Switch Hitting

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Oct 11, 2010
8,337
113
Chicago, IL
I needed to leave work to bring DD a sweater, her shoulders were showing.

Other kids Boobs hanging out OK, shoulders no good.

Life is confusing.

Anyone want an 18u, she pitches and hits. She likes grease and Mia mia.
 
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Dec 11, 2010
4,713
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.

Little more info in this post than your first!

Yes, she should stay on the right side. But it doesn’t sound like it will matter long term.

And I had long ago forgotten how life or death these decisions are for parents of 8 year olds.
 
Jun 17, 2009
15,105
0
Portland, OR
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.

If you told the team that they were going to practice sliding, then practice sliding. Some folks need to learn the hard way to come prepared for practice.
 
Dec 5, 2017
514
63
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.

Would you recommend switching to lefty even if they hit well from the right but it is dd's idea? We started working on slapping after our fall tournaments ended and dd is doing surprisingly well. She's probably never going to be a power hitter but she is really fast. We waited until after fall tournaments because her coach, now former, is a baseball guy and told the girls only natural lefties can slap hit.
 
Dec 11, 2010
4,713
113
MikeP how old is the player? If she wants to do it, maybe her age doesn’t matter but the younger the better. Check her eye dominance. If she is right eye dominant that is a plus for moving her to the left side. And if you are going to do it, my goal would still be to hit with power in addition to slapping even if that is way down the road.

I had a buddy that coached successfully who took every righty who was right eye dominant and moved them to the left side. He always said ”the pain only lasts a year and it’s worth it”.

With the original example, I believe the player was 8. I’d be less worried about eye dominance the younger the player is. But as the say, that’s a whole ‘nuther story.
 
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Dec 5, 2017
514
63
MikeP how old is the player? If she wants to do it, maybe her age doesn’t matter but the younger the better.

I had a buddy that coached successfully who took every righty who was right eye dominant and moved them to the left side. He always said ”the pain only lasts a year and it’s worth it”.

With the original example, I believe the player was 8. I’d be less worried about eye dominance the younger the player is.

She just turned 9 in August, we just moved up to 9u this fall.
 
Dec 11, 2010
4,713
113
Check her eye dominance and go from there. Sounds like she is a good candidate for it to me.
 
Dec 5, 2017
514
63
Check her eye dominance and go from there. Sounds like she is a good candidate for it to me.

I did, she is right eye dominate. I am on board with it and so is she, suppose we will work hard this winter and see how things go. Thanks.
 
Oct 4, 2018
4,611
113
Little more info in this post than your first!

Yes, she should stay on the right side. But it doesn’t sound like it will matter long term.

And I had long ago forgotten how life or death these decisions are for parents of 8 year olds.


Sorry if I didn't provide enough info at first. I really appreciated the answers y'all gave as it made me think more and can be applied in the future.
 

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