A switch hitter and an ugly sweet curve ball!!

Don't miss the fastball!

Vance,..youuuu're baaack! Where ya been knight in shining armore?

ha ha!! I get your humor ( I mean I think you were being serious and funny at the same time with your reply to my question )...but I'm really looking for any kind of tip,..hint,...anything old school,..new school.

My son's coach has had no input to him except to " just keep practicing". ( of course our HS coach is a great guy,...just NEVER PLAYED BASEBALL BEFORE ),..so were stranded, so to speak, to figure this out ourselves. Just thought someone might have a few pointers about when batting left and trying to hit a curve ball.

We played in tournaments this summer and on occasion we would have a pitcher throw consecutive curve balls over and over in repitition while the batter was at the plate. While batting left, my son would usually connect on the third one,..... lob it, chop it to somewhere in the infield,..but it was never pretty. He would only get on base if there was a fielding error.
Would frustrate the heck out of him. Right handed batting against a curve, for some reason he's been pretty much on the mark.

We dont have other switchers on any of our teams, so he cant really get with a buddy and figure it out.

I havent a clue how to help him.

The Old Timers and others usually have some sort of tip like: rotate the hips,....lay back on the ball,..choke up the bat,...dig deeper in the box,...you know,..those kinds of things. (???)

anyone?

He can try dropping the back shoulder on curves.

He seems to be swinging over the ball.

Thank you WillieBobo. I will tell him tonight your suggestion.

I was thinking about video taping his batting practice too so that maybe he could spot what he's doing wrong compared to when he bats right handed. Perhaps a different visual perspective will shed some light too.

Thank you!!!
Any and all suggestions greatly appreciated!

SS MOM, How have you been. Been pretty busy myself. Yes I was being both serious and also using some lite humor.

If you were to talk to good hitters they'd tell you the same "don't miss the fastball". You may remember a guy named Harmon Killibrew, H of Fer for Twins back in the day. Well, when a pitcher would throw him 3 curveballs for strikes he'd take all 3 and go back to the dugout and wait for his next at bat. But he'd wear out that fastball.

Seeing a swing of your son from both sides would help but a small tip would be to do opposite of what most here would say do, I'd say do as Ty Cobb would do, "get as deep in the box as you can, it makes young pitchers throw curveballs uphill to throw strikes" Cobb felt that by being deep it made alot of called curveball strikes now become balls since pitchers try and put them right on top of the plate. Whats the old saying from pitchers "knock a cup off the plate with the curveball".

There are other things but those deal with the mechanics of the swing and since I can't see a swing I'll reserve those comments.

Good Luck

Vance has the right approach in mind. We really could use some footage. Only a fool would go out on a limb without seeing your son's swing, so here I go. He could actually be swinging under the ball or uppercutting. But I don't think its his hands, but maybe his swing mechanics. Many unnatural lefties, meaning they starting rh and then started switching, will turn on the ball very quickly, and will also swing from their heels or more so there torso will be leaning back. I have often seen these type of young hitters swing more wildly or less under control. They tend to have more power on the straight pitches, but the ones that move tend to trouble them. WE will still need to see something so that I don't sound like too big a fool.

Thanks guys for going out on a limb for me. I realize that its hard for you to critique my sons left handed swing when you havent actually seen it yourself. " Duh " on my part! I probably sounded a little air-headed-ish when asking my origional post.

Just didnt know if there were any basic rules to hitting a curve ball when switching to left.

Going to have my son read all that you have wrote and have him put it into practice and try things out. We were just kinda stuck, at a standstill, and didn't know what to try next.

Was researching & decided to order a couple of books,..but got impatient and thought to try the HSBBW first! Glad I did.

No one sounded like a fool at all,..you sounded like you were willing to put yourself out there and stretch to help a mom, help her son.

Thats commendable in my book,...not foolish,

..and I thank you!

shortstopmom,

As many have already posted, you really have to see the swing to properly evaluate.

One thing to double check, however. If his dominant eye is his left eye he is going to see the ball better from the right side.

Have him try, in practice only, opening up his stance from the left side to see if he can see the ball a little better and pick up the curve better.

Also, I just thought of this as well, is he always facing RHP? A curve coming in on you is a lot different than one tailing away. Can he pick up curves from LHP as a lefty as well as curves from RHP as a lefty?

Please ignore the last paragraph of my last post...for crying out loud!

huh?

Have him to try this:

Outside Tee Outside Tee - Place tee on the outside corner of plate. LH hitter, must drive the ball to LF, by taking bat (sweetspot) to the point of impact. This is done with stride foot going slightly toward pitch location, upper body balanced, hands to point of impact. 3 sets of 15 swings....trying to drive the ball over SS head, into the gap.

Front Toss/Curve Front Toss/Curve - Use L-Screen, from distance of 15'-20' away. Pitcher kneels down complete behind screen and tosses CB's, down and away. This will force the hitter to use his stride, as a "timing device", while keeping his weight back, to allow his hand to go to the ball and drive to opposite field. 3 sets of 15 swings. A variation, can be the pitcher tosses to middle and inside, than the player hits the ball to the area of the field, where it was pitched.

sstopmom,

My whole thing about how the ball looks from a lefty to a lefthanded batter makes no sense. I was distracted when I wrote it.

I stand by my post about dominant eye and perhaps opening up the stance, however.

oldnumber 19,

Thanks for the explanation. I read that several times wondering why I couldn't figure out what you were saying.

tasmit,

Good post, but are there really people who can throw those 15' curveballs? Or are you talking about just spinning the ball?

You all have been greeeat! Man,...the posters on HHBBW always come through!! ( insert a thumbs up and claps here! )
Thank you,..and thank you oldnumber19 for clarifying. I very much appreciate your time and willingness to help,..all of you!!


" IF ",...er uh,... " WHEN " he makes it big,..I'll make sure he remembers the HSBBW and those who helped along the way!!!!! Every little bit helps,..and we are extremely appreciative!! Thank you.

We'll let ya know if/when ( always thinking positive!!) he smacks the heck out of those sweeet sweet curve balls later on this fall season,..batting left,..and when/if it goes over the fence! HA!

THX!

Have him concentrate on making good contact.

Hits and home runs will come on their own.

Keep having him work both ways. It looks good to scouts, but he definetely needs a dominate one in case of a big slump.

Were playing a college team this coming weekend with our Fall ball league. I'm sure we'll get our fair share of those sweeet narly curve balls. I'll let ya know what happens!

Fingers crossed son can make the most of that game coming right off of his Friday night Varsity football game. He'll have to switch gears and get into the zone. ( we've never played Fall baseball in conjunction with football,..this is our first year and I'm curious to see how it goes for him.)

Good contact is key,..in both sports! ha!
Thank you all for your thoughts, help, and support!
I am printing it all off and taking it with us!

quote:

Originally posted by PGStaff:
oldnumber 19,

Thanks for the explanation. I read that several times wondering why I couldn't figure out what you were saying.

tasmit,

Good post, but are there really people who can throw those 15' curveballs? Or are you talking about just spinning the ball?

Sorry about that. Spinning.