Posted by: Major Dan (markj89@charter.net) on Thu Mar 8 10:45:46 2001

>>> my 14 yr old son is trying to learn to switch hit. aside from just switching from one side to the other during practice at the cage we have no direction on how to accomplish this. he is right hand dominant but has always hit left handed. he seems to be doing rather well but i have little to base this on. to get the best out of his practice sessions should he concentrate on one side or the other or take a few swings then switch? <<<
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> Hi Melody
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> It is my opinion that a batter is better off spending their time perfecting mechanics from one side. If the batter develops the proper mechanics, he can generate good bat speed over a wide range of pitch placements. – But this is just my personal preference and you may here good arguments for switch-hitting.
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> Jack Mankin
>
Jack -
I agree that it is better to hit very well one way, than be a mediocre hitter from both sides.
In the case of a righty who has always batted lefty, the opportunity to switch hit should be considered because:
1- they will bat lefty, their usual side, most of the time
2- it is easier to transfer skills learned on one side to the other side than to learn a new skill, so the entry threshold is lower
3- the normally dominant side is doing the catching up, the easiest learning path usually

What does this buy you? breaking balls will come to you instead of away from you. This must be an advantage since the Major Leagues are almost religious about R vs. L and L vs. R.
What does this cost you? Double the practice time or at least 50% more. and probably for 5 - 10 % of the players at-bats or less. It seems only the Majors have 25-30% lefties.

My son is switch hits and gets 10-20 righty at-bats per year total from Little League, AAU and Fall leagues. But anything he learns lefty just seems to show up right handed without too much work. He is still a much better hitter lefty and I wonder if he wouldn't get as many or more hits batting lefty against the lefties as he does righty. But the impact is minimal so far so we haven't worried about it.

As far as how to practice, I find the best method is to have righty days and lefty days. Extended, uninterrupted practice from the new side is necessary to get the body to switch over to 'being right handed'. Ask him which side feels more natural. At some point, usually after a righty day, he'll say 'I don't know'. That means he is really a switch hitter. You never get there until you learn to feel it and live it long enough for that side to take over.
When hitting lefty feels strange, after hitting righty for a few days, transfer has occurred. After that practice 2 lefty to one righty session and start mixing the two during practices.
Major Dan