Why can't both righties and lefties slap from their respective sides of the plate?

[obbay]

While i sit here recovering from surgery, i had this question.

if the batters times from home to 1B are good,
and the slap hitters stride is straight ahead toward the pitcher (which as I understand is where the stride is supposed to go)

then why would it not be just as effective to have right handed slappers??

Otherwise it's kind of like saying righties shouldn't bunt either. Watching some games yesterday, the bunts came from both sides of the plate but the slaps did not. The slaps did not look special in that those hits could've come from either righty or lefty with no difference in result.

The right -handed option appears to me to be overlooked or more likely ignored. Something that is not done just because no one does it.

 

[Brittany'sDad]

I was watching a college game the other day where a righty kind of slapped the ball to the right side, but it is not common. I would think the Batter would have a difficult time not crossing the plate as she is moving forward to slap from the right side.
Mike

 

[druer]

Typically slappers are pitched outside which forces them to slap the ball to the left side of the infield and challenge the 3B or SS (its what they are really trying to do anyway) to field the ball cleanly while on a dead sprint, somehow get their feet under them and make an accurate throw all in under 3 seconds.

A girl from the right side of the plate is likely going to get the pitches on the outside, forcing them to go with the ball to the right side of the field. The 1B can field the ball and tag her, and the 2B can field the ball and make a simple toss. That doesn't put nearly as much pressure on the defense. And they are probably a good 2 strides behind the left handed slapper from the right side of the plate. Even though they are both running to the pitcher there is about 3 feet different in where they are.

Left handed slapping is more often than not done by girls that are right handed, but who converted in order to slap. They aren't just natural lefties.

That doesn't mean that a player from the right side can't move and slap, move and bunt, move and swing for power just like a leftie slapper. Something I teach righties is how to use a fake bunt slap. Usually best with runners on base. Batter squares to bunt, defense assumes sacrifice bunt and SS and 2B end up cheating to get in position while 1B and 3B are charging. As the ball is on the way the batter slides the bottom hand up to where their top hand is, while staying squared to bunt, and simply slap towards the unoccupied whole. Sort of a harder push bunt that is intended to get past the 3B or 1B that are charging. Right handers also have another bunting tool called a sneaky bunt where they stay in batting position and just before ball gets there they do start in motion towards first (can't put foot down before contact or they would be called out) and just catch the ball and lay it down then proceed to run.

Lots of ways to think outside the box, so keep it up. Rightie slappers would confuse defensive players the first time they see it because they would think "Is she allowed to do that?" "What the heck is she doing?" "We've never practiced defense against this what shoudl I do?"

By the way ... praying for a speedy recovery.

 

[Nor10]

Seems to me that the main component of a good slapper is the crossover step. If you are doing a cross over from the righty box, wouldn't that make it very innefficient and difficult to get going to first after contact. Seems like your feet would be all twisted up and ready to run to third instead of first if doings traditional slap from the righty's box.

 

[obbay]

Good points- thank you!
Dalton- your fake bunt slap is really the kind of thing I'm thinking about. I had previously read about it (called the slug, I think) in a Marc D. link or blog and I was intrigued. While I may teach my U12's the slap from both sides of the plate (for fun) I will definitely move them up to the "druer method" when they are ready. My thinking is that I don't want the other team to ever know what to expect from us.

thanks again and thanks fer the prayers -bob