Little help with bat selection!

[cuzmail]

I am not a hitting guru, but I am a big advocate of getting players to use a -10 bat unless they are a slapper.

Splain dat peas.
From the slapper's bat persepctive.

 

[JAD]

Splain dat peas.
From the slapper's bat persepctive.

Most slappers do not take full swings. They take 3/4 swings trying to put the ball in play and use their speed to get on base. A lot of them have a tendency to "cheat" towards 1B during their swing, so they can benefit from a longer bat to get more plate coverage. Therefore a 32/20 (-12) may be a better choice than a 30/20 (-10) for a slapper.

 

[MsDinosaur]

I am not a hitting guru, but I am a big advocate of getting players to use a -10 bat unless they are a slapper. I would look for a 29/19 or 30/20 as your next bat. If finances are tight go with a 30/20 and put a 1" choke up on the handle that will buy her a couple of months to grow into it.

Yep, and a 50" / 90 lbs nine year old isn't a puny little twig. Back when my DD was about that age, a used Easton Clarity 30/20 was her first -10 bat and it did very well by her.

I'd definitely try to get some drop 10 bats in her hands and see what she likes. (I'd hate to see your DD saddled with too big a bat, but FYI, it always seemed easier to find a wide selection of 30/20 bats than 29/19.)

 

[nicelag]

-10 bats definitely have more pop than -11 in my opinion. Bat length can have a bigger effect on young players depending on the umpire strike zone which in 8 and 10U can be as much as a fist outside. I don't like it but it is what it is. We spent our entire 8U all-star season dealing with umpires, who expanded the strike zone to about a fist outside, to speed up the game of course. You just can't hit that pitch with a 28" bat and barely with a 29" unless you stand on the plate, and young ones have a hard time making that adjustment to hit the inside pitch at that point.

I think we need to bring the umpires into the 2014 era. Younger pitchers are much better today than 4 or 5 years ago, and in my opinion don't need to have the strike zone expanded much any more. But I do agree that too many people go too long these days.