The Phillies list him as a "SHP," or switch-handed pitcher.

Venditte's six-finger glove is still made by Mizuno, the Japanese outfit that made his first mitt. It can be switched to either hand during a game as Venditte decides what arm he wants to pitch with. His dad no longer has to trace his hand.

"He thought if there could be switch hitters, why not a switch pitcher?" Venditte said. "I'm very grateful he did that because if you look at the velocity and things like that, I probably wouldn't be here without this switch-pitching advantage."

Venditte, 31, appeared in just 15 games last season with Toronto and Seattle. He spent most of the season at triple A and will likely begin the season in Lehigh Valley. The Phillies need to fill two more spots in the bullpen, but will likely lean toward players already on the 40-man roster such as lefthander Joely Rodriguez and righthander Luis Garcia.

The switch-pitcher is a baseball oddity that has yet to stick in the big leagues. The Phillies took a low-risk chance to see if they could find something. Venditte is much more efficient when pitching lefthanded against lefthanded batters, but throws harder as a righthander. His fastball sits in just the mid-80s, but is maximized by a funky sidearmed delivery.

"I just kind of came in with the attitude that if I go in and show them that I can help the team, whether that be on opening day or in June, my goal here is to just have a good showing and help this team," Venditte said.

Mizuno first made a six-finger glove in the 1980s for Greg Harris, a former Phillies righthander who threw batting practice lefthanded and joked that he could be a switch-pitcher. Harris finally did pitch with each hand for one game in 1995 with Montreal, the final season of his 15-year career. Venditte said it is thanks to Harris that he was able to order his own glove.

Major League Baseball introduced a rule when Venditte reached the majors in 2015 with Oakland: A switch-pitcher has to indicate what arm he will use before a hitter steps into the batter's box. The advantage then goes to switch-hitters, who can pick their side of the plate after the pitcher declares his approach. There was no such rule in Little League, when the glove from Japan first arrived.

"That was the Wild West," Venditte said. "There were no rules there. You could do whatever you wanted."