Posted by: Kevin () on Mon May 9 19:40:49 2011

> My son has little to no depth perception, even with glasses on...he
> still makes good solid contact about 75% of the time, but hes always
> late...anyone know anything that can help him out?

I grew up being a right handed hitter and used to monkey around left handed just for fun. When I played competitive baseball as a youth, I had this problem batting right handed (though my eyesight was and still is 20/20). When I returned to competitive ball in an adult league three years ago, the same problem was still there. What I discovered less than a year ago was that my right eye is my dominant eye and I seem to pick up the ball a fraction of a second later from a right handed stance because it is further away from the pitcher.

While I can agree partially with Jim that a hitter needs to have the mentality he is going to get a strike and be aggressive when he does, there could be more to this (as with me). I began working hard on my left handed hitting mechanics. I pick up the ball earlier from the left side of the plate and my swing is more precise. From the right side of the plate, I'm now using a slightly open stance to get my head fully turned toward the pitcher so I can see him release the ball with both eyes. My strikeouts have gone down and my contact is getting better.

At a minimum, I think your son could likely benefit by beginning from a slightly open stance to allow both his eyes to be fully involved in seeing the pitcher's release.