|
Post by dennisserpa on Jul 1, 2006 7:35:22 GMT -8
A question to all you guys since I keep hearing wood wood wood. Is it different than using one of the "hitting sticks" that are about an inch in diameter that you can weight the same as the game bat. The one my kids have even has a pad about six inches long so you know you're hitting the sweet spot. I have also heard that you should practice with the same weight/length bat that you play with so it won't throw off your timing. There are a lot of other drills you can do to build strength. Are wood bats just a new fad or the real key to becoming a better hitter??? Thanks for the great info. guys!
|
|
|
Post by Randy Edwards on Jul 1, 2006 8:31:10 GMT -8
JMO, And I hope no one takes this wrong. I believe its the fool not the tool! How many great hitters have started out with AL. bats in the MLB ? How many great hitters in the past started out and continued with wood bats ? I believe with good training and lots of BP it will not matter what bat is in your hand, you will hit the ball.
|
|
|
Post by Mark on Jul 1, 2006 9:45:14 GMT -8
BYRD, the bamboo bat was nice and bamboo is supposed to be the toughest "wood" bat to break. personally if i were to get a Brett bat for practice i would get the Bamboo Dragon Bat, it had hardly no niks and dings in it. all Brett Bats are considered "composites" because of the fiberglasss reinforced handle, but are allowed in all wood only tournaments and even allowed through Rookie ball and low level A ball. but once the kids get older 14+ and can compete in Wood Tournys i would suggest a BWP Rock/Sugar Maple bat for games. those are the bats the kids on my team liked the most, plus the ball sounded different off of those bats. BWP bats are approved all the way up to MLB. if you guys are interested in getting wood bats, you guys pool your funds together to buy 5 or 6 bats from www.baseballtips.com/woodbat.html you can get any of the Brett Bats (Except the GOBON #5) or the BWP Rock/Sugar Maple bat for about $55 out the door. they usually arrive in 3 business days through regular mail.
|
|
|
Post by Mark on Jul 1, 2006 10:01:08 GMT -8
A question to all you guys since I keep hearing wood wood wood. Is it different than using one of the "hitting sticks" that are about an inch in diameter that you can weight the same as the game bat. i would say that hitting sticks are good but they teach something different than wood bats. hitting sticks teach the hitter to hit the center of the ball. wood bats teach a kid to use the barrell of the bat weather it hits off of the end handle and/or sweet spot the feel wont be drastic and alote of hits that arent off the barrell will feel as if they were on the hitting sticks because tyhey have no barrell. i got nothing against those sticks, we use those in practice too, but with golf ball size wiffle balls in soft toss. we use wood in the cages all wood bats are -2 or -3 which is the same as High School/College. timing is MENTAL, kids must adjust their timing differently with every pitcher as no 2 pitchers are exactly the same wether it be velocity and/or Mechanics and delivery. so using a heavier bat (Woodie) in BP wont hurt your timing in a real game situation. using a heavier bat in BP will make your arms strogner and your bat speed faster when you do use the Banana or the Stealth in a REAL GAME. yes, there are. "SPARQ" is a good one, THS just started using that for their off seasona dn preseason conditioning last year they have been around for a long time and alote of the top colleges use them in BP year round no problem
|
|
|
Post by Mark on Jul 1, 2006 10:09:21 GMT -8
JMO, And I hope no one takes this wrong. I believe its the fool not the tool! of course no1 will take it wrong this is a place for discussions where every1 can learn something they might not have knows the day before, and that includes EVERY1. probly a lot probly a lot it wont matter if you are in the top 0.00005% of players that are nuturally gifted. but it will make i big difference and help the other 99+% of kids that arent as gifted. from this years HS local graduating class's down to the current LL class of 12 year olds i have only seen one kid play that was that gifted (Tom Mendonca). all i am sying is that if you are naturally gifted you can hit a ball a ton with a tree twig (see Sammy Sosa) but for the rest of the kids they have to work hard on mechanics to try to reach their maximum potential
|
|
|
Post by Chris on Jul 1, 2006 13:44:20 GMT -8
IDK fellaz - we saw a stealth busted completely in half today.
|
|
|
Post by crash23 on Jul 1, 2006 20:13:31 GMT -8
I saw it myself. Made me wonder just how safe those bats are. I guess no worse then a wood bat that breaks off...
|
|
|
Post by dennisserpa on Jul 3, 2006 7:19:25 GMT -8
What's a SPARQ? I'm always looking for something new for practice. Yeah those stealths can be dangerous, especially for dumb third base coaches. One thing I did notice a few weeks ago was a tiny chip (barely visable) around the area where it broke. I thought it was just a paint chip and didn't think much about it, but after seeing how thin those handles are and the material the bat is made out of (a little high tech pottery and fiber glass) I would suggest not using the bat any more if you see any flaw at all. Oh yeah. Go National South!!! Umm, never mind, I'm going to the lake.
|
|
|
Post by Mark on Jul 3, 2006 7:49:56 GMT -8
www.eastbay.comon thier seach engine on the top right of their homepage type in SPARQ in caps. i would post a link but right now i am at work on a Mac on i dont know how to cut and paste on those crappy things
|
|
|
Post by Mark on Jul 5, 2006 15:10:53 GMT -8
www.baseballtips.com/woodbat.htmlwww.slambats.com/about.asp#Why_Hit_with_WoodWhy Hit With Wood… when the rest of the world seems to hit with aluminum? By Coach JP @ BaseballTips.com
Wood Bats Correctly Teach the Strike ZoneWhen you hit an outside pitch with an aluminum bat, you can very well hit it beyond an infielder even though you swung at a bad pitch. On an inside pitch, you can manage a flare-single over the 2nd baseman's head. With wood you learn the strike zone and which pitches you should lay-off. In the old days (before 1972) every bat you bought was wood and you sure didn't want to break the only bat you owned, so you learned to lay off bad pitches (Not to mention the "bees" you felt in your hands when you swung at bad pitches on cold spring days)! Maybe you will now begin to learn the strike zone and the value of pitch selection. You just might gain one more weapon in learning to become a better hitter! Remember, if you learn these great lessons by hitting with wood, think about what a powerful and smart hitter you can become when swinging with aluminum! A wood bat will train you to hit with good mechanics and will tell you right away when you are dragging it through the zone with incorrect mechanics. The sweet spot is a bit smaller and the barrel diameters tend to be smaller as well, so to be successful you start the hands early, select good pitches to hit and accelerate right through the ball with a flat, level swing. It just won't let the bad swings turn into cheap hits. Why Some Players Struggle With WoodWe covered many of the reasons in the paragraph you just read, but the bottom line is that the sooner you begin training with wood, the sooner you get over whatever it is that makes some good hitters struggle. Keep in mind that I am not limiting this potential problem to youth league and high school players. The rookie leagues are littered with 1st year pro players who have been extremely successful in high school and the college ranks but 30 days into camp are ready to jump off buildings because of the wood bat transition (relax…it's just an exaggeration). But it doesn't necessarily have to be this way. You start now, training with a wood bat, not then. You start your swing with what the scouts call live-hands and avoid what they call appropriately enough, dead hands You learn the strike zone; I mean really focus on good pitches You aim at the art of perfecting the flat swing. Not sure how? Check out Coach Rob Ellis's Complete Video Series or even begin with reading his article found on this website entitled, "The Lost Secrets of Hitting". Summary The earlier a player begins training with wood, the better hitter he will become. Likewise, the more he trains with wood the better hitter he will become. You can cheat with aluminum. Instead of breaking the bat of a hitter who swings at an inside pitch; the aluminum hitter gets a flare just over the 4 or 6 guy's head (2B or SS). Outside pitches end up grounders which split the infielders for cheap singles. Baseball in general is not rocket science but is rather the dogged pursuit of learning the correct mechanics and then duplicating them hundreds and then thousands of times…correctly. This fact alone may be the biggest reason why so many of the best Little League age players that you know did not turn out to be the best players as they got older
|
|
|
Post by scrapper on Jul 17, 2006 10:10:06 GMT -8
Mark:
I have started with the wood for my ltl scrappers and you can tell right away, about how they are hitting the ball. My older one hit on top of the ball and the younger hits it more pure. I made them do 20 cuts with the wood then 10 with the Al, what a difference.
They do not make the wood bats like they used though. They look more like AL bats than the older models. I have a Carl Yastremsli Little League approved and the barrel is not much thicker than the handle. But this other wood bat, I just bought has the tapered handle and the barrel, such at the AL bats.
I think the Yaz bat is better because it has a smaller barrel, so it makes you hit it more sweeter. Are the Brett bats the same, big barrel and tapered handled.
Thanks for the tips.
|
|
|
Post by crash23 on Jul 17, 2006 11:08:08 GMT -8
They taper some but not as much as aluminum bats. I've had a Brett maple for two years and it has at least a thousand swings on it from all our players (travel ball, LL, all stars) and nary a hairline crack. Well worth the money. BTW, I've been told the Catalyst has been banned in many leagues. The composite Stealth (orange handle) was used by most of the Riverpark players. It's got a lot of pop. Can't compare to the Catalyst b/c my kids don't have the new Stealth - but it must be pretty good. Personally I think we're going too far with how lievely these bats are becoming. More and more pitchers are going to get hurt. How 'about throwing a wood bat tourney Lance?
|
|
|
Post by scrapper on Jul 17, 2006 11:40:05 GMT -8
I have to agree with you Crash. Somebody is definitely going to get hurt sooner or later. That Catalyst is hot. I seen a couple of kids almost get their heads taken off.
It will be interesting in the next couple of years if more of these bats get banned. Easton will be making a mint since it is probably the best bat and has been around for a long time.
|
|
|
Post by Rodney L. Voumard on Jul 17, 2006 13:07:29 GMT -8
Nick and ( Denny Serpa ) have invested some hard earned allowance in a BIG BARREL CATALYST as soon as Travel Ball begins I can give everyone an update on how these bats preform.
|
|
|
Post by scrapper on Jul 17, 2006 13:36:40 GMT -8
That would be great Mr. V. Is that a new bat to compete with the Steaths.
|
|