Posted by: Jim Still (jimstill@home.com) on Sun Apr 14 18:54:59 2002

Hi - I was wondering if you have some "science" in bat weight...I have a suspicion that "lighter is better" is all wrong. Part of my evidence: I took a few cuts today before practice (for my LL 11-12 year-olds), and I swung with their light bats (eg, 31", -11), and a HS bat (32", -3), and the ball just flew off the heavier bat, I mean, at least 100' further per swing - SO, if a lighter bat gives faster bat speed, and if bat speed is all that matters, then I violated the "law of baseball physics" today - Big Time.

Please provide some scientific evidence, that heavier is better, so long as the bat speed doesn't slow down more than enough to compensate for the additional kinetic energy (potentially) created by the heavier bat.

Too many guys are totally fixated on light bats, I suspect they are wrong, wrong, wrong.

Coach Jim

PS: My assistant pitched to me, from behind a screen (properly), and the kids were all at the fence, instructed to get out of the way of a screamer.