My little brother does everything including throwing a writing with his left hand.. but bats righty.. Whats wrong with this? Do you think i should start teaching him to bat lefty too sense he is naturally left?
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Throws and writes lefty.. but bats Righty.. what gives?
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Nope. Nothing wrong with him. When I was a senior in HS, our CF threw and hit LH, but wrote RH. I'm a coach, now, and our star pitcher writes and throws RH, but bats LH (but golfs RH - go figure). If you read Tim Kurkjian's book "Is This A Great Game Or What?" you would know that Travis Lee throws a baseball LH, but throws a football RH - but he CANNOT throw a baseball RH and CANNOT throw a football LH. Some people are just wired differently.
I'll second being knowledgable of the dominant eye, as well.Last edited by StraightGrain11; 05-04-2008, 09:54 PM."Coaches should teach people to play better baseball, not teach baseball to make better players."
"In the Little League manual it says 'Baseball builds character' - that is not true. Baseball reveals character." - Augie Garrido
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Rickey Henderson is the most famous of MLB players who threw left and batted right. Here are others who do things "different". Notice that most of the ones who throw left and bat right are pitchers.
It actually is "unusual" and rare to throw left and bat right. He can only play OF, 1B, or pitch. That's about the only downside. Check out this peice.
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I know someone who was a kicker in HS football, and a first basemen also. He threw right handed, batted left handed, kicked right footed and wrote left handed. It's just something in nature I guess.
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two handed hitting
I considered everything your considering when my own son who's a righty picked up the bat and started swinging it left handed. Consider this though... Isn't swinging a bat really a two handed endeavor?? So isn't whether or not he hit's from the left or right side of the plate really only a question of what really "is" right" or "left" handed when it comes to hitting? Now throwing is totally different because it's single handed.. but hitting is different to my mind. I sometimes think of my son as a right handed hitter who has his right foot closest to the pitcher, who's dominant eye has a better field of view, and who's right hand is closer to the knob of the bat. The two significant differences I see are that his strong hand is on the knob, and his best eye are closer to the pitcher. It's still two handed though.
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Originally posted by baseballplaya92 View PostMy little brother does everything including throwing with his left hand.. but bats righty.. Whats wrong with this?
The best thing is, in addition to the aforementioned Ricky Henderson, you have Lu Blue, Hal Chase, Jimmy Ryan, Ripper Collins, Cleon Jones. For pitchers, Hubbell, Waddell, John, Rixey, Blue, Koosman, Pennock, Koufax, Marquard ...Mythical SF Chronicle scouting report: "That Jeff runs like a deer. Unfortunately, he also hits AND throws like one." I am Venus DeMilo - NO ARM! I can play like a big leaguer, I can field like Luzinski, run like Lombardi. The secret to managing is keeping the ones who hate you away from the undecided ones. I am a triumph of quantity over quality. I'm almost useful, every village needs an idiot.
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Originally posted by baseballplaya92 View PostMy little brother does everything including throwing a writing with his left hand.. but bats righty.. Whats wrong with this? Do you think i should start teaching him to bat lefty too sense he is naturally left?
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Throwing, writing, kicking a ball etc is a dominant hand/foot activity in which one hand/foot is more comfortable and more natural to use than the other. Hitting is an ambidextrous activity that is chosen. When my boy was four years-old I told him to put his left hand on top of his right when he holds his bat and stand on the left side of the plate. Calling him a "left-handed" hitter is kind of misleading, if you ask me. Being "left-handed" is more about a dominating hand...which isn't visible in a good swing. And where is it written in stone that because a kid stands on the left side of the plate, that means he is batting left handed. After all, it is the right side of the plate if you are looking from behind.
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Originally posted by soceric View PostI considered everything your considering when my own son who's a righty picked up the bat and started swinging it left handed. Consider this though... Isn't swinging a bat really a two handed endeavor?? So isn't whether or not he hit's from the left or right side of the plate really only a question of what really "is" right" or "left" handed when it comes to hitting? Now throwing is totally different because it's single handed.. but hitting is different to my mind. I sometimes think of my son as a right handed hitter who has his right foot closest to the pitcher, who's dominant eye has a better field of view, and who's right hand is closer to the knob of the bat. The two significant differences I see are that his strong hand is on the knob, and his best eye are closer to the pitcher. It's still two handed though.
Left handed hitters are one step closer to first base. Oftentimes that one step is the difference between safe and out. Now, they'll tend to hit more ground balls directly at the first baseman, but who would you rather hit them at? The third baseman is typically going to be a better fielder, at least at the higher levels. Hit it right to the third baseman, you're probably getting out. Hit it right to the first baseman, there's a chance he'll make an error. At the lower levels, however, the first baseman is usually one of the team studs. The gap between 2B and 1B is probably the weaker gap, however. (A lot of this is conjecture - my oldest is 7, and in his league, the last guy you want to hit it to is the first baseman.)
Hitting balls to right field will result in more bases and more RBI.
Statistically, most pitchers are right handed. Left handed hitters do better against right handed pitchers.
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