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cmoncoach
29 Posts |
 Posted - 08/05/2011 : 10:28:01
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| At what age do you need to bat lefty vs. the right-handed pitcher 100% of the time? Vise-Versa against the left-handed pitcher. My guess would be High School Ball. Anybody got any input? |
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prestont
197 Posts |
Posted - 08/05/2011 : 15:49:54
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GREAT topic!
Another question for the group is..... when is the right age to consider working on switch hitting?
Just like anything in baseball.... quality reps, quality reps, quality reps translate to success and would luv to know folks experiences when it comes to introducing switch hitting. |
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loganmill
144 Posts |
Posted - 08/05/2011 : 16:44:18
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My son is currently 12 and he is a true switch hitter.
He has been changing sides due to lefty-righty pitchers
since he was 10. Its helped his batting from that
prospective. But it still takes tons of reps on both
sides. |
Edited by - loganmill on 08/05/2011 17:41:46 |
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4for4
15 Posts |
Posted - 08/05/2011 : 16:45:59
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In my sons case he started at 11u R vs L, L vs R. Seasons before he switched at every at AB.
As to when to start, in our case he was 7. You will find that when to start can be justified at different levels/ages. Bottom line the player has to want to do it and put the reps in. I think if its started at a young age it becomes routine to put the time in. |
Edited by - 4for4 on 08/05/2011 17:41:46 |
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SMASH
253 Posts |
Posted - 08/05/2011 : 19:05:04
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In my humble opinion I think its hard enough for a young player to become a successfll hitter from his natural side. How many truly successfull switch hitters have there been in the big leagues? I'll start the list:
Mickey Mantle
Eddie Murray
Chipper Jones...
I'm sure there are quite a few more but its a very small percentage in relation to the number of hitters who have recorded a major league AB.
We all know the saying, "Hitting a baseball is the single hardest thing to do in all of sports..." I believe this to be true.
I will admit there are rare occasions where a special athlete, who happens to be ambidextrious, will come along and have the propensity to become a switch hitter. |
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Season
36 Posts |
Posted - 08/05/2011 : 21:23:05
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| PETE ROSE is on top of the list ...... Hit King 4256 hits L/R started all star games at 1B 2B 3B LF RF.......... |
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Shark
18 Posts |
Posted - 08/06/2011 : 15:47:50
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The younger you start the better as it will become much more natural. After the age of 12 it can be done, but the tendency is to become more of a slap hitter as opposed to the true switch hitters as listed above.
I would also add these to that list:
Carlos Beltran
Mark Texiera
Jorge Posada
Roberto Alomar |
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in_the_know
985 Posts |
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excoach12
159 Posts |
Posted - 08/06/2011 : 19:14:05
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I would start the player with switch hitting only after he has consistently displayed above average numbers from his primary side of the plate. He needs to be an "expert" hitter from one side before switch hitting. As a coach I was never impressed with an 8,9,10 or 11 year old switch hitter. They have all generally been weak from both sides. And it is silly to think at those ages the L-R, R-L matchup is even a factor. Heck, the pitchers have trouble even finding home plate so the opposite thing is a moot point anyways.
And most of the time it is the parents wanting their son to display something unique to make up for shortcomings elsewhere.
Foremost must be the players desire to become a switch hitter and to work hard from both sides and I think the proper age to start is 12+ for most. |
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Shark
18 Posts |
Posted - 08/07/2011 : 09:06:29
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| ex: part of what I'm assuming you saw directly were kids experimenting with switching. i know i have seen kids try it but not put the true work effort into it. and, you are correct, at ages 9 - 12, the value of switch hitting is not truly realized, but starts to come at 13+ when they begin to see breaking pitches. there are a few kids in Cobb County who I've heard about that are solid from both sides. I'm sure you'll see one to two at ECB or 643. |
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Strategizer
86 Posts |
Posted - 08/07/2011 : 15:26:04
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| I would agree that switch hitting in games between the ages of 8 and 11 would not be ideal at those ages-- unless a player is exceptional. Yes, at those ages the players should be perfecting one side first. With that being said, if a player shows a lot of potential as a switch hitter that early on I would encourage him to get in a lot of reps in the cages/field on the left and right side of the plate-- by 13 or 14 years of age that player may be an effective switch hitter. I also believe the discipline and technique that comes with learning how to hit from both sides of the plate makes a player a stronger and more effective hitter. As far as the comment about "MOST of the time it is the parents wanting their son to display something unique to make up for shortcomings elsewhere." What a BOLD statement. |
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gasbag
281 Posts |
Posted - 08/07/2011 : 17:04:52
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| My son batted righty naturally but throws lefty naturally. At age 9 he asked me if I'd teach him to drag bunt. I told him to truly drag bunt, you'd need to be able to do it lefty. To accomplish this, you have to be able to hit lefty or folks would know you were bunting every time you approached the plate lefty. I asked him if he was willing to do what it took to do that ? He said yes so we've worked on both sides now for the past 5 years. This past season was the first year he batted lefty in games. Prior to this, he did not have the personal confidence to do it and his coaches always wanted righty as he's really good from the right. With his coaches support this past year, he batted probably +- 85% from the left this past season and has now developed the confidence to be effective from either side. He'll go opposite the pitcher without even thinking twice ! I'm sure he'll continue to work hard on improving but I was glad to see his confidence blossom with his newly developed skill ( after 5 years of hard work and lots of frustrations ! ) I also have to point out, this was his idea and his decision. I never steered him down this path and would have never brought it up accept for his desire to drag bunt. Funny thing is....he's never drag bunted once from the left as he always wants to hit and it seems when the occasion mandated a bunt, he was batting righty...go figure ! |
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ramman999
241 Posts |
Posted - 08/08/2011 : 11:58:35
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I actually just started working with my son switching hitting this summer as part of his development - he is a high average doubles type hitter from the right side - what we've found in the short time working is he actually sees the ball better from the left side (right eye dominant). When he was little and used to go golfing with me, he would swing my clubs (I am left handed), so I knew he had the mechanics, and he always would toy with it in the cages, so I figured, why not get serious and develop it.
Might be some time until he sees plate time lefty, but since our team has no left handed bats I figured why not! It gives him double the hitting time. |
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BeanerBALL
9 Posts |
Posted - 08/12/2011 : 16:03:50
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| As a young father,my son has seen me switch hit in big game. I believe that mad my son want to do the same. I started him at 5yrs. Little by little reps after reps start on his strong side and finish on his strong side and slowly build the kids confidence up. At 8yrs of age he has a natural approach,style and power from both side. If you can control whichever side he swings from put him in a situation where he won't feel bad about losing the game for his team. I'm available from 5pm to 8pm mon-friday northwest of Cobb.lol. |
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gvblack
50 Posts |
Posted - 08/23/2011 : 11:36:51
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Growing your own switch hitter is a novelty. The time to start is when they first pick up a baseball bat. If they have the knack for, then you can encourage it. Let the voice of experience give you two reasons not to go there:
1.) It is twice as much work for the hitter and the coach. Twice as many reps.
2.) One side is always broken. Get one side in the groove, and suddenly the other side needs work.
That said, it is an advantage once pitchers start throwing breaking balls. It is also a thrill to see your kid hammer pitches from both sides of the plate. If you go there, start early, and plan to spend lots of time in BP. |
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HITANDRUN
436 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2011 : 15:07:46
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| It would make sense to start early but in reality some players don't start until the minor leagues. |
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baseballparentof2
22 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2011 : 15:31:00
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My 12 year son is right handed and at the age of 2 (the first time he picked up a bat) he batted both ways. He would go out and bat right handed some days and left handed other days. We never encouraged him to do it, but we never tried to make him bat one way or the other. Now before a game, he will bat whatever side he was swinging better from on that day in batting practicing. He doesn't switch depending on the pitcher. This upcoming season will be the first season that he (we) have decided he needs to start to bat lefty vs right handed pitcher and vise-versa.
My oldest son has tried to switch hit and it just never felt right to him so he quit trying.
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rustybucket
67 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2011 : 15:35:56
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| I introduced it at a VERY young age, 5 or 6, playing wiffle ball in the backyard. He has still never switch hit in a game, but we work on it occasionally in hitting practice. As we approach kid pitch we will step up the practice time lefty. |
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ivpartner
80 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2011 : 19:04:51
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| My 12U son has always been able to use both hands with bball, golf clubs, and baseball bats from the time he was 2 years old. We didn't cultivate switch hitting until he played travel ball at age 9. We didn't get professional hitting instruction until 11U. He has numerous HR's now from both sides of the plate. We would have started earlier but coaches didn't encourage it because he was such a dominant LH hitter. Many coaches are the reason more kids don't put in the time and effort to develop because they want to win IMO. Once we found a coach who played professionally, we instantly were encouraged to develop it. |
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coachpitch
66 Posts |
Posted - 10/19/2011 : 17:56:04
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| The challenge with beginning switch hitting is being OK with some initial failure to get the reps in the cage and in real games. Many coaches don't want that, because they are still thinking more of the tournament championships than developing players. My son is now almost a year into switch hitting, but initially it was frowned upon in real games because he was not as strong from the opposite side. Now...he is strong from both sides, but it took some coaches who supported it. |
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Gwinnett
791 Posts |
Posted - 10/19/2011 : 19:55:39
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Is that u coach A? If it is you better bat left this weekend!......lol
quote:
Originally posted by coachpitch
The challenge with beginning switch hitting is being OK with some initial failure to get the reps in the cage and in real games. Many coaches don't want that, because they are still thinking more of the tournament championships than developing players. My son is now almost a year into switch hitting, but initially it was frowned upon in real games because he was not as strong from the opposite side. Now...he is strong from both sides, but it took some coaches who supported it.
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biged
198 Posts |
Posted - 10/21/2011 : 18:27:48
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As one gets older the game becomes more and more technical. Perfecting the swing it the holly grail. Few achieve this and the ones that do are always searching for more consistency. For those of you who are thinking about teaching your sons to switch hit "DON'T".
But why, BigEd?
1. Most are stronger from one side then the other and players tend to gravitate towards the stronger side either by their coach, parents, or on their own.
2. Coaches are not willing to give you double the reps because you hit both ways. So, what happens is the player get fewer reps from both sides.
3. As much as we parents do not want to admit, all players have weak spots in their swing. With switch hitting, one has double with switch hitting.
4. It takes away from fielding and pitching. Which by the way is becoming bigger parts of the game then hitting. Just look at this years World Series.
If you really want to make your kid a better hitter, teach him to hit the outside pitch opo field. This will help more in the long run.
All said, doing it here and there is not all bad. Heck, I did it to my son, now 17. Still do it every now and then. It helps train the eye. Breaks the same old same old.
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Topic |
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Switch Hitting
