Quick: Which reliever in Dodgers major league spring training camp with more than seven innings pitched thus far owns the lowest earned run average?

Ok, that’s not really a fair question based on the headline of this piece, but yes, it is indeed switch-pitcher Pat Venditte, who, in his six appearances thus far, has allowed a grand total of one earned run in his combined 7.1 innings of work for a very impressive 1.23 ERA.

Ironically, that lone earned run came during Thursday night’s game against the defending 2017 American League Central champion Cleveland Indians on what, to date, is the only home run Venditte has allowed this spring. It came off the bat of switch-hitting Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor, who was batting right-handed.

In his 7.1 innings of work, the extremely polite and soft-spoken 32-year-old Omaha, Nebraska native has allowed only that one run on six hits, while walking one and striking out 10 – yes, 10 – of the 30 batters he has faced this spring. And even though the Dodgers ended up losing that game and Venditte was charged with a blown save, he, despite his switch-pitching anomaly, has been the most reliable reliever out of the Dodgers bullpen, with only 15 spring training games remaining as of this writing.

Aside from the sheer novelty of being the only major league switch-pitcher of the 21st century, Venditte also currently owns the best ERA among all Dodger relievers with at least seven innings pitched this spring.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

So what’s the big deal, you ask?

The big deal is that the Dodgers made their first spring training roster cuts on Saturday night, with more on the way. And even though Venditte survived the first round of cuts, he is now one of only eight non-roster invitees remaining in Dodgers major league camp.

The good news is that Venditte, whom the Dodgers signed to a minor league contract on November 27, 2017, was given an invitation to major league camp in hopes of continuing his two-year MLB career.

The bad news is that the only guy in major league camp with more relief innings pitched than Venditte this spring – albeit by only one-third of an inning – is 26-year-old left-hander Manny Banuelos, who is also a non-roster invitee and who has one season of MLB experience (in 2015 with the Atlanta Braves), but also has nine years of minor league service time.

That being said and despite having pitched a third of an inning more than Venditte has thus far, Banuelos is 0-1 with a rather unsightly 8.22 ERA, having allowed seven runs on 11 hits, while walking two and striking out nine. The silver lining is that the Gomez Palacio, Mexico native has yet to surrender a home run this spring, so there’s that.

Obviously, the final decisions as to who will be among the (projected) eight relievers in the Dodgers bullpen on Opening Day lies squarely in the hands of Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Farhan Zaidi, and most certainly not any of us. However, with Opening Day now a mere 17 days away, and with what he has done thus far this spring, it’s hard not to call this one Advantage Venditte.

Play Ball!