Just ran across this - Wow!

[Roothog66]

From a youth baseball advise site:

"Over the years we have always recommended the use of a light bat for most hitters. There are many reasons but one of the main ones is that heavy bats can lead to extremely poor swing fundamentals and I can assure you they will be hard to break when the player gets older.

Several well know players and coaches have said over the years that using a heavy bat can ruin your swing and we are in complete agreement with that so make sure you lean toward getting a light bat. I would choose the lightest bat I could find for the length I need."

[bbrages]

I like light bats too, but I'm in the minority here.

[Roothog66]

I like light bats too, but I'm in the minority here.

I have nothing against light bats, but the idea that a heavy bat leads to bad mechanics isn't just wrong - it's upside down.

[Chris O'Leary]

I have nothing against light bats, but the idea that a heavy bat leads to bad mechanics isn't just wrong - it's upside down.

Too-heavy of a bat can lead to bat drag.

[heretolearn]

Emanski is a big proponent of the "lightest bat you can find" theory, correct? Which brings me to a question, what are the pros/cons with Tom Emanski's "Dynamic Instructional Videos". Other than the "Back to back to back AAU National Championships", I don't really know anything else.

[Newyouthcoach]

You can have bat drag with a light bat too. If I knew how to post up video, I would show you swings from every kid on my son's team. As 12U's most of them are still swinging -10 bats and one a -12. You can tell from the video who is swinging light bats. My son is swinging both a 32/29 and a 32/27. This is his second year swinging the big boy bats. He sometimes goofs around with a -8 bat and he can make the timing adjustments. I have to say that he hits the ball so much harder with the heavier bats. I believe a heavier bat forces you to use your body in the swing. I think that it would be easier to correct bat drag with a kid swinging a heavy bat than a kid swinging a light bat.

[JRH11]

You can have bat drag with a light bat too. If I knew how to post up video, I would show you swings from every kid on my son's team. As 12U's most of them are still swinging -10 bats and one a -12. You can tell from the video who is swinging light bats. My son is swinging both a 32/29 and a 32/27. This is his second year swinging the big boy bats. He sometimes goofs around with a -8 bat and he can make the timing adjustments. I have to say that he hits the ball so much harder with the heavier bats. I believe a heavier bat forces you to use your body in the swing. I think that it would be easier to correct bat drag with a kid swinging a heavy bat than a kid swinging a light bat.

So, that means your son is 11-12 y/o. Correct? What is his height/weght?

[The Uncoach]

I have nothing against light bats, but the idea that a heavy bat leads to bad mechanics isn't just wrong - it's upside down.

Disagree. I have a 13 year old on my team who is all upper body (strong kid). His Dad and the kid know that his mechanics ultimately have to change. When he is using light bats, he has the ability to work bottom up. As soon as he grabs his game bat (-3 BBCOR), his mechanics go to hell quickly. He's too worried about muscling up the bat. As with most things......flaws/fixes are individual and not universal.

[Chris O'Leary]

You can have bat drag with a light bat too. If I knew how to post up video, I would show you swings from every kid on my son's team. As 12U's most of them are still swinging -10 bats and one a -12. You can tell from the video who is swinging light bats. My son is swinging both a 32/29 and a 32/27. This is his second year swinging the big boy bats. He sometimes goofs around with a -8 bat and he can make the timing adjustments. I have to say that he hits the ball so much harder with the heavier bats. I believe a heavier bat forces you to use your body in the swing. I think that it would be easier to correct bat drag with a kid swinging a heavy bat than a kid swinging a light bat.

If you give most ordinarily-built kids a heavy bat (e.g. -7 or less) they will tend to try to move it by pulling like crazy with their back elbow.

I do use heavier bats, and my 12U son can swing a wood bat just fine, but you have to know what you are doing.

[Roothog66]

Disagree. I have a 13 year old on my team who is all upper body (strong kid). His Dad and the kid know that his mechanics ultimately have to change. When he is using light bats, he has the ability to work bottom up. As soon as he grabs his game bat (-3 BBCOR), his mechanics go to hell quickly. He's too worried about muscling up the bat. As with most things......flaws/fixes are individual and not universal.

Maybe I should preface my opinion. If a kid is all out there on his own, he's probably going to have bad mechanics with a heavier bat. But, then again, he's likely to have bad mechanics with ANY bat. If a kid is being given proper instruction, a heavy bat forces correct mechanics and, contrary to the article I posted, force efficient use of the lower body. Is there any other reason so many coaches, myself included, use heavier wooden bats for practice? It certainly isn't to promote a bad swing and, in my experience, take a kid with bad mechanics (elbow drag, disconnection, etc.) and put him on a -3 for a couple of weeks and he'll learn to use the proper mechanics. I can also testify that Newyouthcoach's son is of average build and swings a -3 with perfect mechanics and very good power. My own son, who is quite a bit larger, uses a 32/27 at 11yo (playing age: 12). In practice, we use a -3 BESR. He gets better contact and distance with the -3, but I'm not going to have him use a 13 BBCOR. If BESR were still the rule, he'd use a -3. Growing up, we were all using heavy wood bats at young ages. We could all hit just fine. It's my belief that these -10's and -13's promote heavy arm action because it's possible to knock the crap out of the ball with disconnected mechanics.

[azmatsfan]

From a youth baseball advise site:

"Over the years we have always recommended the use of a light bat for most hitters. There are many reasons but one of the main ones is that heavy bats can lead to extremely poor swing fundamentals and I can assure you they will be hard to break when the player gets older.

Several well know players and coaches have said over the years that using a heavy bat can ruin your swing and we are in complete agreement with that so make sure you lean toward getting a light bat. I would choose the lightest bat I could find for the length I need."

The trouble I have with a statement like this is that it's very vague. What age kids are we talking about, and what is a "heavy" bat? I'm not giving a 7-year-old a -3 bat, but I'm not giving a 13-year-old a -12 bat either. I think it's largely dependent upon the size and age of the player as to what's appropriate. The exception is when players start approaching HS age they need to progress toward the -3 bats so they're read for the BBCOR bats.

[The Uncoach]

Maybe I should preface my opinion. If a kid is all out there on his own, he's probably going to have bad mechanics with a heavier bat. But, then again, he's likely to have bad mechanics with ANY bat. If a kid is being given proper instruction, a heavy bat forces correct mechanics and, contrary to the article I posted, force efficient use of the lower body. Is there any other reason so many coaches, myself included, use heavier wooden bats for practice? It certainly isn't to promote a bad swing and, in my experience, take a kid with bad mechanics (elbow drag, disconnection, etc.) and put him on a -3 for a couple of weeks and he'll learn to use the proper mechanics. I can also testify that Newyouthcoach's son is of average build and swings a -3 with perfect mechanics and very good power. My own son, who is quite a bit larger, uses a 32/27 at 11yo (playing age: 12). In practice, we use a -3 BESR. He gets better contact and distance with the -3, but I'm not going to have him use a 13 BBCOR. If BESR were still the rule, he'd use a -3. Growing up, we were all using heavy wood bats at young ages. We could all hit just fine. It's my belief that these -10's and -13's promote heavy arm action because it's possible to knock the crap out of the ball with disconnected mechanics.

If it was as easy as that, every Dad would run out and buy an extra heavy bat for junior to swing. If you "could all hit just fine" then I suspect this board would be made up of more former major leaguers than coaches, attorneys, businessmen and everyday people. A "heavy bat" isn't a magic pill.

[Newyouthcoach]

JRH,

My son is 12. He just went for his yearly check up. He is 5'2" and weighs 120 pounds. He has been swinging wood since age 8 closer to age 9. We stepped up gradually til at age 11 he was swinging a BESR bat for the entire season. As Root has said, my son is of average size, but he did not say how strong he is. He is a solid kid build-wise.

[Chris O'Leary]

Maybe I should preface my opinion. If a kid is all out there on his own, he's probably going to have bad mechanics with a heavier bat. But, then again, he's likely to have bad mechanics with ANY bat. If a kid is being given proper instruction, a heavy bat forces correct mechanics and, contrary to the article I posted, force efficient use of the lower body. Is there any other reason so many coaches, myself included, use heavier wooden bats for practice? It certainly isn't to promote a bad swing and, in my experience, take a kid with bad mechanics (elbow drag, disconnection, etc.) and put him on a -3 for a couple of weeks and he'll learn to use the proper mechanics. I can also testify that Newyouthcoach's son is of average build and swings a -3 with perfect mechanics and very good power. My own son, who is quite a bit larger, uses a 32/27 at 11yo (playing age: 12). In practice, we use a -3 BESR. He gets better contact and distance with the -3, but I'm not going to have him use a 13 BBCOR. If BESR were still the rule, he'd use a -3. Growing up, we were all using heavy wood bats at young ages. We could all hit just fine. It's my belief that these -10's and -13's promote heavy arm action because it's possible to knock the crap out of the ball with disconnected mechanics.

Have you studied and verified this with high speed video?

I ask because I have and drag tends to correlate with size (but not perfectly).

[Roothog66]

If it was as easy as that, every Dad would run out and buy an extra heavy bat for junior to swing. If you "could all hit just fine" then I suspect this board would be made up of more former major leaguers than coaches, attorneys, businessmen and everyday people. A "heavy bat" isn't a magic pill.

Don't get me wrong. I agree with this statement. In fact, my point is pretty much the same. The excerpt I posted pretty much claims that heavy bats, per se, lead to bad mechanics. I believe the opposite. I believe that the move to light bats made bad mechanics more prevelant. A kid swinging all arms with a -10/-12 can still hit the ball well, so why correct? The same kid with a heavier bat needs to perfect his mechanics in order to order just to get the bat through the zone and hit the ball. The question becomes, what is "too heavy?" If you're into the idea that lighter is always better, then a -8 is too heavy simply because you could be swinging a -10. Personally, I have my kids swing the heaviest, longest bat they can swing without compromising their mechanics.