Posted by: Patrick (Pde@zoomtown.com) on Mon Jan 19 05:52:15 2009

When I changed his bat a few years ago he was swinging a 29 and he went to a 27. He was eight at the time. Now he is swinging a 29. He is 5'1" 135lbs. When he used the longer bats, he hit weak grounders and looping flys to right (He is right handed). Now he hits with authority to all fields. We have tried experiemnts where he goes back to bats that are longer and even lighter than the bat he uses now. HE consistently hits better with the shorter bat. In his case and most the key is square contact. He is big enough for his age that when he hits it, it goes. I see a lot of coaches and parents buying bats that are light enough but too long hoping they will get two years out of the bat. I fell into that trap.
> > 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.
> what size bat is he swinging