Tee-Baller: Switch Throwing?

[catwood2]

First, have been reading the site for a few weeks and have found it a great resource. So thanks. Good stuff here.

I have a 5 year old very enthusiastic for the sport and we have been having a lot of fun practicing, etc. That's really the only thing I care about but, naturally, there is joy in teaching and to that end I have been reading, etc. One of the things I read in Ripken's book was that teach a kid to swing left handed early and he will benefit later. He seemed to naturally gravitate there and picked it up fast. He can really pound the ball off that tee and I think his form is good. He's picking up switching to the right and almost able to pound the ball the same.

In throwing some light balls around it seemed he was able to throw almost equally well with his right and left hand. We ended up getting a second glove to let him throw from left hand also. After a couple months now, there is improvement in the left throwing but it doesn't match the right.

To my question - is there any value in pursing throwing left handed? At the tee-ball stage is even working on switch hitting of much value? Again, I'm really concerned that he's having fun (which he is) and that where it make sense we work on techniques that would benefit his play down the line.

Thanks for any thoughts -
catwood2

[dominik]

the yankees have a switch thrower in their minor league system. maybe soon all pitchers all switch throwers.

I believe doing both sides is good for athleticsm and health. there are also theories that the "good side" learns also when you use the weak side. so it's a good coordination training.

but the biggest reason for doing it a little is health. rotational movements only done in one direction are know to be very bad for hips and spine because of the asymmetric load. thus many sports scientists recommend to do rotational movements in both directions to allow for a more balanced muscle build up (so that not some muscles become to short and strong and others too long and weak).

but I think for most kids the actual chance of using this in games is small. I would still do it if he likes it. not half of the practice times but a couple of minutes a day.

[songtitle]

What does it hurt? LHP are always in short supply.

[tg643]

He's five. Who cares! Let him have fun doing whatever he wants learning the game. Don't get wrapped up in anything more than fun for a few years. You don't want to school your kid so much he doesn't think baseball is fun.

[Drill]

He's five. Who cares! Let him have fun doing whatever he wants learning the game. Don't get wrapped up in anything more than fun for a few years. You don't want to school your kid so much he doesn't think baseball is fun.

Which arm does he throw further with at 5 years old. Now if at 5 years old he can throw a strike from the outfield over the cut off player than I think he should care which arm he throws with.

Love always,

drill

[tg643]

Which arm does he throw further with at 5 years old. Now if at 5 years old he can throw a strike from the outfield over the cut off player than I think he should care which arm he throws with.

Love always,

drill

How many five year olds have you seen fire the ball on a line across the infield, much less fire the ball from the outfield. I'm still waiting for the first one. At five and six it's great if the kid can reach first base at any velocity. Most can't.

[hitwithwood]

How many five year olds have you seen fire the ball on a line across the infield, much less fire the ball from the outfield. I'm still waiting for the first one. At five and six it's great if the kid can reach first base at any velocity. Most can't.

I totally agree but you would be surprised. My son's 6u team had a majority of 5 year olds and we played all the best teams from the South East region (from Virginia, carolinas, alabama, florida and bahamas and there were little guys with cannons. lots of fun and kids actually doing the right things..

I say the moe ambidextrous the better..My youngest throws left and writes with his right...Cant wait to see how that crooses over to basketball

[Drill]

How many five year olds have you seen fire the ball on a line across the infield, much less fire the ball from the outfield. I'm still waiting for the first one. At five and six it's great if the kid can reach first base at any velocity. Most can't.

I will not talk down any child player you never know; I realize that it's a very small chance, there are strange thing that crop up in this fun game of baseball.

You know like a tiger woods of baseball

Peace and love,

drill

[CoolHandLuke]

I don't want to sound like the bad guy here but I'm not sure why people are encouraging you to pursue "switch throwing" with your son. "Switch throwing" is a pipe dream. It's not a realistic goal and you'd be wasting your (and your son's) valuable time with it. Use that time to work on real facets of his game. Have him throw righty and switch hit if he's capable.

There are a ton of switch hitters in pro ball because it works. There are 0 switch throwers because it doesn't.

[Prouddadof5]

When my son played Legion ball, there was a kid on the team that could throw hard right or left handed. I remember once he was pitching right handed and a kid hit a double off him. When this pitcher got back on the mound, he got in position to pitch right handed, then he switched the glove to right hand and ball to left, keeping both hands close to his chest so runner couldn't tell. Runner was leading off second base a ways and pitcher turned and threw left handed and picked him off. He probably wouldn't have picked the runner off if he would have turned all the way around to throw right handed.
So, maybe there can be a positive to being a switch thrower.

[ralanprod]

He's only 5 so it's not a huge issue now, but down the road you have to recognize that time spent working his "off" hand decreases the time he can spend working his "good" hand. Unless of course you are willing to put in extra time dedicated specifically to the "off" hand.

My only first hand experience comes from a pitcher that played with my son's 13u team for a short time this season. He made a big deal about being able to pitch from both sides, but in reality he would have been better served working on just one arm or the other. As it was the only thing he was able to accomplish was the rare feat of walking batters with both the right and left arms in the same inning.

[catwood2]

@dominik - The "if he likes it" bit makes sense to me. thx

@tg643 - This falls into the category of "what he wants to learn" I think. He talks about it. He's one of these kids that when we go to catch a Ranger game he complains when we get delayed trying to locate the ice cream (which, can be a real pain when sitting in upper deck) b/c of what we are missing in the game. Happens every time...tho, the third inning ice cream is never in jeapordy. It's uncanny to me that he follows the game like he does (I think numbers are a factor in his interest) as I can remember paying less than half that amount of attention when I went out there at age 10. I won't school the fun out of it..he just seems to have a higher threshold.

@Drill - ha. No strikes over the cutoff man. From third can hit the first baseman in the chest.

@CoolHandLuke - Good advice. thx

@ralanprod - It's kind of funny, b/c what got me questioning working the left was when he did some right hand throwing for the first time in a while and it was so significantly stronger/accurate. Also had me thinking, as you point out, we are probably neglecting the right.

Appreciate all the

[tg643]

I totally agree but you would be surprised. My son's 6u team had a majority of 5 year olds and we played all the best teams from the South East region (from Virginia, carolinas, alabama, florida and bahamas and there were little guys with cannons. lots of fun and kids actually doing the right things..

I say the moe ambidextrous the better..My youngest throws left and writes with his right...Cant wait to see how that crooses over to basketball

Why would six year olds play against kids from other states? It's meaningless in terms of development. I wouldn't leave town for a 6U team. My son preferred practicing with his sister's 12U travel softball team to playing 6U. Of the Fab4 from my son's 9U and 10U teams he's the only one that played high school ball. The other three peaked in prepubescence. I find the word "cannon" as a description for a six year old's arm very amusing.

[Roothog66]

As a high school senior in the State All-Star game, George Brett pitched a scoreless inning right-handed and a scoreless inning left-handed. However, I think the act of pitching at the professional level is so high that what are the odds that you would have the ability to reach that level from both sides. It's not like hitting. Left handed pitching is entirely different, or so it seems.

[Jesse]

My youngest is 5 and is fairly ambidextrous as well. In fact, for a long time he preferred to throw a football left handed and a baseball right handed. Sometimes he’d just throw the ball with whichever hand he used to pick it up. It didn’t seem to make a difference to him.

Naturally, I decided early on that he would learn to bat left or switch hit. It seemed like a no brainer given his ambidexterity.

As he got older and more coordinated, I started to notice that he threw better with his right hand, and more importantly, he hit better right handed. I wasn’t surprised about the throwing (he is right handed after all) but the hitting did surprise me. I would work with him on hitting left handed with mixed results. Then I’d have him switch and he’d crush the ball.

Eventually we made the decision that he would throw and bat right handed. Period. Here’s my thought process:

1. His natural inclination is to the right even though he’s more ambidextrous than the average kid.
2. There have been thousands of successful baseball players at every level of the game that did not switch hit, or bat left and throw right.
3. Any advantage of learning to do so would be offset by the fact that he’s going against his natural inclination. Better IMO to play to his strengths than suppress them.
4. The amount of extra effort required to teach him to switch hit is not worth the benefit IMO. Especially when I have two other kids and would be hard pressed to dedicate the time needed. Better to hit well from the right than poorly from the left, or both.

In your case, you’re talking about switch throwing, which is an even lower percentage skill than switch hitting. There are benefits, but to reap those benefits you’ll have to sacrifice others. Not worth it IMO.

[tg643]

Since some people are addressing their kids being ambedexrious and asking where it goes, my son was the same way. He's in college now. It was not clear which hand was dominant until he was five. By then he had been taught to throw right and bat left. At three he would throw with whichever had he picked up the ball. In soccer he was taught to kick with either foot. When moved to goalie full time in high school he punted and kicked left footed. At age thirteen he thought he wanted to learn to throw left handed. He got coordinated with it in a matter of weeks. Then he decided it was a waste of time to work on velocity. He writes lefthanded.

My son wanted a glove at age three. He was hanging out at his sister's softball practice. Since he wasn't displaying a dominant hand I assumed there was a 90% chance he's righthanded even though I'm naturally lefthanded. Besides, it pissed me off I couldn't play shortstop growing up by being a lefty.

I was born a natural lefty. My mother taped up the fingers on my left hand forcing me to be righthanded. Lefties were considered less intelligent. The real problem was nothing was made to accomodate lefties back then. I played sports lefthanded. I could shoot a basketball righty up to ten feet. I golf righthanded since my father taught me how to play with his clubs. I can write with either hand. It's handy when doing a presentation on a board. I can stand to either side of the board and write.

[dominik]

Since some people are addressing their kids being ambedexrious and asking where it goes, my son was the same way. He's in college now. It was not clear which hand was dominant until he was five. By then he had been taught to throw right and bat left. At three he would throw with whichever had he picked up the ball. In soccer he was taught to kick with either foot. When moved to goalie full time in high school he punted and kicked left footed. At age thirteen he thought he wanted to learn to throw left handed. He got coordinated with it in a matter of weeks. Then he decided it was a waste of time to work on velocity. He writes lefthanded.

My son wanted a glove at age three. He was hanging out at his sister's softball practice. Since he wasn't displaying a dominant hand I assumed there was a 90% chance he's righthanded even though I'm naturally lefthanded. Besides, it pissed me off I couldn't play shortstop growing up by being a lefty.

I was born a natural lefty. My mother taped up the fingers on my left hand forcing me to be righthanded. Lefties were considered less intelligent. The real problem was nothing was made to accomodate lefties back then. I played sports lefthanded. I could shoot a basketball righty up to ten feet. I golf righthanded since my father taught me how to play with his clubs. I can write with either hand. It's handy when doing a presentation on a board. I can stand to either side of the board and write.

that's cool. I have heard a story about a math professor who would write on the board simultaniusly with both hands. don't know if it's a legend though.

I'm also a lefty but I am good with both hands. The first time I played baseball I hit righty because I played competitive tennis before and that is similar to my two handed BH. worked out very good but then the coach told me after realizing that I'm a lefty that you should bat the side you throw. I struggled the first minute but now I don't regret batting left handed:

[jbolt_2000]

This thread reminds me of an old youtube video I saw.

What happens when you get a switch pitcher facing a switch hitter?
Answer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2oD8KzxS14

[tg643]

that's cool. I have heard a story about a math professor who would write on the board simultaniusly with both hands. don't know if it's a legend though.

I'm also a lefty but I am good with both hands. The first time I played baseball I hit righty because I played competitive tennis before and that is similar to my two handed BH. worked out very good but then the coach told me after realizing that I'm a lefty that you should bat the side you throw. I struggled the first minute but now I don't regret batting left handed:

Whe I played tennis I served with my left but then switched to my right hand. Playing righthanded felt like fielding the ball. I didn't start playing tennis until after college.

[CoolHandLuke]

When my son played Legion ball, there was a kid on the team that could throw hard right or left handed. I remember once he was pitching right handed and a kid hit a double off him. When this pitcher got back on the mound, he got in position to pitch right handed, then he switched the glove to right hand and ball to left, keeping both hands close to his chest so runner couldn't tell. Runner was leading off second base a ways and pitcher turned and threw left handed and picked him off. He probably wouldn't have picked the runner off if he would have turned all the way around to throw right handed.
So, maybe there can be a positive to being a switch thrower.

That's a tricky one. I would note that this move could be interpreted as deceiving the runner and called a balk. It would depend if the pitcher had already addressed the rubber. OBR is clear that a pitcher must have his pivot foot in contact with the rubber from the set (stretch) position. If his glove was on his right hand with his right foot on the rubber, he's clearly not intending to throw righthanded, and could be ruled illegal. Very tricky, but possibly illegal. Opposing manager should have argued.

[Prouddadof5]

That's a tricky one. I would note that this move could be interpreted as deceiving the runner and called a balk. It would depend if the pitcher had already addressed the rubber. OBR is clear that a pitcher must have his pivot foot in contact with the rubber from the set (stretch) position. If his glove was on his right hand with his right foot on the rubber, he's clearly not intending to throw righthanded, and could be ruled illegal. Very tricky, but possibly illegal. Opposing manager should have argued.

Been so long ago, I really can't remember which foot he had on the rubber, or what. just know that the runner was called out. I remember his dad making a comment that he had done this same thing before in one of their highschool games.