Is switch-hitting a thing of the past?

[sikeston bulldog2]

do kids even play fuzzball anymore? great way to hone batting skills

No. Kids dont do anything outdoors any more. If they're not in travel league, they're not playing. I think that travel youth baseball drastically limits the talent pool. As a kid, i learned so much more by playing neighborhood sandlot baseball 7 days per week. Thank God there were no electronics when I was a kid.

Travel ball has done several horrible things- limits the pool.
Most players are friends of the coaches kids.
Focuses solely on baseball 24/7 365. We hung up the cleats and picked up a basketball.
Your coaches are dads- lots of bad habits.

One of my grandsons played travel ball. He played as many games in one season that I played organized ball in my entire youth leagues. This is not a bad thing. Experience is great. He also played and excelled at basketball and soccer all through high school. He played 4 years of college baseball. He is a fine athlete - easily recognized at a very young age.

Dad coaches are more prevalent at the rec level than at select/travel teams.

You noted a huge key reason for success- diversity. “ played and excelled at other sports.” That was my point. 24/7 365 focus on anything has a ceiling of performance. Need to change focus of the mind to grow, I’d think.

[ecleme22]

I guess you see less of it.

Let's just keep in mind that Tommy Edman isn't the poster child for switch hitting.

Someone's non-natural side doesn't always equate to a 150 point dip in OPS.

[scoutyjones2]

Hers an idea. Learn to hit pitching, regardless of what hand it comes from...

Switch hitting is stupid.

It is not stupid. Ask Lance Berkman, Pete Rose, Carlos Beltran, Eddie Murray, Ted Simmons, Chipper Jones, Roberto Alomar, Tim Raines, Bernie Williams, Reggie Smith. Look back at those departed like Mickey Mantle, Red Schoendienst, Frankie Frisch. Today we have Jose Ramirez, Francisco Lindor, Ketel Marte, Ozzie Albies, Ian Happ. Remember the Cardinals of mid 80's - McGee, Pendleton, Herr, Coleman, and Ozzie - ALL switch hitters.

Yes it is stupid. Learn to hit regardless of the hand the ball is thrown from.

[Bomber1]

do kids even play fuzzball anymore? great way to hone batting skills

No. Kids dont do anything outdoors any more. If they're not in travel league, they're not playing. I think that travel youth baseball drastically limits the talent pool. As a kid, i learned so much more by playing neighborhood sandlot baseball 7 days per week. Thank God there were no electronics when I was a kid.

This! We played corkball, Indian ball and fuzz ball practically every day in the summer and after school and weekends.
It’s really rare to see kids playing unless it’s organized.

[12xu]

Hers an idea. Learn to hit pitching, regardless of what hand it comes from...

Switch hitting is stupid.

It is not stupid. Ask Lance Berkman, Pete Rose, Carlos Beltran, Eddie Murray, Ted Simmons, Chipper Jones, Roberto Alomar, Tim Raines, Bernie Williams, Reggie Smith. Look back at those departed like Mickey Mantle, Red Schoendienst, Frankie Frisch. Today we have Jose Ramirez, Francisco Lindor, Ketel Marte, Ozzie Albies, Ian Happ. Remember the Cardinals of mid 80's - McGee, Pendleton, Herr, Coleman, and Ozzie - ALL switch hitters.

Yes it is stupid. Learn to hit regardless of the hand the ball is thrown from.

So it is your contention that all of those great players I mentioned, most of them hall of famers, were stupid when they learned how to switch hit, and then stuck with it? I think the "stupid" opinion here is in your corner, scouty.

[WeeVikes]

do kids even play fuzzball anymore? great way to hone batting skills

No. Kids dont do anything outdoors any more. If they're not in travel league, they're not playing. I think that travel youth baseball drastically limits the talent pool. As a kid, i learned so much more by playing neighborhood sandlot baseball 7 days per week. Thank God there were no electronics when I was a kid.

This! We played corkball, Indian ball and fuzz ball practically every day in the summer and after school and weekends.
It’s really rare to see kids playing unless it’s organized.

On top of that, travel ball is destroying a lot of rec leagues.

[ecleme22]

Hers an idea. Learn to hit pitching, regardless of what hand it comes from...

Switch hitting is stupid.

It is not stupid. Ask Lance Berkman, Pete Rose, Carlos Beltran, Eddie Murray, Ted Simmons, Chipper Jones, Roberto Alomar, Tim Raines, Bernie Williams, Reggie Smith. Look back at those departed like Mickey Mantle, Red Schoendienst, Frankie Frisch. Today we have Jose Ramirez, Francisco Lindor, Ketel Marte, Ozzie Albies, Ian Happ. Remember the Cardinals of mid 80's - McGee, Pendleton, Herr, Coleman, and Ozzie - ALL switch hitters.

Yes it is stupid. Learn to hit regardless of the hand the ball is thrown from.

You’re stupid.

[CCard]

Hers an idea. Learn to hit pitching, regardless of what hand it comes from...

Switch hitting is stupid.

It is not stupid. Ask Lance Berkman, Pete Rose, Carlos Beltran, Eddie Murray, Ted Simmons, Chipper Jones, Roberto Alomar, Tim Raines, Bernie Williams, Reggie Smith. Look back at those departed like Mickey Mantle, Red Schoendienst, Frankie Frisch. Today we have Jose Ramirez, Francisco Lindor, Ketel Marte, Ozzie Albies, Ian Happ. Remember the Cardinals of mid 80's - McGee, Pendleton, Herr, Coleman, and Ozzie - ALL switch hitters.

Yes it is stupid. Learn to hit regardless of the hand the ball is thrown from.

Reality intrudes. Lefty bats struggle against lefty pitchers. It's always been that way. Just hard for lefty batters to pick up the arc for some reason. It's the same with righty bats against righty pitchers, just not to that degree it seems. Probably because there are less lefty pitchers to see.

[scoutyjones2]

Hers an idea. Learn to hit pitching, regardless of what hand it comes from...

Switch hitting is stupid.

It is not stupid. Ask Lance Berkman, Pete Rose, Carlos Beltran, Eddie Murray, Ted Simmons, Chipper Jones, Roberto Alomar, Tim Raines, Bernie Williams, Reggie Smith. Look back at those departed like Mickey Mantle, Red Schoendienst, Frankie Frisch. Today we have Jose Ramirez, Francisco Lindor, Ketel Marte, Ozzie Albies, Ian Happ. Remember the Cardinals of mid 80's - McGee, Pendleton, Herr, Coleman, and Ozzie - ALL switch hitters.

Yes it is stupid. Learn to hit regardless of the hand the ball is thrown from.

So it is your contention that all of those great players I mentioned, most of them hall of famers, were stupid when they learned how to switch hit, and then stuck with it? I think the "stupid" opinion here is in your corner, scouty.

Nope. I think it's stupid to put yourself thru this vs focusing on just being a good hitter no matter what arm side is throwing.

It easier to master hitting from one side vs 2.

Where's Dylan Carlson? TGTE? Elly De la Cruz? Dominguez? Heim? Mullins? LOL

Look how few you posted for current players

[rockondlouie]

Among qualified hitters, there are only three switch hitters to are at least league average (wRC+ 100 or more) against both LHPs and RHPs:

Cal Raleigh
Jose Ramirez
Geraldo Perdomo

Over 2023-2025, the list is:

Cal Raleigh
Jose Ramirez
Ketel Marte
Francisco Lindor
Anthony Santander
Josh Bell

J. Ramirez, the most underrated player in MLB (IMO).

And I wish some wouldn't have been switch-hitters...
(re: T. Edman -career hitting RH: .275 .316 .501 .818; hitting LH: 254 .312 .373 .685)

[Colotiger]

I batted lefthanded and threw righthanded as a kid. I faced one or two lefthanded pitchers all the way through high school. There just weren’t many opportunities to try batting righthanded if I had wanted to.

[CCard]

Hers an idea. Learn to hit pitching, regardless of what hand it comes from...

Switch hitting is stupid.

It is not stupid. Ask Lance Berkman, Pete Rose, Carlos Beltran, Eddie Murray, Ted Simmons, Chipper Jones, Roberto Alomar, Tim Raines, Bernie Williams, Reggie Smith. Look back at those departed like Mickey Mantle, Red Schoendienst, Frankie Frisch. Today we have Jose Ramirez, Francisco Lindor, Ketel Marte, Ozzie Albies, Ian Happ. Remember the Cardinals of mid 80's - McGee, Pendleton, Herr, Coleman, and Ozzie - ALL switch hitters.

Yes it is stupid. Learn to hit regardless of the hand the ball is thrown from.

So it is your contention that all of those great players I mentioned, most of them hall of famers, were stupid when they learned how to switch hit, and then stuck with it? I think the "stupid" opinion here is in your corner, scouty.

Nope. I think it's stupid to put yourself thru this vs focusing on just being a good hitter no matter what arm side is throwing.

It easier to master hitting from one side vs 2.

Where's Dylan Carlson? TGTE? Elly De la Cruz? Dominguez? Heim? Mullins? LOL

Look how few you posted for current players

You'll never get past the inherent advantage. True some can't excel for whatever reason but you can't deny the advantage in doing it if you can.

[CCard]

Among qualified hitters, there are only three switch hitters to are at least league average (wRC+ 100 or more) against both LHPs and RHPs:

Cal Raleigh
Jose Ramirez
Geraldo Perdomo

Over 2023-2025, the list is:

Cal Raleigh
Jose Ramirez
Ketel Marte
Francisco Lindor
Anthony Santander
Josh Bell

J. Ramirez, the most underrated player in MLB (IMO).

And I wish some wouldn't have been switch-hitters...
(re: T. Edman -career hitting RH: .275 .316 .501 .818; hitting LH: 254 .312 .373 .685)

That's surprising. Only three? Where do you get this information? Could you post a link?

[12xu]

Hers an idea. Learn to hit pitching, regardless of what hand it comes from...

Switch hitting is stupid.

It is not stupid. Ask Lance Berkman, Pete Rose, Carlos Beltran, Eddie Murray, Ted Simmons, Chipper Jones, Roberto Alomar, Tim Raines, Bernie Williams, Reggie Smith. Look back at those departed like Mickey Mantle, Red Schoendienst, Frankie Frisch. Today we have Jose Ramirez, Francisco Lindor, Ketel Marte, Ozzie Albies, Ian Happ. Remember the Cardinals of mid 80's - McGee, Pendleton, Herr, Coleman, and Ozzie - ALL switch hitters.

Yes it is stupid. Learn to hit regardless of the hand the ball is thrown from.

So it is your contention that all of those great players I mentioned, most of them hall of famers, were stupid when they learned how to switch hit, and then stuck with it? I think the "stupid" opinion here is in your corner, scouty.

Nope. I think it's stupid to put yourself thru this vs focusing on just being a good hitter no matter what arm side is throwing.

It easier to master hitting from one side vs 2.

Where's Dylan Carlson? TGTE? Elly De la Cruz? Dominguez? Heim? Mullins? LOL

Look how few you posted for current players

Scooty, how does it feel to be "thick as a brick"?

[scoutyjones2]

Hers an idea. Learn to hit pitching, regardless of what hand it comes from...

Switch hitting is stupid.

It is not stupid. Ask Lance Berkman, Pete Rose, Carlos Beltran, Eddie Murray, Ted Simmons, Chipper Jones, Roberto Alomar, Tim Raines, Bernie Williams, Reggie Smith. Look back at those departed like Mickey Mantle, Red Schoendienst, Frankie Frisch. Today we have Jose Ramirez, Francisco Lindor, Ketel Marte, Ozzie Albies, Ian Happ. Remember the Cardinals of mid 80's - McGee, Pendleton, Herr, Coleman, and Ozzie - ALL switch hitters.

Yes it is stupid. Learn to hit regardless of the hand the ball is thrown from.

So it is your contention that all of those great players I mentioned, most of them hall of famers, were stupid when they learned how to switch hit, and then stuck with it? I think the "stupid" opinion here is in your corner, scouty.

Nope. I think it's stupid to put yourself thru this vs focusing on just being a good hitter no matter what arm side is throwing.

It easier to master hitting from one side vs 2.

Where's Dylan Carlson? TGTE? Elly De la Cruz? Dominguez? Heim? Mullins? LOL

Look how few you posted for current players

You'll never get past the inherent advantage. True some can't excel for whatever reason but you can't deny the advantage in doing it if you can.

What's the advantage? If you focus on hitting one sided, that is good regardless of the pitchers handedness?

[scoutyjones2]

Hers an idea. Learn to hit pitching, regardless of what hand it comes from...

Switch hitting is stupid.

It is not stupid. Ask Lance Berkman, Pete Rose, Carlos Beltran, Eddie Murray, Ted Simmons, Chipper Jones, Roberto Alomar, Tim Raines, Bernie Williams, Reggie Smith. Look back at those departed like Mickey Mantle, Red Schoendienst, Frankie Frisch. Today we have Jose Ramirez, Francisco Lindor, Ketel Marte, Ozzie Albies, Ian Happ. Remember the Cardinals of mid 80's - McGee, Pendleton, Herr, Coleman, and Ozzie - ALL switch hitters.

Yes it is stupid. Learn to hit regardless of the hand the ball is thrown from.

So it is your contention that all of those great players I mentioned, most of them hall of famers, were stupid when they learned how to switch hit, and then stuck with it? I think the "stupid" opinion here is in your corner, scouty.

Nope. I think it's stupid to put yourself thru this vs focusing on just being a good hitter no matter what arm side is throwing.

It easier to master hitting from one side vs 2.

Where's Dylan Carlson? TGTE? Elly De la Cruz? Dominguez? Heim? Mullins? LOL

Look how few you posted for current players

Scooty, how does it feel to be "thick as a brick"?

Ask the ladies