Switch hitting

Dealing with the same issue here. My soon-to-be 14u and 12u sons are naturally RH but both have switch hit in practice since they were 8. I throw them just as many pitches LH as I do RH. And when they take batting instruction they work 50/50 on each side. Our instructor (former ML player) really encourages them to go LH when they can since it can be a big advantage down the road.

For my older son, we started working in LH at-bats in 12u fall ball, and also during the regular season in blow out games or exhibition/practice games just to get him the confidence to do it without worrying about embarrassing himself. You have to be careful though if you're killing some team you don't want kids screwing around going up there LH embarrassing the other team. This approach worked well for my son. He actually played a couple entire tournaments last summer batting LH and did great. Unfortunately, an injury at the start of 13u season made it a little easier switch for him. He damaged the patellar tendon on his right leg and couldn't get off his back side batting RH. So he was kind of forced to go LH during fall ball and during a winter hitting league we did. That carried over to some regular LH batting during this past summer. But fortunately by then, he was ready to go LH without stressing over it.

My 12u son actually hits the ball better LH than right but just can't pull the trigger to do it in games. He talks about it but when he goes up to the plate he just stays RH...he's worried the other kids will make fun of him if he strikes out. But he has really good speed and the ability to bat LH could be a big advantage for him. So I'm in the same boat with him that you are with your son. I think we'll try the same approach. Try it in fall ball when there's less pressure. Try it in practice games or blow out games until he gets his confidence up (or really, his fear subsides). Obviously, just like you, we see mostly RH pitching and we're starting to see kids throwing breaking balls so the LH approach could be a big advantage.

Good luck.

I changed a hitter to the left side in 13U. I explained to the kid it wasn't going to be easy. There will be times of struggling. But if it's going to be done, do it and stick with it until getting it right. I promised never to remove the player from the lineup due to failing to hit. The kid hit about .200 the first half of the year and around .350 the second half.

A coach with pre high school players has to decide whether winning or developing players is more important. I like to win, but development overrides winning before high school.

With Texan Son, albeit at a slightly younger age, I finally just said "this season you are a left handed hitter. Period." And he batted lefty the entire season, regardless of the pitcher. This let him build the confidence in the left side.

Before this, he would have a tendency in games to go back to righty.

Only problem was that he lost some confidence in the right side! But that came back quickly.

One thing you may want to consider. As your sone gets older, more emphasis is put on hitting for power and from my sons experience, his power was from his natural side. He mainly hit from the left side in high school and had a few homeruns but his power side was his natural right side. A negative in high school was that hitting from the left side made his coach bunt him so many times that he had to say enough was enough. He will still keep hitting from both sides because he is right eye dominant and sees the ball better from the left side. But I thought you should conside that power seems to be more important than switch hitting as they get older. JMHO

one other thing to consider is the difference in avg. as they get older.Research some of the guys in mlb that bat from both sides and I think you'll find one side considerably lower.

quote:

Originally posted by Vagntlmn:
He is a natural right handed hitter.

Since we don't see many lefty pitchers for the classic switch hitting match-ups, when is the best time to get some reps from the left side?

If I read this right, you (like most of us at younger ages) face mostly right handed pitchers. Thus, there should be plenty of opportunity to bat lefty.

Switch hitters bat right against a lefty and left against a righty....right?

quote:

one other thing to consider is the difference in avg. as they get older.Research some of the guys in mlb that bat from both sides and I think you'll find one side considerably lower.

I'm not sure about MLB but with my son, it mainly had to do with power numbers, ie homeruns. He did have a game during one summer where he hit a homerun lefty and a homerun righty, which hasn't been done often, but that was before they knew not to throw him a fastball. After that summer he mainly saw junk and had to use physical power which was greater from the left side.