Posted by: Tom Waz (sluggoking@msn.com) on Thu Apr 22 04:16:10 2004

Tom, what do you mean by "go to a smaller bat"? -- in length, weight or both -- and why does this help?
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> Also have a 10 (soon to be 11) year old in majors & see a big difference in the pitching from the 12 year olds vs. 11 year olds.
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> Thanks.

I don't know your son's size, but I make every 10 year old (assuming they're not very large or already hitting in games) start with a 28 inch bat (-10, -11 is fine). My reasoning is that with slower pitching, batters wait to see if the pitch is a strike before they start they're swing. With good pitching a hitter MUST assume its going to be a strike until it proves otherwise (ie load, stride, etc (or whatever terms you use) on every pitch and then not swing on balls). This is very different approach for young hitters and difficult for most kids to do EVERY single pitch in a game. The use of a smaller bat will allow them to get the bat around even if they hesitate for just a split second. In my opinion...kids hit well with their larger bats in cages or batting practice because the decision to swing or not swing is easier than in game situations. This very small hesitation in games is what hurts them, not their talent, mechanics, etc. The smaller bat helps neutralize this effect. Once they're hitting well their confidence goes up, which eliminates the mental hesitation, and then they can start trying their normal bat in games. Hopes this helps - Tom Waz