Bat Speed ? MPH.........

[justwannaplay]

Does anyone have any information on batspeed? I am looking to see where a high school player should be in terms of bat speed ?

Any takers
Thanks ......
JWP

 

[cshilt]

At the last Bustos clinic I worked we measured the bat speed of the girls in our advanced portion of the clinic. These were primarily HS players and we measured anywhere from the mid 50's to mid 60's.

These speeds were measured using the Swing Speed Radar for Baseball/Softball. Swing Speed Radar for Baseball & Softball Bat Speed

I was able to hit 70 when I concentrated on my lower body mechanics.

 

[nanotech14]

Where my dd traines they measure exit speed off a tee . Has anyone else ever done that? They measured her bat speed once. Go to this web site. and read what they say.Welcome

 

[starsnuffer]

I think the speed the ball leaves the T is the only speed that matters. I'm pretty sure that you can give most kids a lighter bat and their swing speed will increase, but that doesn't mean the ball will go further (since the distance the ball is hit depends on pitch speed, bat mass, and swing speed) By using a T you eliminate the pitch speed variable.

-W

 

[TowPilot]

Speed off of the tee

Yep, speed off of the tee. Bat speed has to be combined with power at contact. Have the girls hit into a screen from the T. Have a radar gun on the opposite side of the screen. Don't know about the accuracy of the gun but I saw from 55MPH to 70MPH exit speeds for HS girls. It is also very interesting to have a girl use different bats. It is generally the indian not the arrow but did see as much as a 3MPH difference using different modern bats.

 

[SBFAMILY]

cshilt will also tell you that when we changed the grip on some of the kids the before and after was amazing on bat speed.

 

[starsnuffer]

Yeah the grip makes a huge difference. I focused on grip and wrist snaps (hammer drills) during our indoor practice yesterday, along with the 20-40-60 concept, and it was amazing how much harder/faster the girls I worked with were hitting. Now we just have to refine their timing to work with their new-found bat speed.

-W

 

[Greenmonsters]

Yeah the grip makes a huge difference. I focused on grip and wrist snaps (hammer drills) during our indoor practice yesterday, along with the 20-40-60 concept, and it was amazing how much harder/faster the girls I worked with were hitting. Now we just have to refine their timing to work with their new-found bat speed.

-W

Good to recognize this and the related fact that the overall benefit may not be apparent immediately!

 

[cshilt]

The grip can make a difference in bat speed. Some other things as well.

Howard sent me the following in a PM:

I remember when I first worked with [Coach Larabee] and we measured his bat speed and it was 68 and he was swinging down on the ball.

I said lets change three things and one at a time!

Grip using it our way....71 MPH.

Landing more on the edge of the lead foot with a better heel plant....74 MPH.

Focus on the back elbow and hand stacked over the elbow....78 MPH.

This took less than 20 minutes and he was shocked.

This is why we say slow to load and soft to step and as Crystl says accelerate as connection begins to happen or as she points out when coming out of the corner on a race track give it all you have got, to the ball and through the ball!

Howard

Coach Larabee is a former fastpitch player and current head coach at Arkansas and an associate coach with USA softball.

 

[Justanotherdad]

When my daughter was trying out for 14U teams this past fall, one of the local teams was conducting tryouts for 16U/18U. We took my daughter to this tryout and they had a blue and white square looking device that was on a tri-pod that they were using to measure bat speed. They measured my daughters bat speed and on average she was in the low 60's. She peaked out at 68 MPH. She was a month shy of 14 at the time.

I don't know if that's good, bad or otherwise...they didn't say. They didn't really say what they wanted to see.