Posted by: Shawn () on Sun Jan 18 16:07:04 2009

> I see hundreds of references to bat weight in books and Internet sites. However, I rarely see discussions of bat length. Three years ago I tried an experiment with my own son. He was a very large and strong eight year old. I kept the weight of his bat constant and dropped the length by two inches. He went from hitting in the high .400s to consistently hitting in the high .600's over the last two seasons. The change was immediate and consistent. This situation may be confounded by the fact he has always been a good contact hitter and we focus on biomechanics constantly.

Hi,

I always felt more comfortable with a 32 inch bat. The weight could be between 30-32 ounces, both felt good at that length. Although, I'm a small guy and the 33 and 34 inch bats didn't feel as comfortable.

I know Tony Gwynn used a shorter bat, and Bonds used a shorter bat and didn't grip the end of the bat.