Posted by: chris (capn_cy@hotmail.com) on Wed Jan 1 16:41:20 2003

> 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, im a 21 year-old college baseball player. i've hit right-handed my whole life until this past summer(after summer league was finished) when i decided to make an effort at switch hitting. since i am left-handed, and right eye dominant, i thought it would be worth some reps. remarkably, i picked up the skills fast. i started out simply making contact with most pitches and only being able to pull the ball. eventually i started driving pitches and within less than a dozen days of practice, i was hitting bp speed pitches over the fence. in games i did ok, mostly singles, but i lacked confidence and experience from the left side of the plate. just the other day though, w/out any practice for at least a month or two, i hit in the cage w/great confidence and power. i seemed to have discovered that i should have been hitting left-handed all along. my advice would be to not give up, have fun, and be patient. i also found that swinging a heavier bat helped my muscle memory alot (dry swings).