Posted on Sun, Oct. 18, 2009

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Switch looks simple for WSU's Grimes

Tyler Grimes missed the last several weeks of the 2009 baseball season for Wichita State, and sitting out with a wrist injury made him crazy.

Grimes needs to be where the action is. He's made that way. Put him on a deserted island and he'll have it bustling like downtown Chicago in less than a month.

The Shockers' sophomore shortstop, who showed great promise as a freshman with a .294 average in 46 games, is working on something new this fall.

Well, how much he's "working" can be debated because Grimes' attempt to become a switch-hitter has been surprisingly smooth. Alarmingly smooth, really. Eerily smooth, even.

You'd think that getting the hang of hitting left-handed, after being a right-handed hitter your whole life, would be incredibly difficult.

"But Tyler just stepped right in this fall, against live pitching, and started squaring balls up left-handed,'' said Shocker assistant Jim Thomas, who knows a little something about becoming a switch-hitter later in life.

Thomas also became a switch-hitter after his freshman season at Wichita State and believes it's the biggest reason for his long professional career. But for Thomas, it did not come easily.

"I got beat up for a full winter just taking batting practice,'' he said. "I remember getting jammed a lot and trying to figure out the strike zone from the other side of the plate. I was OK by the spring of my sophomore season, but it was a lot of work.''

Grimes isn't completely new to switch-hitting. He did it before he arrived at North High, where he reverted to batting only right-handed because of the power he's been able to produce from that side.

At WSU, though, Grimes discovered what most hitters ultimately discover — he had difficulty hitting sharp-breaking curve balls. Last season, he too often chased pitches low and off the plate outside, resulting in 50 strikeouts in 180 at- bats.

So Grimes revisited switch-hitting.

"I have kind of missed my left-handed swing,'' Grimes said.

Wichita State coach Gene Stephenson took one look at the left-handed swing this fall and asked Grimes why he had waited to long to go back to switch-hitting.

Thomas, too, was amazed at how natural Grimes' left-handed swing looks.

"If you'd never seen him play before and just watched him hit left-handed, you'd think he had hit that way all his life,'' Thomas said. "It looks pretty darn good to me.''

Grimes showed enough last season to excite the masses. He is scrappy, fast, has a rocket for an arm and can range equally well to his left and right. Offensively, he has some pop and can drive the ball to all fields.

If the switch-hitting thing works like Grimes thinks it will, he adds another dimension to his game.

"My dad always told me when I was younger not to give up on switch-hitting because it could really help me,'' Grimes said. "I wish I'd have known then what I know now. I'm really excited about.''

Grimes prepared himself for a struggle, especially after Stephenson told him he would deal with a lot of frustrating days in his attempt to switch-hit.

"So far, though, I haven't had to deal with too much frustration,'' Grimes said. "The first couple of weeks, I had to get my timing right and work on my stance at the plate. But the big thing I'm working on right now is just getting my legs into every swing.''

Grimes is getting a lot of hits left-handed, he said, but he's not driving the ball with the kind of power he has from the right side. He's sure that will come, though.

"I'm focusing on up-the-middle when I bat left-handed,'' he said. "In one of our practices, I hit a double down the left-field line and got that ball elevated. Mostly, though, I've been hitting the ball on the ground.''

One of the benefits of batting left-handed, Grimes said, is that he's becoming a better right-handed hitter. He's not pulling the ball as much as he did last season, instead learning to use the whole field.

"I'm keeping my shoulder in better than I did,'' Grimes said. "Everything just seems to be working out.''

Grimes isn't the only Shocker working on switch-hitting this fall. Speedy outfielder Kevin Hall is doing the same thing and so far with pretty good results.

Hall hasn't taken to switch-hitting as smoothly as Grimes, though. Thomas questions whether anybody has.

"Some guys can deal with that breaking ball going away from them and some can't,'' Thomas said. "And most of those who can't end up carrying a lunch pail to work.''

That would have been Thomas' fate, he believes, had he not learned to hit left-handed early in his college career.

"I'm planning on stepping in there left-handed the first game of the season next year,'' Grimes said. "It's exciting. I'm always looking for something different and I'm ready for anything.''

Eagle sports columnist Bob Lutz co-hosts "Sports Daily" from 9-11 a.m. weekdays on KFH, 1240-AM and 98.7-FM. Reach him at 316-268-6597 or blutz@wichitaeagle.com.