Switch Hitters

Yes, I think so. I wish someone had told me to try switch hitting. I grew up hitting lefty exclusively. According to my father, this is because when I was about 5 years old he took me into the back yard with a bat and tossed me a few pitches both ways. I finally happened to hit one lefthanded, so he concluded that I was a lefty and made sure I remained that way. (I am otherwise righthanded.) I was a decent hitter, but never had any power. I didn't try hitting right until I was 35, playing softball in a co-rec league. The men were required to bat opposite their natural side, so I was required to hit righthanded. After a few at-bats, I was blasting the ball, and they made me turn around and hit lefty. Now, when I go to the batting cage with my son, I hit fastballs much better right than left, and with more power. If someone had encouraged me to try switch hitting as a kid, I might either have become a switch hitter or a righty. Either way, I think I would have been a better hitter.

So I'm in favor of letting every kid try switch hitting. I guess the question is how long should a player work on switch hitting before he knows whether he can do it successfully? My guess is that very few will actually become so proficient that they will be equally effective from either side. As kids get older, they have to learn to ration their practice time to work on all of the complex skills they are acquiring (hitting, bunting, fielding, baserunning, throwing, etc.). In school ball, the coaches around here won't allow switch hitters to double the number of pitches they get in BP, so it is very difficult to take enough swings both ways to keep improving. There are a few truly ambidextrous kids who could probably master switch hitting at almost any age. But for most of the rest of us, it will be very difficult to become switch hitters if the skills aren't pretty well set by 12 or 13.