Switch hitting 3 y/o

First off welcome to the board. Now the harsh reality, he is only 3 YEARS OLD. Just let him have fun and not start instructing him on anything other than maybe to hold the bat with 2 hands.

At 3 y.o. all my son's could hold a snocone with either hand.  I don't think any of mine picked up a ball or bat until 6.

My son could switch hit from 3 - 6 years old.  I mean he was equal from both sides of the plate.  We used to go outside, and he would love to take cuts every day.  However, one day, he decided that he only wanted to bat from the right side.  I would say, no you need to keep taking cuts from the left. For whatever reason, he didn't want to do it anymore.  I decided that I didn't want to take the fun out of it for him, so he now throws left, and bats right.

Why do I suspect a hoax here?  If so, kudos that was funny.  If this is legit...  I am not sure what to say.

I considered that too, but I decided to take the OP at face value.

 

When mine was about 2 1/2 for Christmas we got his older brother (then 4) the first padded wiffle ball bat and puff ball set.  The older boy could have cared less but the not quite 3 year old picked up the bat and swung it with authority from the left side.

 

I would toss him the ball from 5-8 feet away and he tracked that thing and took some great hacks and made solid contact a good percentage of the time.  I really never changed that swing and no coach he had ever did either.  He was just born with it and never could get enough of it for the next 15 years.

Why would you suspect this is a hoax? Just looking for some advice/help. Or maybe I'm just overthinking the entire thing, in which case, I can take that feedback as well.

Ladies and Gentleman, the class of 2040 has arrived. 

RGDeuce, if this is real (and you will meet some skepticism because your kid is ONLY 3), then I would say you are way overthinking this. At 3, you can't even be sure that your kid is truly left handed, right handed or ambidextrous. My lefty started playing t-ball at 4. Threw left but refused to bat left because every other kid batted right. Oh well. He did that for a couple years and then started batting left. We tried the switch hitting thing for a while around 7 or 8, but he just felt more comfortable hitting left.

 

At this age, just have fun. Don't make anything too serious. A lot of kids have surprisingly strong arms at that age. Soak it all in and enjoy your young son. You have a lot of time before you need to worry about any of this stuff.

       
       

At 3 just make sure he is having fun because at some point baseball will become work. 
Just the other day my 16 y.o. told me he wants to start batting left handed. Lol

Im really hoping this is a joke.  Though the fact that I was able to find a listing for a 4U GA state USSSA tourney makes me think that this might not be...

 

http://gausssabaseball.com/index.cfm?TPID=206

See if this guy's still got a 3U team... 

Bait in the water.....hook set.....shame on you all....that was way too easy!

 

Great job Deuce!

True story. My now 16YO son's first word was "ball".

Holland Oates.....Bwaaaaahaaaaahaaaa

Well, really you should have your kid learn to hit and pitch as a lefty, be a lefty glove at 1B, but field as a righty in all other positions such as SS and Catcher.

 

I mean Sandoval did that didn't he? Naturally lefty who switched to a righty in the field to expand his options?

 

My 15 y.o. just told me he wanted to start switch pitching since that is all the rage now. lol

Damn! You have a newborn and you haven't pushed him up to the plate? He's falling behind already.

 

When my son was 18 months old I got him a Little Tykes bat and tee. We got him a Little Tykes shopping cart I filled with whiffle balls and dead tennis balls. I showed him where to stand and a basic swing. It was his favorite toy. Almost every day I came home from work there were balls all over the yard. The only instruction I gave him before age eleven was when you're done, pick up after yourself. On nights and weekends I would sometimes play with him. I only teed up the balls and helped him retrieve them.

 

At at six he preferred attending his sister's 12u travel softball practices, shagging balls and hitting off the machine after practice. He said it was better than playing tee ball like a baby. I didn't provide any instruction on his swing until he was eleven. Anything preceding was natural.

 

On the flip side my daughter asked for some instruction the night before her first 7/8 machine pitch softball practice. Until high school she never practiced away from the team. They both ended up in the same place, college ball.

 

 

 And it's a double elimination, 3 game guarantee tournament! Who thinks of this stuff????

I taught my son how to throw and catch when he was three. While I had him hitting left we couldn't determine which hand he was. He displayed signs of being ambidextrous. By five it was obvious he was left handed. But he kept throwing right handed (it ticked me off I couldn't play short after LL).

 

When he was twelve he heard about Venditte at Creighton. He started working on throwing left handed. After a couple of months he decided it was too much work given his preference was to play short over pitching. He did pitch through high school. With velocity and a change he didn't need to throw lefty.

Bob Bigelow is a former NBA player. He's a youth sports advocate on age appropriateness in youth sports.

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MPzQQLJsYA8

LOL. I can promise this is not a hoax. Anyone who has been around the game has all met the parent who had a kid who "throws 90" when he is really 75, and "signed a NLI with ____" before he is allowed to even sign, and I will never been one of those dads. I can see the skepticism, like I said, my jaw dropped with what I saw. It was probably just the perfect storm of luck and everything else, and by no means when I talk about his swing am I implying its a work of art like Tony Gwynn. It was just not something I have ever seen at anything close to that age and I was trying to give some context.

 

Again, wanted to thank everyone for the input and advice up to this point, as well as the ribbing. I just need to go back to not overthinking and letting him progress and pick things up naturally, and I got ahead of myself when I saw what I did last night.  

 

In my short time of lurking I can tell this is a great place, and I promise I will keep any insane stories to myself until he is old enough to have them show up on the net or in the local paper

should be  games, one for every year

rgd; welcome to the site. son too started ball at 3 --ymca league. i wish i would have taught him how to switch hit. i usually get reminded yearly how many infield hits he loses batting righty where he is out by 1/2 - or a step. 

On a serious note, it is probably a good idea to figure out as natuarlly as possible which hand a kid favors.  Instead of going out and buying his a glove, go out in the backyard and toss tennis balls and see how he fields them.  Have him throw without a glove - put the tennis ball on the ground, have him pick it up and throw it.  As for batting, place the bat on the ground, have him pick it up and hit off a tee.  I remember helping out with a new kid in 7/8 yo league - figured out the kid was left handed but had been given a glove for his left hand.  Never did get him switched over fully.  Sort of like early writing instruction - be careful and do not assume the kid writes right handed.

My son had an opportunity to play travel baseball for the 2u Bay Bees. But he was busy with travel basketball. With the aid of his Jolly Jumper he was already dunking. The "sacks are loaded" has an entirely new meaning in 2u baseball.

Yea, I went out at bought him a right handed throw toddler glove when he was about 1, before he even threw a ball. I assumed he was going to be a righty and it was just a spur of the moment, put a smile on your face because you got your boy his first glove moment. He would put the ball in the glove on his left hand and throw it. Took about 10 minutes for me to realize I needed to put the glove in the closet and watch what he did when given the option. He threw about 60/40 in favor of LHP until about 2 1/2, and after that he always wanted to throw lefty and shoot his little tykes basketball lefty. We almost always throw without a glove, unless he picks one up on his own and wants to wear it with his Goldschmidt jersey. I have yet to see him step to the right side of the plate on his own. The only instruction/help I give is the occasional "no this hand on top" and "stand here" and of course the very first time where you show them what a swing is.

My kid used to practice hitting right and left with the hit-a-way.  At 15-16 started to switch hit.  Successfully.

 Gross motor skills are used for hitting, throwing, and kicking. And they often develop early in boys. Fine motor skills sometimes come later writing, coloring, cutting with scissors. If he likes hitting from both sides of the dish I would let him do it. If one side becomes more dominant than the other, a little boy will probably want to abandon the weaker (less fun) side.    Its all about fun at this age. When he gets older at 5 or 6 we can fly him in a switch hitting Coach!

The kids in this video are 5, so a couple of years older:

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...rness_n_7647974.html

 

Though the video doesn't really feature switch-hitting . . .

Man wasting your time teaching kid to hit. Everyone knows the real money is with the pitchers. Now your son at 3 is behind. Get him on the mound quickly. He should have his first TJ out of the way before HS so he can be ready for draft. 

You can either call Holland Oates or his AC, Simon Garfunkel at 407-648-8519.

Or Tommy TuTone at 867-5309...