Posted by: Dog (dawg11@flash.net) on Wed Dec 22 22:58:05 1999

> Any one who has experience with someone becoming a switch hitter after the age of 14 please help.
> How long did it take? How many reps? Did you ever get fully confident (pressure situations I mean)? Did you need a ton of actual game at bats or did game experience from one side speed up the new sides progress? Did your non dominant hand get as strong as the other? As coordinated? Or was it just hitting specific skill it learned? Hi Mr. Missouri Dad: I have had experience developing switch hitters in highschool, college, as well as professional baseball and the one thing I know for a fact that I can tell you is each case is different. Many factors depend on how fast competency can be attained on the new side, in general from my experience it has taken 2-4 years of work to develope consistency. Now some pro players I have seen pick it up in only one year, but this is not the norm. Muscle memory takes long term repetitions to develope. My advice to this 14yr old is not to lose heart and give up too soon, like so many players do. The marketability of a switch hitter is huge in the college and pro ranks..Merry Christmas..dog