Posted by: Tom Waz (sluggoking@msn.com) on Tue Apr 20 09:53:59 2004

Thanks RQL....is your son tall? My 11 year old uses a 31 inch bat. He's about 5'2" & very thin, but pretty strong for a skinny kid. I also have a 31/23 for practice swings, and a 32/20, which he thought was too long, but after I measured the bats together I'm thinking it's not because there's not much of a difference in length & the sweet spot looks longer so that may help. He said he doesn't like to choke up but I don't think he would need to with the 32/20.
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> > I have in the past 24 hours been thinking a lot about a heavier bat for him, not because his coaches on this one team suggested it to correct timing, but because after researching it on the internet I'm now thinking he should get used to a heavy bat because in 2 years he will need to use the bigger barrel/heavier bat in his league. I also understand that if he's able to swing a heavier bat with the same bat speed, he'll get more pop on the ball. Swinging a light bat & then having to switch to a heavy bat may put him at a disadvantage in 2 years. I don't know if I'm thinking ahead of myself, or if he has plenty of time to get ready for a heavier bat in 2 years. He's in 3 leagues, so we may play with the heavy bat in this one league to see what happens & I'll let him choose for this other games.
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> > A nine year old with a 31 inch bat? CMON NOW!


I prefer to have my players swing the lightest bat they can. However, some of my players have a tough time getting the sweet spot on the ball consistantly in game situations. Some do adjust with more live practice, but I have a few that I had to give a bigger bat to in order to "slow" their swing down. Remember most younger players (10 and younger) don't have a quick swing compared to a good 12 year old. When kids start growing and/or practicing more all of sudden their swing is significantly quicker, yet when they're under game pressure their instinct is still based on their previous, slower swing. Tom Waz