What is the best bat on the market?

[FiveFrameSwing]

Almost guaranteed that if you swing a bat that is too heavy when you are learning to swing your mechanics are going to be flawed.

To use an extreme, imagine trying to swing a 48 oz. bat. You may be able to hit the ball in some way, but guaranteed it won't be pretty.

Swinging too light doesn't risk bad fundamentals as much as too heavy.

Baseball players have learned that a bat too heavy is a disadvantage.

No question ... having too heavy of a bat will impact performance ... and even cause you to use different muscles to accomplish the task at hand.

At my first two hitting sessions today I had girls going back and forth between their normal bat and a bat that was 2oz heavier than their normal bat. In the beginning most of them felt a significant difference. Towards the end, all but one girl showed improvement in terms of swinging with a tight HPP. None hit 'better' with the heavier bat than their normal bat ... but all improved in swinging the heavier bat towards the end of their session ... and all but one girl improved in terms of swinging with their body versus swinging with their arms.

48oz! I hear you. Just 2oz can make a noticeable difference.

 

[RobD]

DeMarini CF3

I was looking for a DeMarini CF3 on Ebay and found a CF3 Gold. Is there any difference between the CF3 and CF3 Gold besides different colored graphics? One girl on our high school team has a new CF4 , but is hard to tell how much difference that bat makes for her as she had hit pretty hard before.

Another stupid question, how do you know which bats are end loaded and which are balanced?

Thanks

Rob

 

[Dragoncoach]

Combat lisa fernandez

Any input on the combat -12 lisa fernandez bat? Pop, balance, feel, sweet spot, etc? Thanks

 

[amanda_cake]

.

Another stupid question, how do you know which bats are end loaded and which are balanced?

Thanks

Rob

Rob, have you ever swung an end loaded bat? If you've swung a balanced and you've swung an end loaded, you can most likely tell the difference. I know I can! (I use balanced fyi.)

As for shopping online, a good online retailer should have that included in their information about the bat.

 

[softballphreak]

DeMarini CF3

I was looking for a DeMarini CF3 on Ebay and found a CF3 Gold. Is there any difference between the CF3 and CF3 Gold besides different colored graphics? One girl on our high school team has a new CF4 , but is hard to tell how much difference that bat makes for her as she had hit pretty hard before.

Another stupid question, how do you know which bats are end loaded and which are balanced?

Thanks

Rob

An end-loaded bat has more weight towards the barrel end of the bat; like a baseball bat.

Like a baseball bat, if you let the bat work for you, the end load will add power to the swing. Like a hammer works.

 

[Wellphyt]

If you read what Scott said above, it may be the case of swinging too light of a bat leading to inferior swing mechanics.

I agree with Scott … one should not be swinging the barrel with their “arms”, but with their body … they should not be pulling the barrel along the length of the barrel, but they should be turning the barrel with a tight Hand Pivot Point.

A lot of college programs put their players on a weight-training program. Some of the coaches that do this explain to me that they have a goal of moving the players up to swinging heavier bats. The question I ask myself, ... is it the weight-training program that allows the kids to migrate to swinging heavier bats, or is it the goal of swinging a heavier bat that causes the players to migrate towards using swing mechanics that permit swinging a heavier bat with their 'body' instead of their 'arms'.

Keep in mind that the younger girls in the 12, 13, 14 age range tend to have weak or sleepy wrist. Girls with a well connected swing and a nice hand pivot point may have a tendency at this age to dump the barrel as they turn the corner if the bat is too heavy. This tends to show up more on letter high pitches when the hitter has to level out the swing plane and get on top of the pitch. IMO it is easier for the younger girls to maintain their barrel path during an on-the-fly adjustment using the -10 balanced bats.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Wellphyt ... good points. You need to stay tight around the corner, ... and if the weight of the barrel compromises that then it is likely too heavy.

Regarding on-the-fly adjustments ... especially if you are talking about recommending late adjustments at/near contact ... then we may disagree on that topic ... and I personally wouldn't recommend selecting a barrel weight with that objective in mind.

 

[RobD]

An end-loaded bat has more weight towards the barrel end of the bat; like a baseball bat.

Like a baseball bat, if you let the bat work for you, the end load will add power to the swing. Like a hammer works.

I understand what the end loaded bat does, I wanted to know how you can tell if one is end loaded, like if Im looking at them online and it dont specifically say it in the description. I will try a search online to see if there is any site that will list current bats and if they are balanced or end loaded. Would be nice to have a listing for that.

 

[Greenmonsters]

I understand what the end loaded bat does, I wanted to know how you can tell if one is end loaded, like if Im looking at them online and it dont specifically say it in the description. I will try a search online to see if there is any site that will list current bats and if they are balanced or end loaded. Would be nice to have a listing for that.

For those that come in mutliple weights ie. CF3, the -10 is usually balanced and the -9 and -8 are progressively more endloaded, but there can be significant variability between different bat companies. Hard to tell online, but in hand you can compare individual bats by putting them on a counter or table w/ a sharp edge (i.e., not rounded) to see where the balance point is (measured from end of knob to point where bat just balances before the overhaning barrel causes the bat to tip to the flothor). Anderson's are different because they have a 1 oz solid knob but Techzilla is balance, Rocketech is endloaded, and Nanotek is very balanced. Best advice is to swing before buying - either borrow a friends or buy a used model to test drive before committing the bigger bucks.

 

[fastpitch91]

Couple of things that may have been covered but not in the last few posts. Physics rules. The heavier the bat moving at the same speed the further the ball will travel when hit. Now if a heavier bat makes it impossible for a "weak" player to swing the bat fast or to control the plane of the bat heavier is of no use! By and large bats of a certain model have the same handle size, geometry and weight. So a 32/22 and a 32/23 the 23 will have more weight inthe barrel - eg more end loaded. In general using the same concept a bat withhe same weight but a short barrell ( like the old Schutt Bustos bats) is more end loaded. Again phyiscs rules that the more endloaded (at the same swing speed) will have a higher momnet of interia at the contact popint and more momentum into the ball