Switch hitter

[MadBandit22]

Does anyone have experience working with a switch hitter?
We have messed a round a little in the past but nothing serious.
My daughter brought it up the other day on the way to practice.
She mentioned slapping but after practicing some she shows good power from the left side. I had her work on drag bunts as well and that went well. Slapping well that’s gonna take some time I think.

 

[joe720]

My DD is a natural righty. She switched to lefty two years ago and it turned out she hit with power better from the left side. Coaches never have her slap anymore because she can crush the ball from the left. Can't figure out why that happened.

 

[MadBandit22]

My DD is a natural righty. She switched to lefty two years ago and it turned out she hit with power better from the left side. Coaches never have her slap anymore because she can crush the ball from the left. Can't figure out why that happened.

Interesting. How old is your daughter?
My daughter has good power from the right side so I don’t think she will switch sides like your daughter. She has average speed so just another wrinkle to add to be more versatile I guess.

 

[joe720]

She just turned 13. Flipped her around just before turning 11 because she is fast.

 

[_MIA_]

How many switchhitters have you seen in college/pro softball?? If the answer is not many or none then there is probably a reason for that.....

 

[KPower]

My daughter switch hit in rec ball. She was pretty effective on both sides. But once she started playing TB she went 100% left. (She is a natural lefty and speedy) Her hitting coach said in his opinion it was best to focus all your energy on one side. She does bunt, slap and hit away and has finally gotten to the point where she is a pretty legit triple threat. She loves to bait the defense in with a little blooper in her first at bat and then fire it over their heads the next time around. She is 15.

 

[Hawk_]

Mine is a natural righty. At the age of 5 I switched her to left and would every now and again have her switch back to right just for fun. She is 11 now and bats lefty full time. She doesn't slap, straight power hitter.

 

[Vertigo]

My dd switched to lefty slapper at the age of 16 several months ago. We found an awesome coach who slapped in college and she taught dd to be multi-dimensional with drag bunting, slapping, and hitting from the left side. My dd would crush the ball as a righty in the cages but in games was a contact ground ball hitter. She adjusted very well, BA jumped by over .100 for both school ball and travel and OPS went up by about .300 -.400. The one thing her coach did say was that in order to be really good at it she had to commit to it and that meant not switching back to the right side on 2 strikes. It has worked out extremely well for her.

 

[uncdrew]

How many switchhitters have you seen in college/pro softball?? If the answer is not many or none then there is probably a reason for that.....

We had a parent ask me to teach her daughter how to switch hit. I was a bit curt but told him it really didn't make any sense for her. I'd much rather she get really good from one side of the plate than be average at both.


[EDIT: She was 9 and her swing needed a lot of work on either side.]

 

[chinamigarden]

My dd is a natural lefty, but could hit from both sides. After she hit 14 she was showing off in a practice and her coach told her he would never let her hit righty in a game as it would expose her left (pitching) arm to more hit by pitches.