switch hitter

switch-hitter

1. In baseball, someone who is able to bat both left-handed and right-handed. I thought it was a great idea to become a switch-hitter, but I ended up with a pretty lousy batting average as a result. They brought out their switch-hitter to deal with the new left-handed pitcher.
2. slang By extension, someone who is bisexual. We were together for nearly nine months before I found out he was a switch-hitter. I experimented with women in college, but I'm not a switch-hitter or anything.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

switch hitter

Originally and literally, a baseball player who can bat either left-handed or right-handed. This meaning dates from the first half of the 1900s but since the mid-1900s the term has been used figuratively for a bisexual person. Further, it is occasionally used for someone or something equally adept at two jobs or in two capacities. Thus an online physics article had, “New, Unusual Semi-Conductor is a Switch Hitter” (January 30, 2009), turning from one type to another via a simple change in temperature.
See also: hitter, switch
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • switch-hitter
  • southpaw
  • heavy-handed
  • lefthanded
  • left-handed compliment
  • left-handed compliment, a
  • hand over the reins
  • left-handed wife
  • handed
  • wrong side of someone
References in periodicals archive
The 23-year-old switch hitter also struck out twice but looked much more aggressive at the plate.
Victorino is the first Red Sox switch hitter to also bat same-side with regularity, and since he has been doing that, he is hitting .324 righty vs.
"The elusive Ingle style didn't suit me either, I'm more of a box-fighter than a switch hitter.
Moncada ranks second in baseball with 105 strikeouts, and the switch hitter has been an easy out (10-for-65, no home runs, 2 RBI) from the right side of the plate.
Seeing as though he's naturally left-handed, it would make sense that Ross could be a switch hitter, and the thought more than crossed his mind.
Switch hitter Ian Happ originally was scheduled to be in Sunday night's starting lineup against Giants lefty Ty Blach, but Happ jarred his shoulder diving for a flyball in center field Saturday night.
The last Red Sox switch hitter to hit a home run from both sides of the plate at Fenway Park.
Switch hitter Ben Zobrist was being held back for the Monday afternoon game at Pittsburgh.
3, George Kottaras, is not a switch hitter. He's still on the team, but there will be a roster move or three today with the arrival of Martinez and Casey Kotchman, who was acquired for Adam LaRoche in a rare swap of left-handed-hitting first basemen.
"The fact that Caratini's a switch hitter doesn't restrict you based on the pitcher.
A switch hitter in baseball, Lowrie swings right-handed in golf, and, no, he has never considered the concept of being a switch-golfer.
Gillaspie, a switch hitter, has struggled at Charlotte, batting .214/.263/.229 with 29 strikeouts in 76 plate appearances.
The last switch hitter to lead the Red Sox in home runs for a season.
"It's just not healing as quickly as I wanted it to do," said the veteran switch hitter, whose 10-day DL move was backdated the maximum three days allowed.
A switch hitter who was selected by the Cubs with the ninth overall pick in the 2015 draft, Happ started in center and hit leadoff Thursday for the fourth time this spring training.