Why go lefty?

4KidsDad · Aug 30, 2015

Hey all. First post . Discovered the site a few weeks ago and have been reading ever since!

DD is 14, bats right, and is a solid .300 hitter. She's also fast-3.0 home to first. General consensus is she should be hitting from the left side now...I guess because she's fast?

Why would a player switch to the left side? Only benefit I could see for DD is she's a few feet closer to 1st.

My worry is the team will lose a perfectly good hitter for most of the year (or longer?) while she makes the transition and she will not have much fun!

Pros and cons.for switching?

JJsqueeze · Aug 30, 2015

I assume that the switch is centered around her becoming a slapper instead of a switch hitter? A couple of questions, how is her power and what level of ball is she playing and what level does she aspire to?

.300 is solid but not particularly high for a BA at this age, 3.0 home to first is also good but not great-so in deciding what to work on, you really have to make a judgement call on which attribute (hitting or speed) You and her see as being the best chance for her to improve. If she can shave a couple tenths off that home to first time then slapping might make a lot of sense, but if she is batting .300 and hitting the ball over the fence on occasion, maybe just improving her hitting makes more sense.

quincy · Aug 30, 2015

She needs to become a slapper if she goes to the left, it is a lot of work. A year sounds about right but she is going to get on base while she is figuring it ot.

If she has not hit it over the fence maybe try to switch her.

4KidsDad · Aug 30, 2015

Thanks so far. We're playing 14u TB.

DD's aspirations? To eat pizza and play! She's not a live, eat, and breathe softball player. She won't make it to college on grades and if she wants to go, it'll need to be on some sort of softball something.

She's not a power hitter. Hard line drives and grounders.

I keep coming back too WHY go lefty...why my kid and not some other right handed batter.

quincy · Aug 30, 2015

I am going to be a jerk.

.300 is not a good batting avg. Not seeing her it sounds like they are trying to help.

Why your DD? Maybe because they think she can be good.

If she is batting .300 you do not have much to lose .

canyonjoe · Aug 30, 2015

My DD is a natural lefty hitter (not a slapper). I do think batting lefty is a huge advantage, but I wouldn't change unless I was going to slap. You might want to check which of her eyes is dominant as that will affect how she sees the ball.

4KidsDad · Aug 30, 2015

quincy said:
I am going to be a jerk.

.300 is not a good batting avg. Not seeing her it sounds like they are trying to help.

Why your DD? Maybe because they think she can be good.

If she is batting .300 you do not have much to lose .

You're right. You're a jerk.

Never said she was stellar. Your post wasn't useful in any way.

shelbysdad · Aug 30, 2015

I don't think its worth it if she's not willing to put the work in. It would probably increase her BA and Obp as others have said. DD changed over at 11 and is 13 now and still has to work at it to be successful. Another question is are you willing to pay for a weekly hitting lesson? there's not a lot of quality slapping coaches out there. everyone takes your money and says they can teach slapping but few actually teach it right. I would just mess around and see if she can drive the ball off the tee left handed first. slapping is a situational thing, they have to be able to recognize the defense set up and react accordingly. its not just all drag bunting.

ArmyStrong · Aug 30, 2015

4KidsDad said:
You're right. You're a jerk.

Never said she was stellar. Your post wasn't useful in any way.

I thought Quincy's post was spot on. For some reason, coaches are trying to improve on your DDs .300 BA. That means she is worth their time & effort. That means she shouldn't settle for a .300 BA.

I'd be more concerned if the coaches didn't work with her and try different things.

4KidsDad · Aug 30, 2015

ArmyStrong said:
I thought Quincy's post was spot on. For some reason, coaches are trying to improve on your DDs .300 BA. That means she is worth their time & effort. That means she shouldn't settle for a .300 BA.

Agreed. However...kid was hitting maybe .225 three years ago. .250 two years ago. .300 last year. She's being progressively better as pitching gets faster and starting to have some real fun.

Not sure I want to take several steps backward to *maybe* improve for the long term.

Why go lefty?

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