Posted by: The Hitting Guru (hitman3527@aol.com) on Wed Jan 11 18:16:30 2006

> What do you guys think the major league average bat speed is? Any guesses for minor leagues, college, high school?
>
> Would a 75 mph bat speed as a high school senior be any good? average?


I would have to guess that average would be between 80 to 85 geared up to hit a fastball. Robert K Adair's book "The Physics of Baseball" talks about that subject to a small degree. In Adair's book, I believe he mentions that for a 180lb player swinging a bat that weighs 32 ounces it would take a batspeed of about 70 to drive an 85 mile an hour fastball 400 ft. Of course this would be a strong player who weighed 180 lbs like a Marcus Giles (rotational hitter).

Of course there are other factors besides batspeed. On ESPN I observed Ken Griffey Jr. and Barry Bonds with batspeeds around 95, Mark Mcguire was as high as 100. The players ability to time a fastball through recognition is perhaps his biggest asset. More than likely your eye sight and ability to hit a fastball with movement is what will determine your success. A lot of players can't hit a good curveball, but pitchers make enough mistakes with the curve, slider, to keep a good fastball hitter in the major leagues.

Also, as you age you will get stronger and your batspeed should increase especially if your technique is solid.