Bat size
- Thread starter DrRiello
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My thought was 33 drop 11 for her. Move up a little in weight and a lot in length.
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I'd take her to a place to demo some bats. Let her figure out what she likes best. We can all make suggestions. My DD is 5'7 and 150. She swung a 32/22 for the last two years and beat the snot out of the ball. She just adjusted her distance from the plate because she wasn't ready to handle the length of a 33 inch bat. And by "Handle", I mean the mechanical failures resulting from the adjustment to the 33. This offseason, she's hellbent on going to the 33/23.
- Dec 11, 2010
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My standard bat sizing post:
1) Measure the width of her shoulders and multiply times two. This will be very close to the correct length. Adjust weight of bat from there. This works great and no one does it. Some would rather look at some dumb chart on a bat marketing site that is from 1989.
2) An inch too long is more detrimental than an ounce too heavy.
3) Never, ever buy a bat "she can grow in to". Don't do it.
4) I get argument on this one but I say avoid -11 once they are older than 10u/12u. Try to stay with -10.
5) It is a complete fallacy that an inch of bat length translates to added plate coverage. Don't fall into that trap.
6) Not all college players swing 34's. A lot swing 33's. Really think about whether a youth player needs a 33 or 34. See #1 above.
7) In your daughters case, because she grew rapidly, don't be in too big of a hurry. One inch and one ounce at a time.
8) Parents can ruin swings by increasing bat length and weight too fast.
9) Some kids like and perform well with a heavier feel. You just have to be really careful with that. I'm not 100% convinced that low drop bats correlate directly to power hitting. All the algebra in the world has yet to convince me of that lol.
10) It doesn't matter one bit if your kid can hit a 250' home run against bad pitching. What matters is whether she can hit the ball hard on Sunday in the championship game against the best pitcher she faces all weekend.
1) Measure the width of her shoulders and multiply times two. This will be very close to the correct length. Adjust weight of bat from there. This works great and no one does it. Some would rather look at some dumb chart on a bat marketing site that is from 1989.
2) An inch too long is more detrimental than an ounce too heavy.
3) Never, ever buy a bat "she can grow in to". Don't do it.
4) I get argument on this one but I say avoid -11 once they are older than 10u/12u. Try to stay with -10.
5) It is a complete fallacy that an inch of bat length translates to added plate coverage. Don't fall into that trap.
6) Not all college players swing 34's. A lot swing 33's. Really think about whether a youth player needs a 33 or 34. See #1 above.
7) In your daughters case, because she grew rapidly, don't be in too big of a hurry. One inch and one ounce at a time.
8) Parents can ruin swings by increasing bat length and weight too fast.
9) Some kids like and perform well with a heavier feel. You just have to be really careful with that. I'm not 100% convinced that low drop bats correlate directly to power hitting. All the algebra in the world has yet to convince me of that lol.
10) It doesn't matter one bit if your kid can hit a 250' home run against bad pitching. What matters is whether she can hit the ball hard on Sunday in the championship game against the best pitcher she faces all weekend.
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Some good points. Lots to think about. She swing her friends 33 -10 and felt it was too heavy.
Maybe swing a 32 -10 first. Go from there
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- Dec 11, 2010
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I hope it helps.
32/22 is absolutely a good choice from what you posted.
For whatever its worth, I currently work with two really good hitters. One is a first year 16u that is still swinging a 32/22. She is on the low end of bat size for that age but she's a beast at the plate.
The other has been swinging a low drop (currently 33/25) since she began playing tb. They are statistically the same hitter- but they just need different things from the bat. The one with the 32 hits the same number of otf hr's.
They are both sized at 2x width of shoulders.
My DD is 4'10" 76lbs. Swung a 31 -11 all year with great success. At lessons sometimes she swings a 31 -3 baseball bat for a weighted bat. Somehow she swings it well enough her instructor doesn't get the feedback from her she is looking for. I bought a 32 -9 I got a deal on for tee work and soft toss at home, and she swings it pretty good. She was mad at me for not letting her use it in games because I said it was too big. I let her use it in a league game to show her how it would be too big for her to use in a game, and that hitting against live pitching and hitting off a tee aren't the same thing.
So pregame warm up and the coach notices DD carrying this oak tree out to hit wiffles. When DD came up she went to look at her bat and has a little chat with her, and kinda shakes her head walking back out to throw BP, I'm sure thinking about how smart and helpful I am by getting my DD a telephone pole to hit with. Coach is whipping the wiffles in there faster than usual, I think trying to make the same point I was trying to make, and DD squared up everything. Then she goes out in the game and hits one to the fence.
Anyways, my point is height and weight aren't the only thing to go by. Try a few bats and see what she likes the best, because she'll probably hit the best with the one she likes the feel of the best, regardless of whether anyone else thinks it's a fit for her.
So pregame warm up and the coach notices DD carrying this oak tree out to hit wiffles. When DD came up she went to look at her bat and has a little chat with her, and kinda shakes her head walking back out to throw BP, I'm sure thinking about how smart and helpful I am by getting my DD a telephone pole to hit with. Coach is whipping the wiffles in there faster than usual, I think trying to make the same point I was trying to make, and DD squared up everything. Then she goes out in the game and hits one to the fence.
Anyways, my point is height and weight aren't the only thing to go by. Try a few bats and see what she likes the best, because she'll probably hit the best with the one she likes the feel of the best, regardless of whether anyone else thinks it's a fit for her.
Where do you measure. Delt to delt? Acromium to acromium,? Lat crease to lat crease?
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- Dec 11, 2010
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I have them stand with a shoulder against a wall and measure with a yardstick or a tape measure against the wall and measure at outside of the deltoids.
