The Indians drafted an ambidextrous pitcher earlier today, taking Ryan Perez out of Judson (Illinois) University in the 12th round. According to Cleveland scouting director Brad Grant, the 21-year-old Perez is a different kind of switch-pitcher than Oakland’s Pat Venditte.

Unlike Venditte, Perez doesn’t switch hands each time a new, different-sided batter steps into the box. On multiple occasions, Indians scouts watched Perez throw the first five innings of a game left-handed, and the next two right-handed. As for whether the team plans to have him begin switching for a platoon advantage, a la Venditte, Grant said “We’ll get him in the system and try to figure it out.” Plans are for Perez to begin his professional career with short-season Mahoning Valley.

According to Grant, his scouting staff turned in reports on Perez as both a left-handed and right-handed pitcher. The club feels he’s “a little further advanced (left-handed), but he has talent from both sides.” Perez “throws just as hard from both sides and is up to 90 mph,” and “has got a breaking ball with both hands.” His arm slot, which is the same from each side, isn’t as low as Venditte’s, but rather “more of a three-quarters slot.”

Perez’s primary difference from Venditte is the manner in which he switches, and from a durability point of view, it may be advantageous. As Grant put it, the most-unique of Cleveland’s 2015 draft picks has “the flexibility to throw in back to back to back games, because he could go left-handed one game, right-handed the next, then go back to left-handed the next day.”