bat speed

[iMlearning]

I know that some of you have had bat speed radars for awhile. Can you give me some idea of speeds you've gotten from your girls? They could be p.m'd also. I've seen a huge range in numbers...one article that used a bat speed radar said the fastest college swing they tested was 73 with most 55-65 but then I've seen some post their young girls higher than that. I want honest numbers I know exit speed is more important, but I have a bat speed radar.

 

[Bouldersdad]

Depends on age, ive seen them go from 35 at 10u to 55. Fastest at college age I have seen is 81 on the average. College coaches have told me a good avg for mid D1 is high to mid 60,s. Sounds a little off to me but they test far more college kids on the average than I do.

I wouldent fall into the trap of thinking BEV is more important than bat speed, to me they are different ends of the same string, a high BEV is the result of high bat speed and the ability to drive thru the ball square with that speed. It would really be hard to accomplish a high BEV without that speed. Most BEV,s are about 5 to 6 mph slower than the bat speed.

Any swing in the mid 70,s for a female softball player is humming. Understand that is an average not a spike.

I would say about 75% of kids from 16 on up fall in that range around 6o mph on the average.


Tim

 

[PEPPERS]

DD was at a show case and they were measuring bat speed and she had some very impressive number in the 80’s, They advised she had some of the highest they had seen. She was at at softball camp when she was 13 at UGA, TheY had a device that measured swing force (wish I knew what it was called) DD described it as having rubber fingers with enough space for a bat to go through and the finger were pointed at the hitter. The force of the swing was measured by how far the bat went into the rubber fingers, They had not had a camper to drive a bat all the way through the fingers and advised it usually takes a college player 2 years before they can drive through the machine, DD did it first time she tried.

Howard/Hitter advised that different machines give different readings and read the speed at different points of the swing. So 2 different types of radar devices may give completely different reading.

 

[petricca413]

I have worked with high schoold softball hitters for many years and recently posted my thoughts on bat speed on my hitting blog. Here is a link to a recent post that summarizes my findings. How Fast Is Your Baseball/Softball Swing? | Hitting With Torque

I would agree with the bat speed ranges you listed. The goal for all my high school hitters is bat speed in the 70's, which almost all of them attain. Only a select few crack the 80 mph mark.

 

[Westwind]

Last spring the local hs coach measured all the girls. This program is small hs, about half play for travel clubs.

I really did not see any value to the data. Example: two travel hitters swinging 33 and 34 rockettech's low/mid 50's with good form on swing speed radar vs. travel girl swinging balanced drop 11 at mid/high 50's vs. a rec player swinging low a drop 12 like a gorilla on meth 60 mph. Looked like a complete waste of time. It ultimately did not tell the coach anything at all about comparing batters.

It might tell you if individual batters are improving but other than that I don't get the purpose.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Last spring the local hs coach measured all the girls. This program is small hs, about half play for travel clubs.

I really did not see any value to the data. Example: two travel hitters swinging 33 and 34 rockettech's low/mid 50's with good form on swing speed radar vs. travel girl swinging balanced drop 11 at mid/high 50's vs. a rec player swinging low a drop 12 like a gorilla on meth 60 mph. Looked like a complete waste of time. It ultimately did not tell the coach anything at all about comparing batters.

It might tell you if individual batters are improving but other than that I don't get the purpose.

The thing is, when you ignore such basic information as 'bat path', 'ball flight', 'sequence', etc. ... then you really don't have a handle on whether or not a hitter is improving. 'Bat drag' swings can have plenty of out front speed ... but few target such a swing as a goal.

 

[Perfect Circle]

Last spring the local hs coach measured all the girls. This program is small hs, about half play for travel clubs.

I really did not see any value to the data. Example: two travel hitters swinging 33 and 34 rockettech's low/mid 50's with good form on swing speed radar vs. travel girl swinging balanced drop 11 at mid/high 50's vs. a rec player swinging low a drop 12 like a gorilla on meth 60 mph. Looked like a complete waste of time. It ultimately did not tell the coach anything at all about comparing batters.

It might tell you if individual batters are improving but other than that I don't get the purpose.

I agree... Its kinda like the encoding of a video. You have a workflow, that is basically the processes, in proper sequences. You choose the container, avi,Webhd,mp4...ect (bodytype) based on the format your working with. Then you must chose interlace or progressive.(L or R) That all depends on where your going to show it....(Show Case)

What we might think of it as skipping...but it's just an edit.... that says this body of work will never be Blue-Ray... and in Fastpitch... Blue-Chip.

 

[Bouldersdad]

The thing is, when you ignore such basic information as 'bat path', 'ball flight', 'sequence', etc. ... then you really don't have a handle on whether or not a hitter is improving. 'Bat drag' swings can have plenty of out front speed ... but few target such a swing as a goal.

I have seen very few swings that have the typical hand drop bat head dump, elbow in body, ton of lag generate alot of speed, most are slow and loopy.

It might tell you if individual batters are improving but other than that I don't get the purpose.

That is exactly the reason you use the swing speed radar and the BEV combined to see if you are driving solid behind the ball and not just generating false speed by swinging around it. Faster the swing the higher the bev mixed with the speed the ball is pitched at creates a ton of pop. It is like anything else, its a tool.

Tim

 

[iMlearning]

Improving on sequence=better bat speed.

 

[iMlearning]

On a recruiting questionnaire we were looking at, it said to list bat speed if it was one of your strengths, which brought to mind...what is good bat speed. I agree it is just a tool but a fun tool at least We've only tried it one time for about 5 minutes and DD (15) was able to swing 68mph several times with her 28oz Ultimate Weapon, and I could hit 73 consistently. I'd like to see how the weight of the bats affects it also.