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CURIOUSGEORGE
4 Posts |
 Posted - 10/12/2015 : 13:44:30
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| My son is a right handed throwing and left handed swinging 9 year old. From day 1 of swinging a bat has always swung left handed. Should we start working on some switch hitting or does he need to just work on his lefty swing, since he is already a lefty hitter. Is there any advantage for him down the road. |
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CaCO3Girl
1989 Posts |
Posted - 10/12/2015 : 14:18:53
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WAAAAAY down the road yes. For now, not so much, and it can actually hurt his development. Think of it this way, what are the advantages of being able to switch which side of the plate you are hitting from? When do those circumstances actually come into play?
At 9u, 10u, heck even 13u to some extent, the job of the pitcher is to get the ball over the plate and in the strike zone. Nothing too fancy, just in the zone, maybe low if the kid has that much control. i.e. until the pitcher starts doing crazy stuff the batters don't have to do crazy stuff. It's more important to focus on learning one side of the plate VERY well. |
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delanceyj
13 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2015 : 09:21:28
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My son started tinkering with switch hitting at 6yrs old. He's naturally a righty, but when we were up by a lot of runs, he would go up there lefty. He did that from 6yrs-11yrs, but would always take cuts from both sides during BP. At 12 yrs old, he started alternating games batting lefty/righty. At 13, he started switching with the pitcher he was facing. Now he's a ligit switch hitter with power on both sides.
If he's interested, I would start working on it now. The later he waits, the harder it is to do in my opinion.
Edited to add that he is now 16yrs old. |
Edited by - delanceyj on 10/13/2015 11:02:45 |
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hshuler
1074 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2015 : 12:33:29
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I agree with delanceyi. I would start with 20 - 25 cuts a day on a tee from the right side to build strength and muscle memory...with a lighter bat.
He has an advantage...he's a lefty so he will hit from hit stronger side most of the time. |
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in_the_know
985 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2015 : 13:16:25
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Have to disagree completely with CaCo.
Working from the right side shouldn't hurt his development at all. As long as he gets reps from both sides, there is no disadvantage to working on switch hitting.
Why would he want to wait until pitchers "start doing crazy stuff" before even trying to learn hitting from the other side?
It will be harder to do later than earlier, and there is no downside to his natural side as long as he continues to practice that side. The sooner both sides feel natural, the better.
The biggest challenge you're likely to have is the discipline to stick to hitting from the right side against live pitching. If he's used to a certain level of success, he may take a step backward initially from the new side, and want to revert back to the left to get the results he wants. Take the step back and stick with it. Time will tell if he can be successful from both sides, but you have to give it enough time to find out.
Definitely get started now.
Also, a word of advice, make sure he wears an elbow shield when he's hitting from the left side as his throwing arm is exposed to the pitcher. Definitely want to protect that elbow. My son throws left and always wears an evoshield elbow guard when hitting RH. |
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CaCO3Girl
1989 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2015 : 14:30:49
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| Curious George, I would recommend you talk to your coaches. My son also is a switch hitter and every coach he had from 7u-13u said there will be NO switch hitting in practice. You are a power hitter and I need you to refine your swing from one side of the plate. When his friends come over they won't play baseball with him unless he hits lefty...but no formal training was allowed until 14u. He had some pretty knowledgeable coaches and all of them said the same thing, that it would screw up his swing/reaction time from his dominant side. |
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delanceyj
13 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2015 : 15:16:48
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| You don't need formal training. Pick up a bat, put a ball on a tee, hit it, repeat. There is no science involved to be a switch hitter. Your "knowledgable" coaches were being selfish. I promise you, as a parent of a really good switch hitter, it will not slow his progress from his natural side. |
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in_the_know
985 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2015 : 15:20:19
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quote:
Originally posted by CaCO3Girl
Curious George, I would recommend you talk to your coaches. My son also is a switch hitter and every coach he had from 7u-13u said there will be NO switch hitting in practice. You are a power hitter and I need you to refine your swing from one side of the plate. When his friends come over they won't play baseball with him unless he hits lefty...but no formal training was allowed until 14u. He had some pretty knowledgeable coaches and all of them said the same thing, that it would screw up his swing/reaction time from his dominant side.
Frankly, (and based only what you posted here) the kids coach is NOT putting the long term best interest of your kid ahead of what the coach wants. This is evident in the comment "you are a power hitter and I need you to refine your swing from one side of the plate." The coach isn't willing to take a performance hit to his (team) need in order to allow your son to develop something that could benefit him in the long run. What the coach is saying is that he's only going to focus on and build up his current strengths. There may be a lot more that your sons coach said, so I can only read into this what you posted, but that's a pretty telling comment.
Do you honestly believe that it will be easier for your kid to become a switch hitter when he's 16 and facing VERY good pitchers with velocity at or approaching 90 with good off speed pitches?
I've watched kids develop hitting from the other side of the plate for years with absolutely no degradation in their swing/reaction time from their natural side.
To be clear, I'm not suggesting that you hit the cage Wednesday night and give him some hacks from the opposite side, then toss him into a game on Saturday switch hitting. He can spend months to a year doing soft toss or tee work before ever facing live pitching. Again, the key is to add this to his work, not in place of his practice routine for his natural side.
Clearly you're passing on info from his coaches second hand, so I won't get into further debate with what your coaches are telling you, so we can agree to disagree, but for Curious George, now would be a great time to begin tee work and soft toss from the opposite side and get your son comfortable with RH swing. |
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LFconcessions
29 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2015 : 16:31:03
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My son started switch hitting in HS games last year as a freshman. He also has been doing as ITK and hshuler suggested over the last few years with reps in the cages from both sides to build muscle memory and confidence. After all the reps - our son takes it as a compliment when a coach who has not seen him asks which is his natural side.
I'll also say that sometimes you will run across coaches that do look at long term development. Last summer his travel coaches were OK with our son batting the first few showcases all lefty to help him develop. They told him that if he came up to bat in a critical situation in a PG tourney he should bat righty, but ultimately left the decision up to him.
Curious George.... Some advice he received (that made sense to us) was.... no one swings symmetrically from both sides of the plate. Ensure you've got good mechanics but swing should 'feel natural' from your non-dominant side, and not exactly mirror your dominant side. |
Edited by - LFconcessions on 10/13/2015 17:34:39 |
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BREAMKING
323 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2015 : 17:18:47
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| started switch hitting about 7-8 years old. one is a jr. in high school and he started switching with the pitcher at 13u. always struggled at the plate righty. We always hit both and swing looked better lefty. at 13u he was taking bp and not hitting the ball good switched over and hit some lefty and coach said ok from now on you hit with the pitcher. Been doing it ever since then. Now he hits better lefty than righty best thing he ever did. Glad he always practiced it or would probably be out of the game now. I agree with guy above. Coach probably did not want to take the drop in productivity from learning. Start early if you plan on doing it. Other one is 13u and he has been practicing it since he was about that age but do not think he will be able to do it. |
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CURIOUSGEORGE
4 Posts |
Posted - 10/14/2015 : 14:33:24
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| Thanks for all of the great advice. He has been working on hitting from both sides with me for a little while. Part of the reason I asked was since he is a lefty hitter and a righty thrower was there a greater advantage for him to hit from both sides of the plate. He is fast for his age and hitting lefty does help out with getting on base and taking extra bases. Keep the advice coming, thanks. |
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HeyBlue
92 Posts |
Posted - 10/15/2015 : 10:19:21
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| I learned in the backyard with a tennis ball. As I got older, if my right handed swing was off, simply taking a few cuts left handed would improve my right handed swing when I flipped back over. Build up the confidence in batting practice before doing the swap in the game. Good luck to your son. |
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Critical Mass
277 Posts |
Posted - 10/16/2015 : 07:49:54
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| Get him started asap taking cuts. He will be better for it. Let this be a lesson to all that not all coaching is good coaching. |
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CaCO3Girl
1989 Posts |
Posted - 10/16/2015 : 12:07:24
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quote:
Originally posted by Critical Mass
Get him started asap taking cuts. He will be better for it. Let this be a lesson to all that not all coaching is good coaching.
We will have to agree to disagree as in_the_know said.
I didn't understand it, at the time, why switch hitting was being frowned upon at young ages but I get it now. I feel that my son has been served well by his coaches, specifically in how he can hit. As one coach said, let's get you to be excellent on one side, then we can try to incorporate the other side.
It is my belief that most under 12u kids are not swinging correctly, and that many of them will have issues when it comes to faster pitching. My son was/is not one of those kids that is now having trouble with 80mph pitching because he learned how to swing correctly, and worked on it. If I had to do it over again would I want the paid knowledgeable coach to divide his time between the right and left side...no, I'd want that coach to make him darn good at at least one side, mission accomplished.
My son still plays around with his left side swing at home and in the cages on his own time, but until it becomes a priority in the game it will not be a priority to the coach. Some may say that makes him a bad coach, I say my son could have had a B level swing from the R and the L, but this coaching allowed my son to have an A+ skill on one side. That would have been my preference, maybe it isn't for everyone, but that is what I would do again if we had to do it over.
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Crazyforbball
391 Posts |
Posted - 10/16/2015 : 18:45:06
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| I think it doesn't hurt... it helps build up upper body strength from both sides if nothing else! |
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Coletrain
10 Posts |
Posted - 10/19/2015 : 12:58:25
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| My son has done it since he was 6 (11 now). One of my best friends is a physical therapist. He told me to make my son hit both ways even if he struggled at it left handed. He said this would help reduce muscle imbalances. After a while my son was just as good left handed as right handed. JFYI |
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ABC_Baseball
90 Posts |
Posted - 10/20/2015 : 11:09:31
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I get why people switch hit. They are hoping to cut down on any perceived advantage a LH pitcher has going against a LH hitter or RH pitcher against a RH batter. I get the whole thing about the ball starting outside of the batter and time to see the ball and its natural movement away from the hitter. I just come from the school of thought that if you can really hit, it doesn’t matter.
A really good hitter doesn’t care what arm the pitcher is throwing with or how fast/slow they are throwing. My kid is 11 and he really doesn’t notice or care if he comes up to bat with a lefty on the mound, just like he doesn’t care about pitching speed.
Switch hitting is really hard to do, I do understand that the earlier you start, the more comfortable you will be with it. At the same time, it does take “professional” training and time to develop an A+ swing. My 11u doesn’t need professional training as frequently now because he has been taking paid hitting lessons for 5 years now. 4 and a half of those years have been from a former MLB player. There is no way that his right side could have ever been as good as his left side. There is a weaker side that has to be trained extensively just to catch up to where the dominant side started off. Many of the league’s best (Cabrera, Gordon, Harper, Goldschmidt, Posey, Votto, Altuve, etc…) hit for an extremely high average from both sides. Some even hit the same arm side pitcher better than they hit the pitcher from the opposite arm side.
I’m of the impression that if you want to be a great hitter: #1, develop a good swing #2 be disciplined about the strike zone. These are easier said than done b/c #1 has a lot to do with how good your hand/eye coordination is naturally. #2 is something you either understand or you don’t. I don’t think switch hitting can help with #1 or #2. At the end of the day, switch hitting can be view as an extension of the hitting tool.
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hshuler
1074 Posts |
Posted - 10/21/2015 : 13:43:54
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@ABC - Great points but you really don't know if a kid is a really good hitter until he see's good benders, sliders and the pitcher changes speed effectively. That doesn't happen at 11 years-old. Not saying that this will happen to your kid but some of the best hitters at 10 - 12 really struggle as they get older because pitching gets better.
Kyle Schwarber is a good young hitter that hits around .280 versus righties and about .130 versus lefties. That's the norm and why you see managers bringing in lefties to face lefties. You will always have anomalies like Miguel Cabrera but he's from a different planet. Being able to go oppo (Cabrera) versus being dead pull (Schwarber) is usually the biggest factor in hitting both arm slots well without being a switch hitter.
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Edited by - hshuler on 10/21/2015 17:23:51 |
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Critical Mass
277 Posts |
Posted - 10/26/2015 : 08:58:32
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| I remember 11 and my son batting lead off or #2....then came 14U baseball. Now he is a pitcher. |
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CaCO3Girl
1989 Posts |
Posted - 10/26/2015 : 10:38:50
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quote:
Originally posted by Critical Mass
I remember 11 and my son batting lead off or #2....then came 14U baseball. Now he is a pitcher.
And that is the double edged sword of it. None of us really know what our kid will be capable of until you get to 14u, and sometimes 15u. The kid who hit the bombs at 12u over the fence may not have the proper swing mechanics to be able to turn that hit, which is now a pop fly out, into a line drive.
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Edited by - CaCO3Girl on 10/26/2015 11:06:35 |
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bfriendly
376 Posts |
Posted - 10/27/2015 : 22:41:31
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quote:
Originally posted by CURIOUSGEORGE
My son is a right handed throwing and left handed swinging 9 year old. From day 1 of swinging a bat has always swung left handed. Should we start working on some switch hitting or does he need to just work on his lefty swing, since he is already a lefty hitter. Is there any advantage for him down the road.
Hey George, I say let him hit from BOTH Sides. I like as much as anything, the working of both sides of the torso when swinging the bat. Granted you wont Pitch or throw that way, I'd treat it the same as you'd do for other stretches etc.. you work both sides. I dont think there is any disadvantages............Brian McCann seems to be doing ok
My son likes to switch and I let him........I dont really think it matters near as much as letting him see Pitches....LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of Pitches. I take my kid to hit balls on a short field where we play homerun derby, a lot and have been doing that for about 4 or 5 years. There is no doubt he is comfortable in the box and the expectations are very high he will produce........ |
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FiveToolEvals
31 Posts |
Posted - 12/03/2015 : 16:29:13
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[quote]Originally posted by CURIOUSGEORGE
My son is a right handed throwing and left handed swinging 9 year old. From day 1 of swinging a bat has always swung left handed. Should we start working on some switch hitting or does he need to just work on his lefty swing, since he is already a lefty hitter. Is there any advantage for him down the road.
[/quote
***Best option: To cut to the chase, scroll to the bottom of this post***
The good thing is that your son is a natural lefty! If and when he does decide to switch hit, he will only be on the right side a small percentage of the time.
Reps, reps, reps, and reps - as long as they don't take away from your primary reps... Therefore, supplemental reps are needed on your opposing side. The switch hitters that I've dealt with (myself included) all tinkered with it from a young age. The ones who tinkered with it late - literally didn't have time to "tinker" with switch hitting. They were thrown into the flames w/live action. It's very tough to jump into switch hitting as an older hitter. I'm not saying to force him to switch hit during games right now, but swinging the wiffle ball bat from the opposite side or taking some hacks off the tee from his opposite side won't hurt his primary side.
***The Skinny***
My question is: Can we name fifteen frontline Major League switch-hitters who are league leaders in the major offensive categories? Of the top twenty players who qualified for the Major League batting title in 2015, how many where switch-hitters? My count shows ZERO! **Please double check my research**
Switch-hitting is sexy, but it's not a mandatory move. The degree of difficulty is so high - and you truly need to accumulate Gladwell's 10,000 hours of reps to truly become proficient at it. If your son if going to switch hit. Pick up the bat today and get as many additional reps as possible. He doesn't have to reveal it to his coaching staff. Do the extra work at home. -OR- Simply become the best possible hitter that he can become on his natural side and hammer every mistake pitch in sight - similar to Vladimir Guerrero used to do.
Action and reps - Rinse & Repeat. Gain hand and wrist strength - Rinse & Repeat. Reps Reps Reps Reps - and embrace the sweat during the process.
Great topic! It got my blood flowing! I drafted a switch hitter. He told me that he doesn't really have a natural side. He has swung from both sides for as long as he can remember.
www.FiveToolEvals.com |
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CURIOUSGEORGE
4 Posts |
Posted - 12/04/2015 : 13:10:56
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| Fivetool Thanks, that was more along the line of what I was looking for. I know that there have only been a handful of really great switch hitters and with my son being a natural lefty hitter, but righty thrower, was wondering if it was really worth it to put in the extra training. He does a lot of tee and soft toss right handed with me, but very little bp righty. I just want him to get better fundamentally and have fun playing the game that he loves. |
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leftfielddad
16 Posts |
Posted - 05/06/2016 : 16:40:08
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Just saw this thread. Just trying to get my $.02 in:
1) My son got an offer from D1 school and one of the reasons he got the offer is because of switch hitting.
2) Since my son was a little kid (11 years old), we always talked about how he can separate himself from other kids. There are thousands of short stops, 2B, etc. Well it worked for him - switch hitting truly separated him from everybody. Did it take a long time to develop? Yes. Did he fail a lot during games? Yes. Was he frustrated when he was failing? Yes. Did he eventually get used to it? Yes. Was it worth it? Absolutely - he reached his goal of playing baseball at higher level(college). Maybe switch hitting is not your son's means of separating himself during showcases, but for my kid it served its purpose. One more thing, we were fortunate that the coaches and baseball organization he played for taught and supported switch hitting in games and that made a HUGE difference. |
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CaCO3Girl
1989 Posts |
Posted - 05/09/2016 : 08:28:39
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quote:
Originally posted by leftfielddad
Just saw this thread. Just trying to get my $.02 in:
1) My son got an offer from D1 school and one of the reasons he got the offer is because of switch hitting.
2) Since my son was a little kid (11 years old), we always talked about how he can separate himself from other kids. There are thousands of short stops, 2B, etc. Well it worked for him - switch hitting truly separated him from everybody. Did it take a long time to develop? Yes. Did he fail a lot during games? Yes. Was he frustrated when he was failing? Yes. Did he eventually get used to it? Yes. Was it worth it? Absolutely - he reached his goal of playing baseball at higher level(college). Maybe switch hitting is not your son's means of separating himself during showcases, but for my kid it served its purpose. One more thing, we were fortunate that the coaches and baseball organization he played for taught and supported switch hitting in games and that made a HUGE difference.
At what age did they support his switch hitting, from 11 and up? |
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lowandoutside
69 Posts |
Posted - 05/11/2016 : 10:51:46
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quote:
Originally posted by CaCO3Girl
quote:
Originally posted by Critical Mass
I remember 11 and my son batting lead off or #2....then came 14U baseball. Now he is a pitcher.
And that is the double edged sword of it. None of us really know what our kid will be capable of until you get to 14u, and sometimes 15u. The kid who hit the bombs at 12u over the fence may not have the proper swing mechanics to be able to turn that hit, which is now a pop fly out, into a line drive.
You hit the nail on the head here. I know a dad who at 10/11/12u cared only about the HR and how many his son hit and how far. There was little to no concern about proper mechanics (huge hole in his swing and inability to hit anything that wasn't belt high down the middle) or more important batting stats. As he's gotten older he has seen his playing time diminish on every team he's on. When running into them now and looking at their games on GC, his son rarely plays. And when you look at his stats, it's filled with popups and lots of riding the pine. The HR cut work at 12, not so much at 15. |
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Switch hitting
