Switch Hitting

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Oct 4, 2018
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Girl who is 8 can hit the ball decent from either side of the plate. She's not fast.

Let her hit from either side and have both improve slowly or work one one and work that side much more?
 
Apr 26, 2015
704
43
DD used to be able to switch hit. But she is fast...so we went left. (She is a true lefty anyway...so I guess it made sense). She is working on becoming a true triple threat now...bunting, slapping and hitting. It seems like at any one given time any 2 are working, but rarely are all 3...hoping to work on that this off season.

Funny thing - DD played HS ball this fall and 7 of the 9 batters were lefties. It drove some pitchers crazy!
 
Dec 11, 2010
4,713
113
In this situation, after much thought, here is my advice: Move her to the left side while she is hitting lefty full time from the left side. Have her hit from right side right after the ninth of never.

Later in life, lefty hitters are in demand. Lefty power hitters are in high demand.

Doesn’t matter how fast she is now. Mover her to the left, hit the ball hard.
 
Jul 22, 2015
851
93
No reason to focus on the right side unless she is significantly better from there. The only reason I would focus on the right side is if she shows power from there and none from the left side. All things being equal she's more valuable as a lefty. BTW, you have no idea how fast she WILL be. Things can change so quickly as they mature.
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
Girl who is 8 can hit the ball decent from either side of the plate. She's not fast.

Let her hit from either side and have both improve slowly or work one one and work that side much more?

What does she want to do?
 
Oct 4, 2018
4,611
113
Thanks all.

I've asked her what feels better, and what she wants to do. She doesn't care. Her parents think being a switch hitter is important. I disagree. While we're working hard to develop skills, we recognize at this age many of the girls will not play softball much longer. We can see the grit, desire and effort of the few on the team who might. Things may change, but my guess is that this particular girl isn't long for softball.

We're a 10U team. We have two lefties already. They tend to ground out to first a lot. As y'all know, grounders to third have a higher OBP at this level.

So we tried her lefty exclusively for over a month. This included a half-dozen practices and about 12 games over 2-3 tournaments. In the last tournament, she looked really tentative and was waiving at the ball. So mid-tournament in a 2-hour break between games, we had her do both off the tee. We invited her parents to the discussion and I explained how I'd rather her get really good at one side than being average at both. And I explained how she didn't look comfortable batting lefty lately and I'd like to try her righty. So we had her hit righty off the tee and the stance and swing both looked better. At least to me. While no pro, my eye is better than her parents.

We reached mutual agreement to play the rest of the tournament with her batting righty, and the stats show she did better. And she looked better.

So I hope this one's put to bed, as her parents aren't exactly the type of parents you enjoy having on your team. They show up late to everything, he comes on the field during warm-ups which isn't welcome, he comes into the dug out during games, and they dress her wrong for practices and such.
 
Jun 17, 2009
15,105
0
Portland, OR
Thanks all.

I've asked her what feels better, and what she wants to do. She doesn't care. Her parents think being a switch hitter is important. I disagree. While we're working hard to develop skills, we recognize at this age many of the girls will not play softball much longer. We can see the grit, desire and effort of the few on the team who might. Things may change, but my guess is that this particular girl isn't long for softball.

We're a 10U team. We have two lefties already. They tend to ground out to first a lot. As y'all know, grounders to third have a higher OBP at this level.

So we tried her lefty exclusively for over a month. This included a half-dozen practices and about 12 games over 2-3 tournaments. In the last tournament, she looked really tentative and was waiving at the ball. So mid-tournament in a 2-hour break between games, we had her do both off the tee. We invited her parents to the discussion and I explained how I'd rather her get really good at one side than being average at both. And I explained how she didn't look comfortable batting lefty lately and I'd like to try her righty. So we had her hit righty off the tee and the stance and swing both looked better. At least to me. While no pro, my eye is better than her parents.

We reached mutual agreement to play the rest of the tournament with her batting righty, and the stats show she did better. And she looked better.

So I hope this one's put to bed, as her parents aren't exactly the type of parents you enjoy having on your team. They show up late to everything, he comes on the field during warm-ups which isn't welcome, he comes into the dug out during games, and they dress her wrong for practices and such.

They dress her wrong for practices.

That was the final straw :D.
 
Oct 4, 2018
4,611
113
Hahaha.

I mention it because we specifically say "wear softball pants because we're practicing sliding" and she shows up in shorts. And we only had to make the comment about pants because of her. The rest of the girls wear their practice jersey and pants every single practice.
 

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