Ambidextrous pitchers, those who can throw left-handed and right-handed, are rare and usually trace their talent to a childhood injury. Not so for Virginia Peninsula Community College’s Zack Easton, although he did break the pinky finger on his right hand as a youth.
While he didn’t say he was naturally right-handed, he did most things on that side as a child, except for throwing a football.
“We always used to play football in elementary school, and I always played quarterback lefty,” he said.
He then suffered the injury to his right hand.
“At that point, it was just like, ‘Oh, well, why not continuously use it?’” he said about his left hand. “The only thing I've had trouble doing is trying to cut anything with scissors lefty.”
He soon discovered many things came naturally to him as a lefty and he’s been doing both ever since. He can write with both hands but mostly uses his right. He eats with his left, shoots pool with his left and can shoot a basketball with both hands.
On the baseball field, he can also play shortstop and bats right-handed but will be concentrating on the mound for the Gators. Coach Shane Harrison and his assistants discussed having Easton play in the field in the fall but thought the team would benefit more by having Easton pitch.
“But once every week, once every week-and-a-half, he takes ground balls also, and swings the bat a little bit just to keep him sharp, because we may need him there one day, too,” Harrison said.
Easton graduated from Hermitage High School in Richmond in 2021 and attended Paul D. Camp Community College for two years. He was used sparingly as a reliever his first year and redshirted his second. He then took a gap year, during which he was a pitching coach at his high school alma mater, before joining VPCC in fall 2024. He will graduate in May with a health science degree and is studying kinesiology.
Harrison plans to use Easton as a starter on weekends and a reliever, if needed, for midweek games.
From the right side, Easton can throw harder, topping out at close to 90 mph. He said he’s stronger on the left, adding he can throw a football much farther with his left hand, but he throws a baseball farther with his right hand. Harrison said Easton’s curve ball is better from the left.
“Disadvantages? He does look a little stiffer when he's on the left side,” Harrison said. “He doesn't look as loose as he does on the right side. I mean, it's still an amazing thing to watch.”
Just as in high school, Easton must declare before each batter which way he will pitch. The batter, if a switch-hitter, then gets to choose which side he wants to hit from. But Easton said he rarely switches sides from batter to batter. He’s more apt to do it between innings.
“It really all depends. If I get in a groove with one arm, then I'll stay on that. But if not, then I'll just flip it around,” he said.
Most of the time it doesn’t cross the opponent’s mind that he can pitch from both sides, he said, and it takes them a minute or two to realize he has switched when he does it between innings.
In high school, he had a 75-pitch limit, and that was total, not per arm. In college, he has no restrictions from the NJCAA, but Harrison does limit his pitchers. However, Harrison is fond of saying he’s getting two pitchers for the price of one in Easton.
Although he doesn’t worry about his arms getting fatigued, he does put in extra work with the rest of his body.
“You have to condition not just one arm, you have to condition two arms,” he said. “They both have to be able to go a specific amount. They both have to be able to last for a long time. You have to make sure they're not going to get injured.”
That’s not all.
“The only thing that gets real tired is going be my legs,” he said. “But, at that point, you just got to trust your mechanics.”
If he is in a must-win game, Easton said which hand he goes with would depend on the opposition. Are they mostly left-handed hitters or right-handed hitters? What type of hitters are they? What are their strengths and weaknesses? That is the same way he decides whether to switch from batter to batter or inning to inning.
“It really depends on the hitter,” he said.
A big advantage that might be overlooked, said his coach, is how being able to throw with both hands affects his fielding.
“If there's a close play at third (or first), instead of turning his body, he can just drop his glove and throw with the hand already facing the base,” Harrison said.
Easton has a glove with six fingers that he orders special from 44 Pro Glove. He can use that glove whether he pitches from the left side or right.
Harrison, who has been involved in baseball for more than three decades, has never coached or faced an ambidextrous pitcher before but has heard about a few. Jurrangelo Cijntje attended Mississippi State in 2023-24 and was drafted 15th overall by the Seattle Mariners last year. Pat Venditte played for six teams in the majors from 2015-20, and Greg Harris, who pitched for eight teams in his 15-year MLB career, did throw left and right in a game for the Montreal Expos in 1995.
Easton hasn’t thought that far ahead but hopes to transfer to a four-year school where he can play baseball. He’s not picky about which school, whichever one fits.
Harrison said it takes time to get used to seeing Easton pitch from each side.
“It's a sight to see,” he said. “It's something (his teammates) like to see. I can only imagine what some of the teams are going to be like when they see it.”
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