Left handed question

quote:

but this test finally confirms why he naturally bats right handed.

I don't think it confirms anything. It's just nice to know. You now know as a righty his lead eye is dominate.

If the kid wants to be a switch hitter by all means let him try it. Just make sure that he doesn't neglect his work on the right side.

The test for eye dominance that TripleDad mentioned is fine, but it really determines which eye is dominant in static situations. It is not clearly known whether that kind of eye dominance is important to hitting a baseball, in which the eyes need to track a moving object. Nor is it clear why the dominant eye should be the forward eye when batting. In reality, a player needs to use both eyes when hiting or fielding a baseball, because the information available from binocular depth perception is critical.

In my opinion, there is a clear advantage to being a left handed hitter, particularly in a contact hitter. I would invest some time in trying to learn to hit left handed, given the likelihood that he will be successful. The fact that your son began hitting right handed may have been caused by nothing more than imitating others. Of course it feels more "natural" after many repetitions. So possibly your son is actually more talented hitting left handed. He'd have to try it to see.

Finally, I would decouple the decision to try left handed hitting from switch-hitting. If LH hitting doesn't work out, the switch hitting decision is automatic. If he can hit as well or better left handed, then he can decide if the required additional practice to be good at switch hitting is worth it. Maybe he'll end up hitting only left handed!

Ok, so much for simple resolution. I just got excited the he actually demonstrated a dominant eye. I still imagine that is why he bats right.

3 Fingered Glove - I've wondered if he batted right just from imitating others. I did ask a friend who was a High School head coach when my son was very young. He didn't offer any definitive answers (including the eye dominant issue) and we never really pushed batting lefty.

He has tried batting lefty. It certainly is not better than right, but he does pretty well. He hasn't batted left in game - just batting practice.

My 16 yr old was so dominantly left-handed even as a baby we never expected him to do anything right- handed. Imagine our surprise when he tossed his lefty glove as a 5 yr old t-baller and picked up a right-handed glove. He never has done anything else with his right hand (including throw a football!). Thank the Lord for that because he's now a lefty-batting righty-throwing catcher of some ability.
He's played with the idea of batting right-handed but his coach has nixed it every time.

quote:

Originally posted by Consultant: Bob Williams
Eddie Murray did not bat left handed until his first year in pro baseball.

What the? Ha ha ha. lol

My wife's uncle in Santa Rosa from time to time
tells us NOT to drink the water. Heard the same while playing (and catching Ty Stofflet) vs Guanella Brothers. Did you not follow the same advice?

Bottom Line: Not my point of view.

Eddie Murray hit right handed at age 7. Then after
(as a ball boy) watching older brother Charles (got to AAA ball), began switch hitting at age 8.

Might you be confusing Murray with his inner city south central Los Angeles youth and HS teammate, HoF Ozzie (who turned around from the right side at the start of his pro career)?

emme for details.

A Lefty,

A True Lefty.

They just don't think Right.
EH

As this mom's lefty always says: "I may be a lefty but I'm always right!"

Hi WingKing!
Our son is a natural lefty who always hit from the right through high school. His college coach turned him into a switch hitter because he thought it would increase his value in the draft. The first few games were ugly, but he eventually got the hang of it and has been switch hitting ever since.

I can't see how it could hurt your son to work on this skill in practice situations for now. Your son will never know if he has the ability to hit from both sides if he doesn't try...and it's definately worth a try.