Help me learn to switch hit

[ElCaminoSS]

I bat righty right now but i want to learn to bat lefty. Can anyone give me any tips.

[jacslee]

Have you even tried it yet???, Her'es what my son did........
1. Back to the basics.....Hit from the Tee, He did/does 2x as much lefty as righty

2. Move to a cage (40mph)once you are comfortable. Some people just cant do it without it hurting their elbows and wrists...

3. Move up to the cage at what you normally hit.........

4. Get some live cage or practice pitching from someone.

You wont do this overnight..... It took my son about year or so of HARD WORK to get somewhat comfortable...He is now 15 and bats lefty in select and varsity games when the time is right and the coach gives him the OK

GOOD LUCK...............

[XFactor]

Practice hitting balls off the tee, after you've mastered that using GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MECHANICS! Then you can work on your timing either if you have a friend that pitches, or to a batting cage

Edited: Darn, Jac beat me to it... bah, humbug... good job :P

Edited again: You know there was a thread kind of like this back in the day http://baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?t=31194

The thing is, why work hard on being a switch hitter when you can focus that energy on trying to improve your current swing. Ya know?

[ElCaminoSS]

thank you both for the advice. my dad always tells me to just bat righty so ill try and make a decision soon, i would like to be able to bat from both sides.

[YankeesCatcher]

I think it's just a question of how it works.

I've always been able to do it from the time I started playing.

[Yankeesfan1234]

my hitting coach who coache Tulane baseball for about 20 years says if u do regular stuff like eat cereal lefthanded or some everyday thing lefthanded along with ur right hand then u can try it but if u dont then just stick with the regular

[ElCaminoSS]

wow thats interesing, I'll try that.

[Yankeesfan1234]

do u do that on a regular basis im saying...if u do then u can try switch hitting but if u dont then worry about spending that precious to another part of ur game

[YankeesCatcher]

If you're still in school then you can try writing left handed for an entire week.

I did and it worked out very well.

[Gamingboy]

I used to switch hit in little league. About the only thing I could do that the other kids couldn't...

Well, I could bunt too...

[TheSandman]

How old are you.... it may be better not to bother with switch-hitting.

[ElCaminoSS]

I am 14 years old

[TheSandman]

Yeah, with enough practice you could definitely make it work. I was just thinking that if you were, say, 18, that hard work might be better used developing your current swing, since you might not have time to adjust. But yeah, if your 14 you should go for it. Just practice a lot.

[ElCaminoSS]

Ya ive already started in the batting cage and its going pretty well

[jacslee]

Been a while since I checked the thread, go ahead guys and be a 5 tool player (if you are a true 5 tool player), but if you can make yourself a 6 tool player you will have a HUGE advantage over every other player that is at your skill level and the coach is looking at all of you trying to decide why should he pick you and not the other player. Ask any coach who has the upper hand and he will tell you a guy that can switch hit is on the top of the list over the others on the same skill level. Many times switch hitting will give you the thumbs up over another player that has you beat in one of the other tools...........

[chisox2k5]

Did I just read something along the lines of 'why should you switch it.'

Wow.

Hit 300 switch in college and put shinguards, a chest protector, and a mask on for 9 innings and your a millionaire.

[jbooth]

Originally Posted by Yankeesfan1234

my hitting coach who coache Tulane baseball for about 20 years says if u do regular stuff like eat cereal lefthanded or some everyday thing lefthanded along with ur right hand then u can try it but if u dont then just stick with the regular

That's way up near the top of the list of the dumbest statements I've heard in my life and I'm 55.

What the heck does eating cereal opposite handed have to do with swinging a baseball bat?

It takes your brain 200 to 300 reps to learn a maneuver with multiple, synchronized movements. It takes thousands of reps to perfect it, and if you make a change it takes a minimum of 1,500 to 3,000 reps just to get the change made, then thousands more to perfect it.

If you want to hit the opposite way you just have to learn it from the ground up, just as you did the other way, and have the patience to put in thousands of swings just to get to the competence level where you are on the other side.

The best way to learn to switch hit is to learn from both sides the day you began to play baseball.

[Yankeesfan1234]

lol i heard it from a guy who has coached Tulane college for 20 years so you tell me if you are a better coach than he is

[ElCaminoSS]

Carlos beltran learned to switch when he was an adult and i think already in the majors

[ccbsball12]

you really just need to get a lot of repatitions from the opposite side

[Brian McKenna]

switch hitting is not the end all - young kids should not be doing it

it is not to be gone into lightly

[jbooth]

Originally Posted by Yankeesfan1234

lol i heard it from a guy who has coached Tulane college for 20 years so you tell me if you are a better coach than he is

Yeah, I think I know as much or more about hitting than most people in baseball today, including MLB coaches.

Plus, as I said before, how the heck does doing ANYTHING opposite handed, other than swinging a bat, help you swing the bat? Does the fact that you eat your cereal right handed every morning help your right handed swing?

[jbooth]

Originally Posted by bkmckenna

switch hitting is not the end all - young kids should not be doing it

it is not to be gone into lightly

And why do you believe that?

[Jake Patterson]

I've coached for twenty years, run clinics, train players off-season, and have penned two books on coaching. I agree with jbooth, if you REALLY want to do this, you need to start with the basics and move up. Good muscle memory is very difficult to create. It takes thousands of repetitions. I would suggest however, if you are fourteen,to seek the help of a qualified coach. Also keep in mind that each athlete's ambidextrous talents vary from athlete to athlete. Some can do everything both left and right while others (myself included) can't do anything with the opposite hand. A good coach can tell you if you are capable.

My son also was a switch hitter. He played college and Legion. Because he was always a better right handed batter, the only time he batted left was when the coach wanted a bunt left side.

[Yankeesfan1234]

Originally Posted by jbooth

Yeah, I think I know as much or more about hitting than most people in baseball today, including MLB coaches.

Plus, as I said before, how the heck does doing ANYTHING opposite handed, other than swinging a bat, help you swing the bat? Does the fact that you eat your cereal right handed every morning help your right handed swing?

you obiously dont know what your talking about cause i didnt mean it that way i meant if you have any cordination in your opposite hand then you can try it and if you dont then forget about......
you know more than college and major league hitting coaches i would love to meet you...it sounds like you have an ego...you tell me what you think the most important part or parts of hitting is