Posted by: CoachBryan09 (bryan@seattlebaseballguy.com) on Mon Aug 30 13:53:25 2010

Great question! As with most things coaches and parents focus on the wrong aspect of the situation. No matter the length or weight of the bat, timing has more to do with contact than actual bat speed. I have seen some players with tremendous bat speed have trouble making consistant contact with the ball because their timing is not very good. On the other hand I have seen players with average and or below bat speed be able to make consistant contact because their timing was superior. My advice (to everyone buying a bat) is to not worry about anything but comfort. If your player is comfortable with the size and weight of the bat it will be more important than the "correct" size and weight for them. You can look at major leaguers for instance: Barry Bonds used to use a 33" 31.5 oz bat, plenty of bat speed, and power (obviously). Mike Piazza used a 36" 34oz bat, not as much bat speed but still plenty of power. Like I said comfort is A #1. Once you have that down, timing is the obvious next step. Whether they are swinging a 31 21 or a 30 22 it comes down to when you attack the ball, faster pitching, attack earlier, slower pitching attack later. I have my batters draw a line in the sand as to when they will attack an average middle fastball on each pitcher they face. This gives them a good gague on when to attack other pitches as well.

So, to sum it all up: Find a bat which feels good to the player, then work on timing with that piece of equipment! Any other questions feel free to email me bryan@seattlebaseballguy.com