Help me understand bat sizes

Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch

Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.

Jan 17, 2013
414
18
Texas
I fully understand that every girl is different and that 2 girls the same size and age may be swinging 2 completely different bat sizes and weights. I have spent the last few weeks ready threads and trying to educate myself on bats. My DD is 4'6", 89#s and is 9yo. I have been shocked by some of the lengths and weight that some of your DDs are supposedly swinging. I have to wonder is this due to a lot of time hitting and building up that upper body strength? Is this dads just hoping to get their daughters swinging a heavier bat for the potential of a big hit? This is not ment to sound as though I think everyone is doing it wrong, but rather I am trying to understand better what most girls of each age are capable of.
Please list your DDs age, height, weight, what size bat they swing. Thanks.
 
Jan 25, 2011
2,282
38
Well my dd is 14yo and is 5'5" and is about 165lbs. She swings 32"22 oz. CF5 insane endloaded and a RT 32" 23oz. I would say that your dd should be swinging a 29" or 30" -10 bat. as far as time swinging a bat all year long thousands of balls a year. I use to buy the light bats -11 or -12 and would not make suggestion to do that. IMO
 
Jul 9, 2012
98
0
To your point of no two are the same, my #1 pitcher and #1 catcher are about the same size. Both are 12, both around 5'3", 120 lbs. neither have grown into their adult bodies. The catcher has big hands (bigger than most adults), and strong forearms. That is the only physical difference I can discern between he two. The catcher swings a 32/22 oz cf5 and has a lighting fast swing. I also know her hitting coach has her do a lot of work with a 34/30 slow pitch bat. The pitcher swings a 30/19 oz Synge. She also has a lightning fast swing. As a pitcher, she doesn't spend as much time on her swing. Both have hit balls over 200 ft fences in practice on live pitching. Neither have done it in a game. Both are really strong gap to gap hitters.

We have another kid on the team that showed up with a new cf5, another 32/22 after Christmas. This bat took a slow swing and made it painfully slower. Telling the parents they got the wrong size after spending $200, well they weren't real happy.

We tell our parents that the kids should swing a weight, length, and drop that they are comfortable. The third kid should be swinging a 30/20 at most. If the kid does the slow to the ball drill with a tee, and the head of the bat is in a downward angle on a high/middle tee, then the bat is either too heavy or too end loaded. If the sweet spot is not at the ball on the same drill, then the bat is too short.
 
Last edited:
Oct 11, 2010
8,337
113
Chicago, IL
11YO DD is about the same size as yours and swings a 30/20. The bat was purchased a year and ½ ago and she has grown a little bit but not enough to warrant the pain of looking for a new bat.

Edited to add: At 10 DD played 12U with the 12” ball. If she played with the 11” ball she would have had a chance to hit one over the fence, with the 12” ball she is not even close.
 
Last edited:
Jan 10, 2013
68
0
Maryland
13 yo DD is about 5'2 and 115lbs of muscle, swings a 31/21 Stealth and loves it. We are going to buy her a 32/22 CF5 to add to her bag, 1 to grow into and secondly because she can swing a 32" as well as the 31" and we want an extra bat in her bag if Heaven forbid something happen to her Stealth.

DD had a 32/18 Bustos last year that we bought as a trasition from aluminum to composite. Wish we would have went straight to a drop 10. Hindsight is 20/20 though. Her aluminum bats she was using in Rec ball were all -9 and -10's. As fast as her swing was before, it was even faster with the Bustos. But she did not lose any bat speed at all when we moved her to the Stealth, but I attribute that to her build. DD plays soccer as well as TB and people comment all the time how skinny she is but how big her upper body is, she literally looks like a linebacker from the ribs up.
 
Jan 25, 2011
2,282
38
If the kid does the slow to the ball drill with a tee, and the head of the bat is in a downward angle on a middle/middle tee, then the bat is either too heavy or too end loaded.

Even if the ball is set up where you say it is on the tee(middle/middle) , that is not a tell all story. The girl more than likely is just getting the correct tilt and bat angle, to get on the right plane to hit the ball. The ball would have to be chest high to have what some like to say would be a "level swing." Any ball or pitch lower then that would require you to have some downward angle of the bat head, along with some tilt.
 
Jan 24, 2009
617
18
DD started last season at around 5' 0" and ended at 5' 4". Her gamer was a 31/21 Stealth SSR3B all season.

She is now 5' 5", 116#...we have 32" bats now that will be her gamers--32/22 and 32/23 and she practices with some pretty hefty 33's.

I figured it is only natural to move her to a 32/22 SSR3B after having great results with the 31/21 in 2012. She is also swinging a 32" Rocketech ('04) with a scale weight of just over 25 oz. She is crushing the ball with the RT and says it feels lighter than the 3b, so go figure.

I would look at -10 and probably go 30/20 for your dd. Avoid anything lighter than drop 10.
Good luck!
VW
 
Oct 10, 2011
3,117
0
A lot of good advice up there^^^^
DD is 14, 5'6" 160 and swings 33/23 (actual weight 23.6 oz) She swings a 28 oz bat in practice a lot with good results and will probably go to 33/24 at the end of summer after she sees how she handles the 16u pitchers.

(FYI in another post she was 5' 7" and 170...she didn't shrink, her mother must have measured wrong or she had shoes on, but she did lose some weight:)
 
Last edited:
May 7, 2008
8,506
48
Tucson
Guess what? I am 5'9" - so people would naturally say that I should swing something that is 34 inches. But, I don't. I use a balanced 32,22. I have good body tilt, long arms, and set up what I think is fairly close to the plate.

But, in general, I would start a 9yo, with a 29 or 30 inch bat. If you go much shorter, you give up the sweet spot.

Nice topic, by the way.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
42,830
Messages
679,474
Members
21,443
Latest member
sstop28
Top