How handedness affects the youth swing

The more I watch youth hitters, the more I realize that their handedness greatly determines their swing.

Let's first stipulate that any high level swing needs to recruit the large muscles to generate bat speed. The torso and the scapular complex drive this system. The legs provide the foundation for the torso and the scapular complex to work its magic. However, attached at the end of the "link" are your hands. These hands provide the last segment in a chain that is expected to hit a baseball.

Regardless if your chain is efficient(good connection and rotation) or not effiicient, you're going to need your hands to provide a role in the swing. That role is to unload the barrel to the ball with the last and final arc in the swing.

If you happen to right right or left left. That is, your top hand is your dominant hand. There is a tendency at youth levels to pull with that top hand too early. This causes a bat drag that will be difficult to overcome later. In this swing the back elbow slots very early and much too forward. Physically, it seems to be done to put the swing on plane with the dominant top hand. But, this hand is not responsible for putting the swing on plane. Many powerful youth hitters have a strong top hand as this hand provides the barrel at contact often times in a ascending blow.

If you happen to be right left or left right, well then some other issues present themselves. This situation manifests itself in a direct path to the ball (good) but sometimes a lazy barrel. The top hand fires the barrel and when players lead with their dominant lead arm it can be a challenge to recruit the barrel to fire. These kids have a tendency to be opposite field hitters early in their careers as they develop their weaker hand.