Just wondering...

[true to the game]

I have been a coach for over 10 years. I have coached both in-house and club ball. I have a daughter who is a jr. in hs and hits from both sides. The coaches only let her hit from the left side. I think I have a good understanding of the small ball philosophy, but my question is, if a player slaps or bunts effectively from the left side, and also hits legitimately over .400 and can hit behind the runner more effectively from the right side and has a 3.3 to first from the right side, why don't coaches ever use this to keep the defense off balance? Why is it so frowned upon once coaches know you can hit from the left, they forget about the right side? Please feel free to send this to other coaches because I really want some feed back. Thanks

 

[RubberBiscuit]

You may be asking way too much from an average HS coach (my experience in my state).

If you saw another thread I posted today - previous SB varsity coach of one of the biggest schools here in WI actually only had a gymnastics background.

Another angle of this, assuming a more SB-knowledgeable coach, is that coaches just LOVE to say & show they have developed a slapper. It’s like a status badge.

Another angle on this, this time defending the coach, is that in HS the more a ball is put in play the better chance of the “plentiful HS error”.

 

[29dad]

GREAT question. Hope you get a lot of responses. We had a girl on our team last year who batteed right in the fall and winter and was great, but because she was super fast she was turned in a lefty slapper at the start of the summer and probably batted .250 for the season. If that. And against REALLY good competition she could not buy a hit. So many times when she would be up to bat with a runner on third or perhaps the bases loaded with less than 2 outs, I just wanted to BEG the coach to let her bat right handed, but she never did. Of course the coach has forgotten more about softball than I will ever know, and I understand that it's all about development and potential and such, but it was frustrating to watch at times.

I don't know. Elite slappers are very hard to get out, but they are few and far between. Pretty good or average slappers almost never get on base against great teams. And then like I mentioned above there are situations (runner on third less than 2 out) that seem to scream for allowing a batter to swing away and hit a sacrifice fly or even a ground ball to deep second instead of a weak slap that gets cut off quickly by 3B. My opinion only.

 

[jinjet95]

I have been a coach for over 10 years. I have coached both in-house and club ball. I have a daughter who is a jr. in hs and hits from both sides. The coaches only let her hit from the left side. I think I have a good understanding of the small ball philosophy, but my question is, if a player slaps or bunts effectively from the left side, and also hits legitimately over .400 and can hit behind the runner more effectively from the right side and has a 3.3 to first from the right side, why don't coaches ever use this to keep the defense off balance? Why is it so frowned upon once coaches know you can hit from the left, they forget about the right side? Please feel free to send this to other coaches because I really want some feed back. Thanks

She should develop her power hitting from the left side. It will take about a year, but it's worth it. If she only slaps from the left and swings away from the right, it's a dead give away to the defense. There's no benefit to being a switch hitter in softball.

My DD has been batting lefty since she was 11, she's now 16. She's a .400+ hitter and swings away as often as she does small ball. Starting from the same side and position and having all the tools from the left side is worth the time invested.

 

[PA SB Dad]

Agree with JJ, there is no advantage to being a switch hitter in softball if a player can bunt, slap, and power slap from the left side. There are so many more things you can do with a runner on base with a left-handed slapper compared to a right-handed batter. A good slapper is very hard to defend with runners on, whereas you can basically play a right-handed batter "straight-up". It will be worth investing the time developing her left-handed power - once she is a legitimate power threat from the left side, it will be hard to find a way to defend against her.

 

[wichita]

Also agree with JJ no need for switch hitters in soft ball .....switched my DD 2 years ago shes 15 now hit high .400 low .500 in gold ball this fall does everything from the left .....but it a lot of work to switch sides especially hitting for power....slapping and slapping for power came pretty easy just a lot of reps but shes still a work in progress hitting for power....funny she can time a ball up while moving toward the ball better than she can standing still hitting for power ...go figure.