Switch hitting

[chinamigarden]

My dd batted from both sides when she was little. When she was in machine pitch and in her first year of 10u she would hit from the right side, but when we were up a bit she would hit left. By the time she was 9 and playing her second year of 10u she was a full time left handed hitter. She will still switch over to rh at practice now and then, its sort of a way to show off, like a parlor trick or something. She can actually hit the ball pretty well from the RH side, but there is no benefit to doing it in games and it opens up her pitching arm to being hit by a pitch so its not something she does in games.

 

[2bucketdad]

IMO if you can are going to take time to develop a good swing and be able to hit for power from the left side there is no reason to worry about hitting from the right.

 

[iMlearning]

IMO if you can are going to take time to develop a good swing and be able to hit for power from the left side there is no reason to worry about hitting from the right.

She definitely wants to continue working on her swing technique. As we were leaving her hs volleyball practice, we saw a girl practicing on the softball field, and she said "let's go practice!". So we grabbed some snack wraps and went to the field. She wants to work on placing the ball better also as the teams that know her are backing up close to the fence. 2 of her base hits this past weekend were in the center field gap, but she said she was just trying to hit line drives.

 

[quincy]

Plan last winter was to turn 10YOA DD to the left side, never found the time.

The plan was to bat only from the left side for a year then reevaluate.

She is 11 now and the plan is the same, I would like her to be a switch hitter by 14YOA. If it doesn’t work out that is OK.

As other posters have mentioned I am not sure the amount of work she will need to commit will be worth the small benefit of being able to switch hit.

 

[chinamigarden]

Plan last winter was to turn 10YOA DD to the left side, never found the time.

The plan was to bat only from the left side for a year then reevaluate.

She is 11 now and the plan is the same, I would like her to be a switch hitter by 14YOA. If it doesn’t work out that is OK.

As other posters have mentioned I am not sure the amount of work she will need to commit will be worth the small benefit of being able to switch hit.

The small benefit with switch hitting means, once you learn how to hit left, you never hit righty again. Learning how to bat lefthanded is a big advantage, one that is not worth losing by batting right handed. If quincyetta wants to learn how to hit left have her do it. You have already stated you think she will have a hard time making the HS varsity team in a couple of years, left handed batting will help her in that regard. Not switch hitting, but left handed hitting and or slapping.

 

[JAD]

Unless your DD is lighting fast, I would encourage her to continue hitting from the right side of the plate. Very few players can move to the left side and hit with power, so unless she is trying to cut her time from home to first on a bunt or slap, I would just work extra hard hitting from the right side.