Teaching Better Baseball

Crossposted at Checkswing.net 

In my experience, a young hitter's biggest flaw is too having too long/wide a swing arc. Myself, the tighter the swing arc, the faster, quicker his swing and the easier to control the barrel of the bat. The swing arc is dependent upon the length of the bat.

How I measure length for a bat is very old school, but I guarantee, I've had nothing but success getting better contact out of all my hitters.

Stand a hitter up and have him place a bat between his legs. The bat should come within an inch of his crotch/crossstich of his pants. Naturally, taller/shorter boys regardless of age can come to an accurate measurement that can guarantee finding the proper length.

If you have already selected a bat and you may feel its too long (or bought one to grow into), then simply measure up to below the crotch area and use tape or buy a bat knob that mark where the batter should place his hands.

Weight is a different story. I don't necessarily buy into the bat speed theory only because I want the kid to learn how to use his lower half to drive the bat, rather than making it easy for him to simply use his arms. I feel that a kid should hit with no lighter than a -9 or -7. This weight will couple both a lighter weight plus more mass to make contact with the ball. I do subscribe to holding a bat out to see if the bat can be controlled.

Again, my two cents. Is it truth that the longer the swing arc the more power it generates? YES. However, a batter must still control the head of the bat in order to center the ball as often as possible. With a tighter swing arc, he is able to keep his hands inside the ball and create a powerful, compact swing.

Hope this helps,

Coach Corral
TeachingBetterBaseball.com