Another "right-hand vs. left-hand" question

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Why?



It's the Rule of the Road!




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I batted left and was fast. Mom was a track star. It made sense to me to teach my kids to be two steps closer to first.

Oldest: My daughter didn't show any interest in sports until she was seven. We knew she was righthanded. I taught her to bat left. Along the way there were coaches who suggesterd she slap to use her speed. I had taught her the major league swing before I knew it was going to be in vogue in softball. It was what I knew.

Youngest: My son is naturally lefthanded but we didn't know until he was four. He never showed a preference of hand beforehand. He started hitting at 18 months ** and throwing (wearing a glove) at three years old. I taught him to hit left and throw right. Big mistake teaching him to throw right. I was a frustrated lefty about not being able to play short.

** He had a Little Tikes shopping cart full of whiffle balls and dead tennis balls and a Little Tikes tee. When I would come home from work there would be balls all over the yard every day.

Mine was a left hander at everything (writing, throwing, kicking), but when he started T-ball he wanted to swing from the right side. I simply moved him around to the other side of the T.

Maybe had to do it half a dozen times before he got the idea of it.

Can't say I forced him to bat left handed, but I did give him a "push" in that direction.

So, RJM: you would come down in the camp of "dominant hand doesn't matter?"

I agree. But if so, it seems like more people would train their righties to bat left. But it actually seems kind of uncommon.

My son is VERY left handed. I tried to teach him to hit from the right side; not pretty, it looked like Charles Barkley playing golf!

quote:

Originally posted by Rob Kremer:
So, RJM: you would come down in the camp of "dominant hand doesn't matter?"

I agree. But if so, it seems like more people would train their righties to bat left. But it actually seems kind of uncommon.

I think the person becomes conditioned to what they're taught. My righthanded daughter never had trouble learning to hit lefthanded. Even though my son is a natural lefty he has a strong arm throwing right. Non athletically my mother forced me to be righthanded. It wasn't a problem.

Mines R/R but he switch hit all the way thru his freshman year. Now he's just righty. He has more power from the left side, when he barrels it up, but he's a ton better from the right side.

He started switch on his own and he stopped on his own, he's decision. He always looked more natural from the right side to me.

A great coach once told me he has a lefty swing, from the right side. If that makes any sense.

GED10DaD

OK but here is my question:

If which side of the plate you bat from is simply a preference, and the dominant hand doesn't really make a difference, why don't more fathers bring their kids up to bat left?

There isn't really any question that it is better to bat left than right, is there?

I am sure many, many more have tried, than have been successful!! May have more to do with dominant eye, than hand. GED10DaD

quote:

If which side of the plate you bat from is simply a preference, and the dominant hand doesn't really make a difference, why don't more fathers bring their kids up to bat left?

The thought that if they throw right handed their throwing elbow would be exposed?

I do most activities left-handed--write, eat, using scissors (which is hard for me in athletic training), kick a ball with left foot. But then I shoot a basketball and throw a ball best with my right arm. And have a cannon for an arm throwing a baseball. When I started, I threw left-handed, but how many left-handed catchers are there? Not many. So to allow me to play so many more positions, my dad forced me to throw right-handed.

That said, I was a switch hitter up until sophomore-junior year of high school. I had much more power from the right side and was more of a slap hitter from the left side. Coach finally made me give up the left side.

quote:

I am sure many, many more have tried, than have been successful!!

I'm not sure what you mean here. You mean many have tried to teach their kid to bat left, but it didn't work?

I'm not talking about taking a kid who already bats right and switching him to left. I'm talking about right from the start, as soon as the 2 year old picks up the plastic bat.

That's when my kid learned that hitting is properly done from the left side!

So if my premise is correct that the dominant hand is irrelevant, then there isn't any reason why teaching a kid to bat left wouldn't be successful.

Now, your point about dominant eye is a good one. I don't really know which of my son's eyes is the dominant one.

My son was a natural lefty, started hitting a whiffle ball on a string from a limb at like 3 (i think that's a much better way to start then a tee, ball floats and moves a bit, made for very good hand/eye early) from the left side and I was extatic. When he took an interest in golf I tried to turn him around based on advice from Phil Mickelson himself, but he hated it. Guess he didn't understand the value of hand me down Golf Clubs...oh well, worked out so far.

quote:

Originally posted by Rob Kremer:
I'm not sure what you mean here. You mean many have tried to teach their kid to bat left, but it didn't work?

I never thought about just flat refusing to let them swing righty, if it was more natural, even at 2 years old. Given they don't try to figure it out on their own, I guess you could "program" that skill. Kinda like we used to punish lefties back-in-the-day and force them to us the right hand!

GED10DaD

You don't just choose. Some kids can hit right, some left, some both ways. But I have never seen it as a choice. It's not all that dissimilar to shooting a hockey puck. And some kids choose wrong. I see many, many kids who hit left -- and with some power -- who are inconsistent and clearly should have been hitting right from the beginning. It can be a killer decision if made wrong. If hitting from the left does not work, it is simply not an advantage.

My older brother is straight RH. I am straight LH except when I golf and I still putt LH. My younger brother is all RH except he bats LH.We were never taught that, we just did what was natural!

quote:

You don't just choose. Some kids can hit right, some left, some both ways. But I have never seen it as a choice.

OK finally we are getting to the crux of what I am asking here.

I figured that it WAS a choice, as long as it was taught right from the start, and so I taught my son to bat left.

So Jemaz you think there is something physical, whether it be dominant hand or dominant eye, that makes a kid naturally better from one side or the other?

Dominant eye can be conditioned too. I have a friend, a scratch golfer, who lost vision in one eye. He had to train his other eye to be dominant. He spent hours throwing a ball off a wall focused on a target. So if a kid starts one way wouldn't his eyes become conditioned to that side of the plate?

Rob,
Interesting, my lefty husband taught my righty son to switch hit, but coaches rarely gave him the opportunity in games, so he gave it up.

Wish husband had taught him to switch pitch. LOL

Rob:

My oldest son was a natural rightly. He played hockey and shot left handed and was pretty good batting left-handed, which I showed him at a young age. He gave it up in high school, however, because he was so much physically stronger right-handed. I always wondered if giving it up was a mistake after he became the right-handed hitter in a platoon situation in college.

My middle son -- I figured it would be good to teach him left, so I tried. He could not do it, was not comfortable with it and quickly gave it up.

My youngest son is a righty, but began hitting left in eighth grade -- on his own and working with some good instructors. He is now probably smoother left and a little more consistent. He also is left-eye dominant, which would favor him hitting right, so go figure.

He has a couple of teammates -- right-handed -- who have always hit left. I think both would have been better right because of the many holes in their swings. They hit left only because years ago someone told their fathers it would be an advantage (and it would be if they were better at it). Former Major League catcher Brian Harper, however, taught his kids to hit left from an early age and both were (are) very good. I think, however, they just had the natural talent.

So, yes, I am saying that you either have the talent or you don't. You obviously hone the talent, but without it inherently, I think hitting left if a major mistake for a natural righty.

What is more amazing to me, of course, are the natural lefties who hit right.

Totally unscientific and not supported by fact - but I always felt that it was harder to hit against a lefty - if you batted lefty - than it was to hit against a righty if you batted righty.


Additionally and personally - I was a righty and I hated to hit against leftys. Common baseball wisdom says you can see the ball better from the opposite side as a hitter - which I think is true - but that was only one part of the equation.

The ball always seemed to come out of a leftys hand differently - almost always.

Baseball stats prove otherwise - and a righty -lefty matchup is always the preferred way to go for the team at the plate. But when I had a bat in my hand - I hated hitting against lefties.

I batted left (threw right)
I have 3 boys; I tried to get all 3 of them to hit Left and they just couldn't/wouldn't.... they all looked natural on the right side and all ended up hitting right. I tried... but I failed.

Son, at age of 2 just took to the right side swing and never from the left. A year later we found out he was a lefty with most things. He tries, but no matter how hard he works at it, does not do to well from the left side, has his moments, good power and contact from the right and hits left hand pitchers better than right. He also plays golf, uses the computer and plays hockey right handed.
Daughter, who we knew was a lefty, cant swing or throw left handed. I think she learned to hit watching my son for several years, when it came time to throw and catch she was a mess doing it left handed, no clue why.
I do believe its where they start from when they are young, before any learned behaviors are truely set.

This is very interesting. It sounds like my premise is not correct, or that it often is not correct.

They is what they is ---I truly believe that players will find their own way, right or left---it is what it is--I do not think you can manufacture what is not there

quote:

They is what they is

Tr, I could not have said it better !

Interesting discussion Rob. Do you think leg dominance may have something to do with the swing side? Also, son has had several lefthand throwing teamates that were were righthand hitters in h.s. but haven't seen it on the college level.

My oldest son writes right handed and does all other things right handed except he hits and throws left handed. Younger son writes left handed but hits and throws right handed. Wish I had pushed him more to bat left at a younger age.

Genetically speaking you have been dealt a particular "hand/foot." Us lefties, in my day, where forced to write right handed when we went to school. I threw left, hit right, played Tennis righty, ping-pong left, bowled right etc and easily learned to switch-hit (not well mind you). I always chose the side by which one felt right, i.e., I've always been screwed up.

Junior is a true righty who can hit very well from the left side but felt stonger, from the right side no matter what "wing" the hurler used, so figured why waste time hitting left-handed.

It's been my observation that lefties are more able to function from the right side than righties are able to do use their left??

Started early enough, I think you can teach to hit left handed, but have you really done them a favor?
I think not. GREAT DISCUSSION TOPIC THOUGH. The dominant eye does factor in shooting and does determine the side you hold a gun on. I always felt it also affects your pool cue side. It would seem to be an advantage to have the hitting front eye the dominant one, but with the head facing the pitcher I don't believe it matters.

I have never coached a player that was a natural hitter from both sides of the plate. I have coached some legit switch hitters. But they all were naturally better from one side or the other. I think there are some guys that are natural hitters from both sides. But they are few and far between. If a kid is a very good hitter from the rs or ls I dont see the need to try and teach them to hit from the other side. Now if they cant really mash from the rs but can really run your not going to hurt anything by teaching them to hit from the ls to further utilize their speed. If they are a slappy guy from the rs why not teach them to be a slappy guy from the ls?

Guys that can hit will play. Guys that switch hit who cant hit will be switch hitters on the bench.

I think most Coaches would agree with you Coach May. Would Jeter and A-Rod be as good as they are now if they had diluted their early training with trying to switch-hit?

How would Mantle or Chipper fared had they "stayed true" to their natural side?

My son started playing T-ball at age 5. I traveled overseas for my job and am an ex college football guy who thought naturally my son would be too. He is a natural lefty and I wasn't paying attention or traveling when he immitated all the other kids on the team and began his baseball career batting righty. He did very well through the years playing for the same very succesful select program since age 7. He always seemed comfortable from the right side. When he was 13 two pro scouts, in two independent evaluations, persuaded him to begin trying to work on the left side and switch hitting. He had instant success and now as a 15 year old sophomore in high school and hits everyday, working 80% lefty. Still probably more confident from the right side (mental) but has a better looking swing from his natural left side (physical). Dropped football after the 8th grade and is a baseball nut and loving it!

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Welcome aboard the HSBBW DuckinDD...keep us posted!

The DD? Does that stand for dozen donuts?






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The things that needs to be considered when taking a natural RHH and turning him into a switch hitter.

Batting left he will have certain advantages against RHP. These advantages have already been mentioned. There is no question, that minus a few exceptions, RHP’s are more successful against RHH’s. However, LHP’s are even more successful against LHH’s. That is why nearly every MLB club has a LH specialist whose main purpose is often getting just one LH hitter out. These types seldom even throw to a RHH.

There is an advantage hitting against RHP’s because the hitter sees more RHP. This can be as much as 3 out of 4 ABs. Now when the LHH is hitting against RHP he has some big things going for him. He is closer to 1B, the angle allows him to see the ball better, he takes away some effectiveness of certain pitches, and he has far more repetition against RHP’s.

As far as switching or turning a RHH into a LHH it should be considered that he will end up hitting as much as 75% of the time from the left side. So he had better be especially good from that side. Being weak from the left side is worse than being weak from the right side. Therefore, if someone is a good left hand hitter, there’s really less reason to become a switch hitter. By the percentages you will need to give 50% attention to what will amount to 25% of your results, while giving up certain advantages, like H-1 time. You will take away time spent on working on the LH swing, which could make you less effective from the side you will hit from 75% of the time. More power from the right side might be the only reason for a LHH to consider switch hitting.

I have no way of knowing this for sure, but it sure seems like there are a lot more LHH’s in the MLB these days than there used to be. It seems as though half the hitters are left, now days. Yet, the number of LHP’s hasn’t increased much, if at all. Maybe those numbers are telling us something.

So… Good hitters are good hitters… The very best it doesn’t matter which side… But there sure seems to be some advantages in being a left handed hitter.

quote:

I have no way of knowing this for sure, but it sure seems like there are a lot more LHH’s in the MLB these days than there used to be. It seems as though half the hitters are left, now days. Yet, the number of LHP’s hasn’t increased much, if at all. Maybe those numbers are telling us something.

One thing those numbers could be telling us is that more people like me decided to teach their kids to bat left from the very start (my kid was literally age 2.)

So if there are more LHH's today, perhaps it is because the side a person bats from is indeed not an innate trait, and more people seeing the advantage of batting left have trained their kids to do so.

That was my main question here: are kids a blank slate at the youngest ages, able to learn to bat either way equally well, or do factors like dominant eye and hand make a difference?

Rob,

I do believe that is what those numbers are showing. Not sure about the 2 year old part though.

I have changed my opinion many times over the years regarding the dominant eye thing. IMO the dominant hand is not a big deal. Still not certain about dominant eye. Would like to hear what others think regarding dominant eye importance in hitting. I do know it would be critical if you closed one of your eyes while trying to hit.

PG: Is it common for a college team to have a LHP specialist? Or does the roster number limitations make it a luxury that most colleges can't go with?

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"Would like to hear what others think regarding dominant eye importance in hitting.'

You'd think we would have an opinion on this, but we really don't. We each have plenty of eyes and some of us mash better than others.






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Rob I think that would be a hard thing to ever figure out. Take your son for instance. You taught him to be a lhh. There is no way for you to ever know if he would have been a natural lhh or a natural rhh. And there is no way you will ever know if he would have been even better from the rs.

My son picked up a bat when he was very young and swung it from the rs. I let him do what felt natural to him. Sometimes I wish I would have worked with him from a young age at both sides of the plate. And then again maybe he would never have developed to the level he has from the rs. Even though he still has a ways to go imo.

Can you do two things as good as one at a young age? For instance can you work on ls and rs at a young age and develop to your max ability at both better than you could have at just one? Heck I dont know. Maybe Jeff would have been a beast from the rs if you would have left him alone. And then again he wouldnt be a beast from the left side if you had not taught him.

I do not believe the dominant hand bottom or top has alot to do with all this. I do not believe the dominant eye front or back does either. I do believe that proper instruction at a young age helps alot. And I believe some kids continue to develop as hitters and some do not.

Coach May:
That is EXACTLY what got me wondering about this! I thought, OK, my kid has had success from the left side. Did I just get lucky and teach him to bat from the side he was inclined physically to do better from?

Or, did I actually hurt him, and would he have been better from the right?

Will never know. There's not much point in obsessing over it, that is for sure, nor am I. But it did motivate me to ask the question here whether people think it is a trained thing or an innate thing.

The discussion has been very interesting.