Hitting baseballs bad?

[JAD]

Use her old bat for practice and her new bat as her "gamer". Not sure I would hit baseballs with a gamer bat, but practice bats - no problem!

 

[justanotherguy]

Yocoach, thanks for that response. Has anyone found an actual COR rating for baseballs? I've found lots of info on the older slowpitch COR vs new style vs fastpitch. Seems the older 44 COR was harder on bats and humans vs the newer 52 COR stuff, with fastpitch balls being in the middle. What about baseballs though? I may be overthinking this a bit, but when I search for info and it's not there it's one of those OCD things that drives me nuts.

 

[Cannonball]

Have your dd hit with baseballs with a wooden baseball bat. There should be a few of those around at cheap prices. My dd hit with wood as much as, if not more, than with her game bat. In fact, when she was growing up, she hit with a taped wooden bat that was a drop zero, hit with a 34 inch drop 10 when her game bat was a 33 inch drop 10. She hit everything from baseballs to ... We turned the machine up as fast it would go and from 35 feet she would hit 12 inch dimpled machine balls with all three of these bats.

Our HS Team will hit with 34 inch camwood bats, my dd's drop zero wooden bat, a drop 3 wooden baseball bat, and wooden softball bats in practice.

 

[justanotherguy]

Have your dd hit with baseballs with a wooden baseball bat. There should be a few of those around at cheap prices. My dd hit with wood as much as, if not more, than with her game bat. In fact, when she was growing up, she hit with a taped wooden bat that was a drop zero, hit with a 34 inch drop 10 when her game bat was a 33 inch drop 10. She hit everything from baseballs to ... We turned the machine up as fast it would go and from 35 feet she would hit 12 inch dimpled machine balls with all three of these bats.

Our HS Team will hit with 34 inch camwood bats, my dd's drop zero wooden bat, a drop 3 wooden baseball bat, and wooden softball bats in practice.

Cannon, thanks for your response. I've followed you and your DD for years. Plus you post on "other" boards where I might have posted and mentioned my DD before. Your opinion holds a lot of weight.

She's used to swinging -3, end loaded. Her tryout was with a wood bat. In baseball she swings a 32". I went to 34 -6 for softball just to try and get close to what she's used to. I used our zepp to compare swing speeds between her new softball bat (LS Z4 endloaded 34/28) and her fav baseball bat (32" Easton XL, seriously end loaded) and she's swinging the softball bat a good 3 to 4mph faster on average.

She just started getting back to training and swinging again. She has an older 5150 BESR bat that we often add a 5oz weight to for over/under training. It's always been the heaviest feeling, non game bat. I will probably end up getting a 33" wood bat for cage, practice swings. "Feel" is so important to her, so I want her to swing her game bat often. When she gets used to one bat she can't go to another and hit with the same accuracy. A few mm difference means the difference between a solid line drive or a ground out. That's the biggest reason I'm curious about durability with baseballs. When we hit the cage the majority of her swings should be with her game bat. Off the machine it's pretty obvious baseballs shouldn't be used with a softball bat. That's where I will probably end up buying a used 33 wood bat. I have so many baseballs that I hate to see them go to waste!

 

[4 girl's dad]

Coefficient of Restitution

Softballs got their name because their core is softer than a baseball and, therefore, they do not spring off the bat in the same way. The coefficient of restitution is the measure of this springboard effect, with a higher number translating to a greater launch when ball meets bat. An NCAA baseball's coefficient cannot be greater than .555, while a softball may not exceed .470.

https://www.livestrong.com/article/410774-differences-between-baseball-softball-balls/

 

[Chris Delorit]

Cannon, thanks for your response. I've followed you and your DD for years. Plus you post on "other" boards where I might have posted and mentioned my DD before. Your opinion holds a lot of weight.

She's used to swinging -3, end loaded. Her tryout was with a wood bat. In baseball she swings a 32". I went to 34 -6 for softball just to try and get close to what she's used to. I used our zepp to compare swing speeds between her new softball bat (LS Z4 endloaded 34/28) and her fav baseball bat (32" Easton XL, seriously end loaded) and she's swinging the softball bat a good 3 to 4mph faster on average.

She just started getting back to training and swinging again. She has an older 5150 BESR bat that we often add a 5oz weight to for over/under training. It's always been the heaviest feeling, non game bat. I will probably end up getting a 33" wood bat for cage, practice swings. "Feel" is so important to her, so I want her to swing her game bat often. When she gets used to one bat she can't go to another and hit with the same accuracy. A few mm difference means the difference between a solid line drive or a ground out. That's the biggest reason I'm curious about durability with baseballs. When we hit the cage the majority of her swings should be with her game bat. Off the machine it's pretty obvious baseballs shouldn't be used with a softball bat. That's where I will probably end up buying a used 33 wood bat. I have so many baseballs that I hate to see them go to waste!

Spinning you in a 180, have you thought about buying her a good, closeout composite baseball bat? You'll kill two birds with one stone, and she'll end up loving the familiarity with the feel & sound. Both very important aspects to building and/or nuturing confidence for young players. A wider barrel for BB's shouldn't have any affect on her SB swing.

If you're a match golfer, are you swinging the ole' Billy Barreau driver? Right, you're swinging your Phil Mickelson Callaway.

Chris