A look at ambidextrous pitcher Pat Venditte, who the Marlins signed to a minor-league deal

Jordan McPherson

The Miami Marlins have taken a creative, low-risk attempt to shore up their bullpen.

MLB Network’s Jon Morosi reported Friday night that the club signed veteran switch-pitcher Pat Venditte to a minor-league deal with an invitation to big-league spring training, which begins for the Marlins on Feb. 12 when pitchers and catchers report to Jupiter.

That’s right.

The Marlins could very well have an ambidextrous (not amphibious, as a newspaper headline accidentally read in 2015) pitcher in its bullpen this season if he impresses enough.

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Venditte, 34, has played in 54 career games since making his debut in 2015. His career stats: A 2-2 record, a 5.03 ERA and 53 strikeouts against 28 walks in 68 innings. Opponents have hit .237 against him.

He made two appearances for the San Francisco Giants in 2019, allowing six runs in 3 1/3 innings with two strikeouts. He spent the bulk of the season in the Giants’ minor-league system and sat out for close to two months while his wife Erin recovered from a brain hemorrhage.

Venditte also played for the Los Angeles Dodgers (2018), Seattle Mariners (2016), Toronto Blue Jays (2016) and Oakland Athletics (2015). The New York Yankees drafted him in the 20th round of the 2008 MLB Draft.

Regardless of how Venditte’s audition for the Marlins goes this spring, Miami knows it needs to improve a bullpen that was among MLB’s worst in 2019. The collective 4.97 ERA from Marlins’ relievers was the fifth-worst in MLB last season. They were also fifth-worst strikeout-to-walk ratio(2.11), save percentage (55.1) and wild pitches (39) while having a 1.45 walks and hits per innings pitched that ranked in the bottom 10 of the league.

The Marlins have removed four relief pitchers from their roster this season, releasing Wei-Yin Chen and waiving Tayron Guerrero, Tyler Kinley and Kyle Keller.

They also signed former Dodgers reliever Yimi Garcia and selected Washington Nationals prospect Sterling Sharp in the Rule 5 draft.

“Our bullpen just wasn’t good enough,” Marlins president of baseball operations Michael Hill said at MLB’s winter meetings. “You can give guys opportunities and they have to take advantage of it. If they can’t take advantage of it, then we have to do what we need to do to get better.”

Internal candidates to compete for the remainder of Miami’s bullpen spots include Ryne Stanek, Drew Steckenrider, Austin Brice, Jarlin Garcia, Jeff Brigham, Adam Conley, Brian Moran, Jose Quijada and Jose Urena (if he’s not in the starting rotation).