Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Swing speed or bat weight?
?This is an old article, but I don't remember ever reading it or linking to it.
Boosting two factors -- the mass of the bat and the speed of theswing -- can raise batted ball speed (BBS), which adds distance to a hit. But swing speed can affect BBS more dramatically.
Research has shown that doubling the weight of a 20-ounce wood bat can raise a BBS of 68.5 mph to 80.4 mph -- a 17.3 percent increase. But Daniel Russell, a professor at Kettering University in Michigan, found that doubling the swing speed of a 30-ounce bat can raise a BBS of 62 mph to 83.8 mph -- a 35.1 percent increase.
In terms of turning a hit into a homer: Against a 94-mph fastball, every 1-mph increase in swing speed extends distance about 8 ft.
The Ideal Bat
University of Arizona professor Terry Bahill found that the maximum bat weight before swing speed drops is about 41 ounces. But a pro player's ideal bat weight, he says, is lighter -- in the 31- to 32-ounce range. This weight produces a BBS 1 percent below the BBS of the maximum-weight bat -- allowing the batter greater maneuverability with a negligible loss of power.
Zimmerman has discovered the same principle with his 34-in., 32ounce MaxBat. "A bigger bat obviously has more solid wood," he says, "but you can handle a smaller bat better."
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