Hitting and Hitters Discussion Right handed naturally, hitting left handed

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My daughter is right handed but I've never let her swing the bat except from the left side. She is doing very well this year but I can see that her right handed dominance is still wanting to take over. In a few years it will be so natural that I won't have to drill it out of her as constantly but for now we have to stay on top of it. She is proud of the fact she hits lefty now because she can see it working. Prior to this year she would pull it down to first quite a bit and be an easy out. Good with runners on base, but not so good for a young player who wants to run the bases.

So..... let's talk about overcoming dominance pre-season and during. I'd like to hear what your experiences are. In my next post I'll lay out what I do for this.

 

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How old is your dd?

 

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She is 10yrs old. First year kid pitch, moving to traveling if the tryout gods allow.

 

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Both my dd bat left and live in the right world. You just have to get the T work in, and see live pitching. One hits everything to the right side, glad it is with power, the other is all over the field but the bunting is the key. That couple feet closer to first is the difference between out and safe. I also keep seeing right handed bunters lay perfict bunts down and either drop the bat on the ball, or kick it so thay are out. Working left is a great way to keep this from happining as well. Keep up the work they see a lefty they think slapper then she unloads one and they dont know what to think.

 

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If you are seeing right handed tendencies or dominances' then I wouldn't fight it. One of my dd's is naturally right handed and has batted so up until this year. Considering speed is a huge factor in this game, left side is soooo important. She has worked on left side hitting, bunting, and slapping. This allows her to be so versatile considering situations. It will keep a defense off balance to see your dd go lefty first at bat, then maybe come up next time and hit or bunt right, or go left until she gets a strike then switch. Keeps them guessing. I say if she has right hand dominance then plenty of tee work right handed and she will be much more versatile. I say why fight it....use it to your advantage.

 

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my kid is a righty who bats left. I'd have to call it natural though because I started her batting lefty at about age 5. She can hit ----alittle. MD

 

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Don't flop back and forth, let her become proficient at doing it lefty and stick with it. Keep the belly button towards the plate and don't open the front shoulder. Keeping the left toe pointed towards the plate almost forces the belly button to stay there too. Many try to get towards first and step away from the plate way early and never catch the outside pitch, a slappers dream to push away... Put something flat in the rt hand front corner of the box and make sure she is going around it instead of through it. It will show her going forward vs. giving out early.

Slapping is the best weapon you can have for her.

Good luck with it...But don't flip flop ! worst thing you can do.

 

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It would be difficult to switch to hit righty now. I did have her jump over on that side last week when I was throwing to her and her swing looked so awkward that she started to laugh. She looked just like a righty trying to swing lefty.

Though she her right hand dominance still trys to come through it isn't even close to thinking she shouldn't hit that way. When I started my son out lefty (right handed) I could see after a bit that it wasn't for him and switched him back. Now he just works on being the best righty he can be. For my daughter I just have to put in some maintenance work and everything is good. She does well in the power area and I feel it is because her strong hand (right, the dominant one) is pulling the bat.

What I have to do with her is train her hands individually. We hit off the tee and do soft toss with the left hand, then with the right. I use a tee-ball bat so they can control it. Though I also do this with players hitting from their natural side it keeps her sharp. I can tell a difference when we do this drill once a week (during the season) and when we let it slip.

 

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my kid is a righty who bats left. I'd have to call it natural though because I started her batting lefty at about age 5. She can hit ----alittle. MD

It will be "natural" for my daughter as well in time. And each year it gets better and better. For now we have to spank the righty dominance and put it in the corner

 

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Don't flop back and forth, let her become proficient at doing it lefty and stick with it. Keep the belly button towards the plate and don't open the front shoulder. Keeping the left toe pointed towards the plate almost forces the belly button to stay there too. Many try to get towards first and step away from the plate way early and never catch the outside pitch, a slappers dream to push away... Put something flat in the rt hand front corner of the box and make sure she is going around it instead of through it. It will show her going forward vs. giving out early.

Slapping is the best weapon you can have for her.

Good luck with it...But don't flip flop ! worst thing you can do.

I won't flip flop. I think some can do it but she isn't one of them. She has a straight up "baseball style" swing for the standard cut. I see what you are talking about and it is almost a Japanese style (Ichiro) tendency to pull away. Probably works if you are amazing at it and know when to and when not to but we won't go down that trail.

Ok I just re-read your post..... you are saying that on a slap to keep moving forward and not pull away too early. I like the tip of putting something there so she has to go around it. Nice tip, I'll put that in my bag of tricks.

 

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If you are seeing right handed tendencies or dominances' then I wouldn't fight it. One of my dd's is naturally right handed and has batted so up until this year. Considering speed is a huge factor in this game, left side is soooo important. She has worked on left side hitting, bunting, and slapping. This allows her to be so versatile considering situations. It will keep a defense off balance to see your dd go lefty first at bat, then maybe come up next time and hit or bunt right, or go left until she gets a strike then switch. Keeps them guessing. I say if she has right hand dominance then plenty of tee work right handed and she will be much more versatile. I say why fight it....use it to your advantage.

If she wasn't doing so well hitting as a lefty I would consider it. But for now her right handed tendencies are not that strong. We control them easily but they do slip back in if we don't work it. Getting more and more natural lefty each year.

 

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DD was a righty up till around age 11..i slowly got her into batting from the left, mainly bunting to unlock her speed....first year 12's, she batted nothing but right and her first year 14's she struggled because she did some flip-flopping (which in my baseball mind, i figured good for her, a switch hitter, but it doesnt work out the way u think)..so second year 14's is when she did real well...now that school ball jv/varsity arrived, they wanted to get her to "soft" slap more than what she was accustomed to, she really hasnt been able to find her groove

 

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If she wasn't doing so well hitting as a lefty I would consider it. But for now her right handed tendencies are not that strong. We control them easily but they do slip back in if we don't work it. Getting more and more natural lefty each year.

That's great that she is hitting well lefty. I was under the impression that you were talking about extreme right handed dominances. I was just sharing my dd's experience which is a little different, a little older (wish we would've started lefty a couple of years ago), never a power hitter but very fast so it made sense to start working on it. Unfortunalty not enough live reps yet to be as confident as when she's in the right side, so if she gets in a hole she makes a decision to stay or switch. I was just saying that it does seem to keep a defense a little off balance and guessing. I'm not promoting "switch hitting", getting way off the original topic. Good luck Coach Mike!

 

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DD was a righty up till around age 11..i slowly got her into batting from the left, mainly bunting to unlock her speed....first year 12's, she batted nothing but right and her first year 14's she struggled because she did some flip-flopping (which in my baseball mind, i figured good for her, a switch hitter, but it doesnt work out the way u think)..so second year 14's is when she did real well...now that school ball jv/varsity arrived, they wanted to get her to "soft" slap more than what she was accustomed to, she really hasnt been able to find her groove

Of course each kid is different but I think peeking over to the other side for bunt and slap work is a good way to transition to a lefty over a year or so. If I was going to switch from right to left I'd do close to what you did.

What is a "soft slap"? Just an easy swing and run like hell?

 

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We do not teach switch hitting in softball. Stay on one side, as Hillarddad 3 stated. Softball is a different sport than baseball. My dd is a righty, at 12 went to the left side and she has stayed there as a bunter slapper. Now at 15 , a good hitting coach has taught her to hit with power. Just one more weapon. We played a team with a great talent in Springfield. I felt sorry for the kid at 14. She would bat on the left side till she got 2 strikes then , they would move her to the right side. She always struck out when they did this. This girl was very fast. Teach her to punch hit or we call duck hit, if she is not slapping or bunting.

 

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That's great that she is hitting well lefty. I was under the impression that you were talking about extreme right handed dominances. I was just sharing my dd's experience which is a little different, a little older (wish we would've started lefty a couple of years ago), never a power hitter but very fast so it made sense to start working on it. Unfortunalty not enough live reps yet to be as confident as when she's in the right side, so if she gets in a hole she makes a decision to stay or switch. I was just saying that it does seem to keep a defense a little off balance and guessing. I'm not promoting "switch hitting", getting way off the original topic. Good luck Coach Mike!

Thanks for the advice and words. She does well on that side, I can just see those tendencies because I'm her dad and I know every twitch or her swing like all of us. I know when something is out of sync or if it was just a bad day.

 

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We do not teach switch hitting in softball. Stay on one side, as Hillarddad 3 stated. Softball is a different sport than baseball. My dd is a righty, at 12 went to the left side and she has stayed there as a bunter slapper. Now at 15 , a good hitting coach has taught her to hit with power. Just one more weapon. We played a team with a great talent in Springfield. I felt sorry for the kid at 14. She would bat on the left side till she got 2 strikes then , they would move her to the right side. She always struck out when they did this. This girl was very fast. Teach her to punch hit or we call duck hit, if she is not slapping or bunting.

You hit on another thing..... I'm just getting deeper into fastpitch softball and learning the similarities and differences.

I don't know what a punch hit or duck hit is, got a link to that? Her hitting base is a straight up rotational "baseball" style swing. From that base I've made a few modifications to match her strengths tendencies. This Winter we start working on the slap.

 

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It is when you have the defense playing you for a slap or a bunt. You drop the ball over the infielders head , just in front of the outfielders. It looks like a wounded duck, so it got the nickname. It is just one more weapon, that slappers can use. I have an article on slapping at home, that explains it and other weapons of slapping..

 

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I've only seen one girl who can successfully switch hit at a high level and that's Lea (sp?) from the Valley Sting. Sting you she does, from both sides of the plate. I don't like seeing her coming up to the plate, that's for sure.

 

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wgman21, I can only recall one on National level, watching team USA. I'm sure someone can think of her name. She went to the left side after college. I'm sure they have been more, but I can't think of any. Talked to many good hitting coaches and all say stay on one side. I'm sure someone can post why they state this. I might have it at home.