Hitting a pitched ball is one of the hardest things to do in baseball. Hitting a pitched ball with power is even more difficult but that is certainly the goal of most hitters in baseball. Certainly they don’t try and hit it out of the park every time, but they do try and make solid contact at every single at bat. They know that if they can do that, every so often the ball is going to be sent out of the park.
If you doubt the difficulty of hitting a pitched ball just look at the number of professional baseball players who can’t successfully accomplish the feat at least 3 out of every 10 times they are at bat. The number is huge, and these are actually professionals who get paid to hit baseballs! Even the very best of the best in terms of hitting can’t successfully hit a ball and reach base safely 4 out of every 10 times they are at bat.
Or you can look at some of the greatest athletes that have ever played sports - the Micheal Jordans and Bo Jacksons of the world - who also tried to make it in baseball. They could definitely hit the ball, but they couldn’t even hit it as much some of the not so good professional baseball players. Hitting is hard with any sized bat.
So it is no wonder that the kids in our life can’t seem to hit with power. There are a lot of mechanical issues that you have to consider when trying to hit a ball with power, and only one of them has anything to do with the youth baseball bat that they swing. In fact, if you can get them to do the mechanics of hitting properly the youth bat is only to add some extra pop to the swing, not make it great. You just want to make sure that get a proper fit for your youth baseball bat.
Here are some helpful tips for hitting with power:
1. Pull the trigger at the right time
Hitting with power is all about bat speed and meeting the ball at the right time in its journey through the strike zone. If you can wait just a moment longer before pulling the head of your baseball bat through the zone you are going to be forced to swing your bat that much faster in order to get the bat on the ball. This will also make sure that the ball is not to far in front of the plate when you make contact. Ideally you want the ball to make contact with the bat when both are traveling at their highest speeds in order to get the most power in your swing.
2. Stand correctly in the batter’s box
When you are trying to hit with power you need to take into consideration a couple different things. The first is that you need time to recognize the pitch that is coming your way. Some people like to stand near the very end of the batters box in order to increase the amount of time that they have to see what type of pitch is coming their way so that they can “time’ their swing appropriately. I am of the opinion that this is not necessarily needed depending on who the hitter is. Instead, I think the batter should be at a point in the batter’s box that lets them feel the most comfortable. A batter need to be comfortable with the pitch coming their way if they are to get a lot of power in their swing and get their bat around fast enough to make solid contact with the pitch.
3. Use proper hitting mechanics
Your feet should be shoulder length apart with the majority of your weight on your back foot. This stance will give some power since you can push off your back foot to give your hips the power and speed that you need to drive a ball deep. Once you start your swing you will need to shift your weight forward. It is in this transfer of power from back to front that you want to make contact with the ball. Your legs are your friend and your hips will transfer the power from your legs to your arms and your baseball bat. Some you should have your youth visualize power originating in their back foot, transferring through their hip into their arms and into their baseball which will transfer it to the ball which will send it flying over the fence.
4. Hold your bat properly
When bats hit a baseball they act like a lever. On principle of lever technology is that the farther away the point of contact is from the fulcrum the more power you are going to be able to transfer at the point of contact. When this principle is applied to baseball bats you know that the point of contact is where the ball hits the bat and the fulcrum is the where you hold your hands on the handle of the bat. If you want maximum power at the point of contact you are going to want to hold your hands as close to the end of the bat as you can. You will be giving up some bat control by doing this, but that is why choosing the right youth baseball bat is so important.
5. Be a situational hitter
As a hitter you have to be using your head. Sometime you don’t want to hit for power because you just need to advance a runner or make contact to put the ball into play. Teach your youth to be smart and do what it smart for their sutation. If they are in a 3-0 count with the bases loaded you know that the pitcher is going to need to throw them a pitch that they can hit, probably a fast ball right down the middle. In a situation like this if you think the hitter has a good enought eye to give the green light why not give them the green light to pull the trigger? This is a situation where they should be trying to get the best swing possible on the ball. But sometime, like in a full count, you just want to make contact with the ball so that your player can stay in the game.
Hitting for power is not easy, but with a lot of practice and a good, well fit youth baseball bat you can make this a reality for your player.
A key component of having fun at baseball is being able to put the ball in play at the plate. A successful hitter makes for a happy player. There is no doubt that having good fundamentals is key to hitting a baseball, but finding the right youth bat for your player’s needs is another really important step to making sure that they have fun at the plate and with baseball.
It is very often the case that parents want their children to excel hitting the ball so they go out and buy them a very high quality youth baseball bat, but since they haven’t taken into consideration some important bat selection rules the bat isn’t what their player needs. Having either the wrong length or the wrong weight can add unnecessary strain on a young players swing, making it hard to hit the ball in the zone and drive it for base hits.
Parents should take many things into consideration when choosing the right bat for their player, including: the material, barrel size, weight, and length of the bat. It is also important that the bat meets the specific requirements of the league that your player is currently participating in whether it is Tee Ball, Little Leauge, High School, or even College baseball.
It is a generally accepted rule that youth players should have the lightest bat of the length that fits their body best. Unfortunately, light youth baseball bats are generally the more expensive kind since the advanced alloys that manufacturers use in crafting these sluggers is anything but cheap. These high-tech alloys also allow bat engineers to craft paper thin walls, providing more pop to your player in addition to the increased bat speed they will see from the lighter barrel. Inexpensive aluminum bats, though still made from the same element of aluminum (but from a different alloy) will have thicker walls and be heavier. This can slow down bat speed, increase vibrations on the players hands, and cause the bat the drop as the player pulls the head of the bat through the strike zone.
According to on bat engineer at at a Louisville Slugger, “Performance of the bat goes up as the walls are thinned down in aluminum bats. High-strength alloys allow the walls to be thinned while retaining strength needed for durability.” We all want our player to have the best chance of success, don’t we?
Players just starting out on their baseball career need to learn what it feels like to make good, solid contact with a baseball. This type of feeling can be found without the use of a high-end, high-tech aluminum alloy youth baseball bat. Proper bat mechanics is what your player needs to learn first before they get a super light weight bat, but make sure that your player is at least comfortable with the bat that they are learning to strike the ball with. Learning the technique the right way at the beginning is the best way to give your player the best shot of having the success that they want.
In order to find that bat to fit your child’s needs you need to look to the bat’s length-to-weight ratio. This is probably the most important factor to consider when purchasing your bat. The length-to-weight ratio is a negative number that informers bat purchasers of the differential between the length and weight of a bat when buying a youth baseball bat online or in a store. By way of example, if I am buying a 30-inch that weights 27 ounces this bat will have a ratio of -3 (-3 is the required length-to-weight ratio for high school, college, and professional baseball).
Finding the right length-to-weight ratio in the formative years of a players baseball career can really help a player get a better handle on the mechanics of batting.
In addition to the negative length-to-weight ratio, youth baseball bats can have a series of numbers and letters associated with the name of the bat. As an example, lets look at the name of the Easton 2009 LCN10 Stealth IMX Power Hitter Youth Baseball Bat (-9 PH). As you can see at the end of the name is the length-to-weight ratio (in this case -9). Everything else looks pretty normal except the LCN10 in the name of this bat. LCN10 represents the name of the aluminum alloy. This is not the important when choosing your bat unless you are an alloy junkie. For most people the most they need to know is that a good fit is all that they need.
But just for those alloy junkies, here is some information on the different alloys and which bats you can expect to find them on:
- CU31 is a pretty ubiquitous alloy and was once the top of the line, but now is mainly used in the mid-range bats.
- C405 is found in the next wave of bats alloy bats that replace CU31. This alloy appears in Easton’s Reflex, Worth’s Copperhead, Louisville Slugger’s Air Attack2, and all of DeMarini’s bats including the DeMarini CF3 Black Youth Baseball Bat.
- Easton also has two even more advanced alloys - C500 and SC500 (which includes Scandium - a light-weight element supposedly used in aerospace technology). These alloys are used in the more expensive Redline and Z-Core series bats.
Bat barrel diameters are another important thing to consider when purchasing a bat for your player. Little League (up to age 12) requires that bat barrel diameters cannot exceed 2-1/4 inch - but bat barrels can be as large as 2-5/8 inch or 2-3/4 inch. Be certain about what the limits are for your league before your decide on a bat because you could not be able to use it during competition.
The youth baseball bat manufacturer Worth recently tried to determine the best bat weight for both youth and adult players. The information they compiled is found below:
Youth 8-10 Years Old
Player Height / Best Bat Weight:
48 in. 16 oz.
50 in. 16.5 oz.
52 in. 17 oz.
54 in. 17.5 oz.
56 in. 18 oz.
58 in. 18.5 oz.
60 in. 19 oz.
Formula = (Height/4) + 4
Youth 11-12 Years Old
Player Weight / Best Bat Weight:
70 lbs. 18 oz.
80 lbs. 19 oz.
90 lbs. 19.5 oz.
100 lbs. 20 oz.
110 lbs. 20.5 oz.
120 lbs. 21 oz.
130 lbs. 21.5 oz.
140 lbs. 22 oz.
150 lbs. 23 oz.
Formula = (Weight/18) + 14
High School & College
Player Height / Best Bat Weight:
66 in. 27 oz.
68 in. 27.5 oz.
70 in. 28 oz.
72 in. 29 oz.
74 in. 30 oz.
76 in. 30.5 oz.
Formula = Height/3 + 6
The ideal bat weight for maximum ball hitting speed is about one ounce heavier than that recommended in this study. The thinking behind this is that there is a negligible loss of of bat speed when weight is reduced by an ounce. Chipper Jones, a long time Atlanta Brave, has been quoted as recommending: “swing the heaviest bat you can get around on a 90-mph pitch.” This principle can be applied to youth leagues as well as the big leagues - you just need to adjust the velocity that you are talking about.
When shopping for a bat, have your child hold it out to his side with the top hand (right hand for right-handed batter). If he cannot hold it straight out for 20 seconds without his arm starting to shake or the bat head starting to drop, it is too heavy for your player. Your player should be able to swing the bat around without the barrel of the bat dropping. If the barrel drops during the swing the bat is probably too heavy.
Players over the age of 13 generally have enough experience to be able to find the bat that feels best for them just by giving it a few cuts or getting a hold of a ball or two in a batting cage. Younger players do need much more guidance and a good decision by a parent or coach can get your player swinging for the fences.
The DeMarini VooDoo Black Youth Baseball Bat, like most youth baseball bats, seeks to maximize hitting power and bat speed while reducing the shock on the players hands. This bat does this through its Pitch Black Handle, tight composite weave, and 2 1/4 inch barrel.
The Pitch Black Handle provide just the right amount of flex so that the head of the bat pulls through the strike zone quickly and the hands of the player stay free and clear of painful and annoying stingers. Nobody likes taking a pitch off the top or handle of a bat. Doing so sends hundreds of vibrations into our hands, giving the bat’s user a marked stinging sensation. The DeMarini VooDoo Black Youth Baseball Bat with its Pitch Black Handle seeks to avoid this stinging as much as possible.
The feature that gives this bat its flexibilty is also the same thing that gives it its power - a strong and tight composite weave. This bat uses an SC4 aluminum alloy which has been shown to be 12% stronger than previous alloys. This combination of strength and flexibilty has allowed the bat’s engineers to adjust the wall thickness to provide the greatest possible sweat spot with the thinnest walls possible.
This is important for maintaining bat speed and bat position as the player pulls the head of the bat through the hitting zone. Bats with heavy and long barrels feel heavy and are harder to control the farther the barrel of the bat is away from a players body. By using a light SC4 aluminum alloy, the DeMarini VooDoo Black Youth Baseball Bat provides the right of amount of weight, power, and flexibility to keep the barrel light and quick.
It wouldn’t matter how quickly a player could swing their bat if there wasn’t a large enough hitting area on the bat to make contact with the pitch. This is where the 2 1/4 inch diameter of the barrel comes in. This is a Little League approved barrel diameter helps keep the weight of the bat (and the bat’s length-to-weight ratio) down as well as providing an optimal sweet spot for your player to strike the ball into the field of play. It provides the pop and the power.
Buy the DeMarini VooDoo Black Youth Baseball Bat
Easton’s 2009 LCN10 Stealth IMX Power Hitter Youth Baseball Bat (-9PH) is a great fit for young players seeking a bat with good overall offensive capabilities. Its large hitting area and sweet spot, efficient energy transfer design, and vibration reduction technology are sure to aid any little slugger with driving baseballs out of the strike zone and into the field of play with pop. Using Easton’s patented IMX and CXN technologies, this youth baseball bat is on the cutting edge of hitting technology.
Integrated Matrix Technology (IMX)
IMX stands for Integrated Matrix Technology and is used by Easton to strengthen the bat’s composite structure. A strong composite enables bat engineers to experiment with designs that increase hitter performance by increasing the size of the sweet spot while keeping the bat stable and light weight for hitters to pull the barrel through the zone quickly. The composite is of the highest quality, an aerospace grade, and has been angled and layer on the Easton 2009 LCN10 Stealth IMX Power Hitter Youth Baseball Bat to give hitter the best possible chance to make solid contact..
ConneXion Design Technology (CXN)
In addition to the the IMX technology, the Easton 2009 LCN10 Stealth IMX Power Hitter Youth Baseball Bat also utilizes the ConneXion Design Technology (CXN) which helps isolate the handle of the bat from the barrel. This isolation accomplishes two things for the hitter. The first is that CXN enables them to transfer power better from their swing the ball since there are mutliple flex rated handels that act like a “hinge” - throwing the head of the bat through thte zone. This same technology also seperates the barrel of the bat from the handle, providing a barrier between the vibrations at the head of the youth bat from the hands of the batter. Less vibration means less pain.
Bat’s Specifications:
- IMX Composite Handle and Barrel
- Handle Flex Rating -60
- VRS Rating -95
- 2-1/4″ monster barrel
- -9 super lightweight length-to-weight
- Ultra-thin 29/32″ handle with Pro-Tack grip
Manufacturer’s Warranty
One-year limited warranty which covers all manufacturing defects from normal field usage.
Learn more about the Easton 2009 LCN10 Stealth IMX Power Hitter Youth Baseball Bat
The DeMarini CF3 Black Youth Baseball Bat is an end to end power composite youth bat that packs enough punch to send baseballs flying. For those seeking to find a high quality bat to put inside your youth’s bag then you should definitely consider the DeMarini CF3 Black Youth Baseball Bat.
It contains 22% more carbon than competitors which means that this bat is a deep, dark black. The bat also contains a doublewall barrel which helps increase the size of the bat’s sweet spot - and we all know how important striking the ball with the sweet spot is for driving those pitches into deep center-right field. These doublewalls are very thin and have a tight composite weave which gives it the power to take pitches all the way to the fences.
This youth bat also features a -11oz length to weight ratio and a 2 1/4 inch barrel. This provides a wide surface with which to strike the ball as it enters the zone as well as the necessary mechanics to get the head of the bat around.
This makes the bat a very good fit for those looking to get a good grip on punching the ball past the fielders. You can imagine this bat as a mini trampoline that you sweep through the strike zone, catching balls and springing them out into the field of play.
Buy the DeMarini CF3 Black Youth Baseball Bat
