Left-handed slap hitting for right-handed DD

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Oct 2, 2012
181
18
Our 11yr old DD is also small and quick and a natural righty. During a hitting slump, she tried hitting left-handed on a whim and took to it pretty easily. She hits exclusively lefty now, 2 yrs later. She doesn't slap all the time, but she can do it when she needs to.
 
Jun 29, 2013
589
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Thank you, everyone, this is really helpful and encouraging. She is pretty excited about trying this (and I wouldn't try it without this kind of interest). I'm working on the coach now. :)
 
Jul 11, 2013
14
0
I had several people suggest to me that my, then 10 year old Daughter, should try left handed slapping. I resisted for quite a while, thinking how hard it would be for me to hit left handed. She was in a terrible slump so I finally gave in and she took to it almost immediately. She hit over 500 BA in her first tourney after only a few weeks of daily practice. That was a little over a year ago and she has never swung the bat right handed again. I will never set limitations on my girl again due to my lack of capabilities.

If you decide to turn her left, do not allow her to hit right handed again. I see other girls at tournaments try to hit from the left until they have two strikes on them and then go back to the right side. I think this is a big mistake. It takes a lot of repetition to get coordinated to hit from the opposite side and build their confidence.

Like others have said, find a good hitting instructor that specializes in slapping and the short game. We are fortunate to have a former 3 time All American slapper from OU as my Daughters instructor. She is awesome! Hopefully, you can find someone that did it at a fairly high level as well.

Best of luck to your Daughter!
 

JAD

Feb 20, 2012
8,231
38
Georgia
First post on the forum, so I hope this is in the right place.
I'm wondering how many left-handed slap hitters are actually right handed. My DD is very fast, tiny, not much upper body strength and has always hit right-handed. She is almost 11, and in the backyard likes to try hitting left-handed, and surprisingly enough makes contact more fairly often while hitting lefty. If she has real interest in trying to be a slap hitter, is it worth investing in a hitting coach? As a hitter, she has a good eye, her hitting has improved a lot and she has occasionally hit leadoff (more because of her speed and OBP than getting hits, though). But she is usually a bottom of the lineup hitter.
Thanks for any advice!

Your DD sounds like the perfect candidate to become a slap hitter!
 
Jul 2, 2013
381
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My oldest DD was a righty and switched to a lefty slapper when she was 12. She's 15 now and jokes that she's not sure she could swing a bat right handed any more.

I agree with the group about never letting her go back after making the switch. It shatters their confidence and really sets them back. After we "made the switch" we had a coach that didn't want her batting from the left because he thought it would hurt the team and another coach that would make her move to the right after two strikes (the worst thing you can do). You have to be able to be your DD's advocate and not afraid to speak up about it (I was at first).
 

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