Posted by: Jim C (jhconklinjr@comcast.net) on Thu Mar 31 05:08:16 2005

Hi Pete,

I posted a fairly extreme example with my son below. He has a 32" -9 in his bag, but doesn't use it very much.

We use a fungo test for bat weight versus the horizontal holding test. At a given length, we borrow bats of -9, -7, -5, etc. Then fungo hit 10 balls with each. When he can no longer just toss the ball up moderately and clip it out of the air crisply, that bat is too heavy.

Generally, we also prefer a longer bat of a lighter weight vs. a shorter bat of a heavier weight even though the absolute weight of the two might be the same (e.g. a 32" -7 weighs the same as a 30" -5). The reason is that a kid with short arms AND a short bat, covering an adult width strike zone, has to tighten up to the plate to cover the outside such that anything middle-in has an intimidating 'on-the-hands' feel to it.

Good luck in the new season.