Posted by: rob eberle (treborrae@hotmail.com) on Wed Jun 22 12:28:02 2005

> >

Chris,
> >
> > Balance (in aluminum bats the balance point is varied by mfgs.) is as important (if not more) than length and weight. Consider it.
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> Is balance something you have to determine by feel or is there some indicator of the Center of Gravity (CG) of a bat?
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> I assume the CG will vary depending on the shape of the barrel.
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> In your experience, do you think the CG should be in toward or away from the body?
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> If I understand rotational hitting correctly, then I would think that the CG should be in toward the hitter since that will increase the ability of the hitter to rotate.

Chris,
It has been my experience in coaching that balance point is more important than weight itself. For example, if you have two bats the same weight but one if 50 feet long, imagine how much more time it would take to get the bat head into the hitting zone...a long time. As for your question about enhancing balance point look at Sosa's bat or grissom's...there is a huge bundle of tape over the knob. And if you look at Bond's bat it has a very large flaired out knob. These players are moving the balance point of their bats. One more thing to consider is that you must have a good amount of strength to swing these altered balance point bats. I have my son swing an altered bat in BP and off a tee to get the feel for this.