How To Choose A Youth Baseball Bat

If your child is in the market for a new baseball bat, it can get quite overwhelming with such a large selection. As a coach (for many years), I've noticed what youth baseball players and their parents seek in bats today. Unfortunately, it's become a bit like golfing, where players have “golfers” syndrome. Golfers syndrome is when golfers think by purchasing the newest clubs, they're going to improve. Many golfers don't get to practice too often for many reasons, so they believe spending hundreds of dollars on each club will solve their problems.

I now see this in baseball too often. Technology can help a player, but it's not as valuable as the old fashioned hard work and practice! Technology gives many players a reason to become lazy and rely on their new “high-tech” bat. A study in the early 90's states that the lighter the bat, the better. After this study, it has become impossible to find a bat with a smaller differential than -8.

These studies have completely ignored the kinesiology of the body.

They simply just focused on the bat and the ball.

I read a great example that discusses how it is not a linear relationship.

If a batter uses a 20 oz baseball bat, then switches to a 19 oz bat, does not mean they'll swing 5% faster!

The batter is also losing 5% in mass and they won't be able to swing hard enough to make up for the loss.

In all my years of coaching, I rarely notice a difference in the bats used.

There's maybe a 5% difference between the old and new bats.

The difference between bats that are 1-2 years apart is such a small fraction of a difference.

The best way to choose the right bat for your child is by finding him the heaviest bat he can use, without slowing down his swing speed.

You want to make sure he's still got the speed on his swing, but the weight will create more power. Little League rules require all bats are less than 2 inch diameter. An average 10 year old should fit in the range of 29-32 and -7 to -10oz from the length chosen. My 12 year old uses a 32/2
5. When teenagers are getting ready to move onto the next level and play college ball, all bats are going to be similar.

They all go through a test, which must meet the BESR guidelines. BESR tests all bats at the college level in order to determine the speed of the ball when it's released off the bat. Since they're all created similar, there aren't going to me many advantages with bats at this level.

In conclusion, spend more money on batting lessons, rather than the newest bat.

If your child has good form and knows how to swing, that's way more valuable than the latest bat on the market.
Read more of this writer's articles on things such as the derek jeter hurricane and jugs batting screen .

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