Youth Baseball Bat Sizing: Choosing the Right Baseball Bat Size

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Youth Baseball Bat Sizing: Choosing the Right Baseball Bat Size
By guest author: Jim Bain

Youth baseball bat sizing can be confusing if you don't go into a sports store with some simple tips on choosing the right baseball bat size.

Use the tips here to help you find the right bat for your young player.

Barrel size - Simply the diameter of the largest part of the bat, most Little League bats average 2-1/4 inch in barrel size. Senior and high school bats are larger, averaging 2-5/8 inch to 2-3/4 inch. Choosing a larger barrel size means there will a larger "sweet spot," but the trade-off is a larger, heavier bat that may be difficult for younger players to swing quickly.

Bat taper - The diameter of the handle is known as the taper. Normally, this runs 31/31 of an inch. Smaller taper results in a lighter bat, making it easier for players to come around quickly and really snap their wrists when swinging. A thicker taper means less sting when a batter doesn't hit the sweet spot.

Grip - The material wrapped around the handle is known as grip. Grips can come in leather or synthetic leather and over time, these materials will develop a sticky feel, making for a better grip on the bat. Rubber grips also reduce the shock of hitting a ball.

Youth Baseball Bat Sizing

No longer do you see youth baseball players swinging heavy wood bats in practice and games. Now, lighter is better and the use of lighter metal materials in baseball bat production helps kids swing that bat harder and faster. It's also a great way of helping young players learn bat control.

The length (inches) and weight (ounces) of a bat are printed on the bat by the manufacturer. You will also see another measurement, which is the number difference between the length and weight of the bat. For example, a 30 inch bat weighing 20 ounces would include the label "-10."

For youth baseball bats, look for bats marked "-10" or more for the proper size.

Though the right baseball bat size for each child varies, the table below will help you get started in finding the correct one for your son or daughter.

Tee ball: 25 inches - 27 inches, -9 to -13
Age 7 - 8: 26 inches - 27 inches, -10 or lighter
Age 8 - 9: 27 inches to 29 inches, -10 or lighter
Age 9 - 12: 28 inches to 31 inches, -10 or lighter
Age 12 - 15: 29 inches to 33 inches, -9 or lighter

Coach Bain has more tips to help you find the right baseball bat for young players. You can also find fielding drills, a pitching guide, and more help on youth baseball coaching.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jim_Bain

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Baseball & Softball Swing - Confidence Vs Mechanics

Baseball & Softball Swing - Confidence Vs Mechanics
By guest author: Todd Thomas

I was at a high school level ball game recently. Of the two teams playing, one was filled with a group of very cocky players. They were cocky and CONFIDENT. What's interesting is that the players on this team had some of the worst baseball swings I have ever seen in my life. But they were confident as all get out.

It's an interesting phenomenon to observe that a player can have horrible mechanics but have supreme confidence(cockiness is a good word to describe here) and still be able to hit the baseball successfully. Alex Rodriquez successfully? NO! No, as I watched the game none of these players really scorched the baseball but they did swing confidently at it and put the ball in play often finding holes and blooping hits all the way to a 14 to 2 win.

These players' potential to play at higher levels is limited with bad mechanics. Ultimately, they will reach an end to their success(and subsequently their confidence) as they move to higher and higher levels of baseball. These were high school players. Obviously, they are going to have some success at the high school level. Reaching the collegiate level is probably out for most of them because of their technique, but one or two of them may reach that level. Then that's probably it. I once had a collegiate player over for some training and his mechanics were awful, but he was playing Division I baseball. Why? More than likely he was extremely confident up until this point but now was crashing and burning at the collegiate level. He also had a load of natural ability that had carried him this far too. However, he had reached his peak and I remember telling him that if he has sights on playing professionally he needed to change what he was doing mechanically. And he did have the desire to play pro ball.

However, even if a player works on and gets mechanically sound, I believe that any player(no matter what age) will struggle if they don't learn how to be confident. If they are not confident and their new mechanics aren't "working" for them, then they will blame the mechanics or the teacher or both and will keep searching for that "perfect" way to swing to insure success. When what they really need is confidence training in order to raise the game and to be successful.

So is learning the proper mechanics the "answer" to being a good hitter? I teach the mechanics of the best players in the game and I am supremely confident in what I teach. Let's say however that I took a player from the team of confident hitters with bad mechanics and we started working on fixing his mechanics. IF he is able to sustain his confidence, look out. He should excel in a big way.

What if though(and this probably goes higher the younger the player is) the player starts "thinking too much" about executing the proper swing mechanics? What if he starts over-analyzing his swing and trying to hard to make things happen with his new swing? Questions and doubt may start building within him after a bad(weak) hit or a strike out. He then starts asking himself, "Am I doing it right?" "Am I performing my mechanics correctly?" If the results are not there, then the player will assume that he is not swinging "correctly" and there begins the process of over-thinking, over-analyzing, and confidence shrinking. And I believe the downward spiral of his hitting results and confidence will continue to fall.

What's interesting as I think about the team of cocky confident hitters is that I don't think they realize that they suck. Their mechanics that is. They seem to have no idea how "bad" they are and they play as if not to care. They are just confident. On the contrary, they are pretty good because they THINK they are in spite of what they don't know.

So which is more important? Confidence or mechanics? It seems from my observations that confidence with bad mechanics can still have a degree (albeit limited) of success. YET, good mechanics with zero confidence and playing scared seems to have no chance to succeed.

Hmmm?

Todd Thomas is a Baseball Coach and Professional Hitting Instructor for Mike Epstein Hitting. Coach Todd's personal hitting website is http://www.HitItHere.net. Coach Todd also enthusiastically endorses http://PlayMyBestBaseball.com as a place where baseball and softball hitters can master the Confidence, Composure, Focus and Consistency of their game so they can reach their full potential.


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