Why go lefty?

[4KidsDad]

Hey 4K, I meant that you should post some vid of RH AB's. Posters will tell you if they think she has .450 potential from the right or if you should be thinking left as her coaches suggested.

Still learning how to slice and dice vids and post on line. Don't know how to post a YouTube vid yet. Hope this works and look forward to any feed back.

Edit: Just figured how to post YouTube vid if anyone is still interested. . .

 

[goinglefty]

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.

If she isn't a "live, eat and breathe softball" player, the switch is going to be very hard (I also can't imagine playing in college if you aren't a "live, eat, breathe softball" player, even D3, but I don't know, maybe it works for some). I think my DD really started the switch around 7th grade (committed fully to it by 8th grade) and worked very hard to do it, but once she did it, she feels it was the single most important thing she has done as far as making her a marketable college player. I have to agree. She had various offers to play for a number of D1 programs and I am %100 certain she would NOT have gotten the same amount of attention as far as college is concerned if she was a righty.

From what I have experienced, if you aren't a power hitting righty, being a quick lefty (even if you dont slap) will help you stand out as a player if you are looking to play in college. For whatever reason all things the same, being a fast/quick lefty hitter, seems more appealing than a fast/quick righty hitter.

 

[TMoney]

IMO, If she's hitting .300, I would leave her on the right side and drive her to get better from that side. As most have said, .300 isn't super, but it aint bad either. If you have a kid that hits .300 and puts in limited work, ie (not a live, eat and breath softball player), she most likely has the potential to hit very well if you drive her to do so.

 

[CoogansBluff]

.300 is probably the typical team batting average in 14U travel, so I'd say she's roughly an average hitter at whatever level she plays, and one who has been improving. So, I would say there is a lot to lose by going lefty. And as others noted, 3.0 is fast, but not really, really fast. So I'd be hesitant to scratch the progress that's been made to become a .300 hitter and start over from the left side at age 14.

 

[nanotech14]

4, If you do switch her, talk to core on this site. You are going to need to buy your dd a new left-handed bat. Keep her old right-handed bat just in case.

 

[MNDad]

4, If you do switch her, talk to core on this site. You are going to need to buy your dd a new left-handed bat. Keep her old right-handed bat just in case.

Is this a joke or am I woefully ignorant in having never heard of a left handed bat?

 

[Little Angels Softball]

I always look at a number of things when I am thinking about converting a girl to a slapper. Speed is, of course, the first thing. Then, I look at what she does from the right side. Is she strictly a singles hitter? Does she ground out a lot? Does she have power to the gaps for extra base hits? How big is she? How big is her mother? How big is her father? What do her growth charts say? What is her work ethic? Is she the type of girl who will not second-guess herself once she has made a commitment?

Lots of factors go into my decision but the bottom line for me is this: Does this smallish, fast girl have the talent, the drive, the confidence and the mental armor to undertake such a monumental task? If I can answer yes to all of these, then I'll approach her and her family about converting.

 

[CoogansBluff]

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.

Not that this was the subject of the thread, but if her grades won't get her into college, then it's unlikely that her softball skills will trump that.

The academic bar is lowered for admissions on football and basketball players (money-making sports), but I don't think softball players are getting those kinds of breaks. Schools won't their non-revenue sports teams to sport good GPA's.

 

[Eric F]

Is this a joke or am I woefully ignorant in having never heard of a left handed bat?

You haven't heard of left-handed and right-handed bats??? OMG!! Hopefully you lucked into the right one for your DD. Using the wrong one can be hazardous.

 

[fastpitch]

Not that this was the subject of the thread, but if her grades won't get her into college, then it's unlikely that her softball skills will trump that.

The academic bar is lowered for admissions on football and basketball players (money-making sports), but I don't think softball players are getting those kinds of breaks. Schools won't their non-revenue sports teams to sport good GPA's.

Sort of true. I do know that non athletes with similar grades as softball players might have no chance to get into some ivy league or higher academic school. They still need good grades, but not as high as what a non-athlete might need. I know girls who got into Ivy programs with 1800-2000 SATs as softball players. Those are above average scores but not typical Ivy league scores for non-athletes.

All that being said, it doesn't sound like this is the problem with the OP here though.