Expert: Jack Elliott - 3/18/2009

Question
My 8 year old son son is right handed and bats both right and left handed.  He is definately favoring throwing right and batting left.  Being able to hit either right or left handed seems unique and something that I should encourage.  it seems at this age though they can't really use switch hitting as an effective strategy against the pitcher so my question is do I contiunue to have him bat left and right or focus on the stornger left handed swing?

Answer
Hi Lisa,

Interesting situation you have here.  It sounds like your son prefers to hit from the left side of the plate.  I would not discourage this, but would encourage him to practice hitting both left and right handed.  Although this skill will be of little use in the present, as he gets older and starts playing baseball in high school, this skill will become more valuable.  One caveat: if you feel your son is starting to get discouraged and frustrated with practicing both sides, feel free to have him just choose one side or cut back on the repetitions to avoid burnout.  You want to keep his motivation for playing baseball at a high level.  

With this said, one thing I recommend to older baseball players is they practice swinging the bat both ways every day.  Some top players like Mickey Mantle and Barry Bonds have used this technique to really improve their hitting.  This helps them refine their swing, but it also gives them better hitting balance and muscle symmetry.  Here, is a link to an article on my site that discusses a possible routine:

http://www.baseballtrainingtechniques.com/Baseball-Hitting/Baseball-Hitting-Prac...

If your son seems interested, you can have him use it.  However, I would scale back the repetitions for him and add to the amount of reps as he gets older.

Hope this helps,
Jack Elliott
http://www.baseballtrainingtechniques.com