Posted by: J.J. (houstonexpress3@hushmail.com) on Tue Mar 6 10:59:51 2007

I have noticed while watching my son's 8 year old little league team that all the best power hitters his age seem to be meatier kids. Borderline fat. Notice that I didn't say strong or muscular. Just husky. This interests me because bat speed is all the rage now, and you would think that a huskier kid's meaty arms would be slower coming around, not faster. Many do not seem to have quick bat speed at all, but hit a ton! There is something going on here and it seems to go along with the observation that many big hitters seem to swing better with a heavier bat, when you would think that the reverse would be true if pure bat speed was the holy grail of hitting. I'm not saying that bat speed is not important, just that somethings going on here that we do not yet understand. Your thoughts on the subject are appreciated.