The right bat – Day 11 in the Void
Have you noticed how all we talk about on how to hit like a major leaguer has to do with hands, legs, head, eyes, technique, etc.
Nowhere do we really mention the bat itself. And yet I get questions all the time on how to choose the right bat. In fact you can spend $hundreds on a bat. Why the disparity between what coaches are concerned about and what kids (and parents) are concerned about.
Major leaguers hit with wood bats, how come most kids (even up through college age) don’t?
It used to be, when we were kids we did use wood bats, but they found a way to make aluminum and steel into bats and in the long run they were cheaper for leagues and teams, since they never broke. I would imagine many of you reading have never grown up hitting with a wood bat.
A wood bat normally is heavier and has a smaller sweet spot, which is why some great high school and college players can’t make the adjustment to wood bats and miss out on making it to the major leagues.
A number of coaches (and many colleges) are now encouraging kids to practice using wood bats. Not so much that they are going to be a pro player one day, but that you have to have a perfect swing to make it go off of wood. Then if you have a perfect swing, whether you use wood or metal, you’ll hit fine. Because a perfect swing is a perfect swing.
Sometimes the high priced metal (or now composite) bats give you the false sense that you’re hitting well, due to the fact it comes off the bat quick, but it could just be the physics built into the bat itself and not the combination of bat and a great mechanical swing.
Try practicing with wood and see if it doesn’t help you hit better or maybe it will point out to you your flawed swing (at which point you can fix it and hit better).
We’ll talk more about bats as we go.
Since I’m posting 6 days a week, some of the prior posts, like the one that references how "the Void" is in the title a lot, get archived and you’ll need to review the prior posts from October, etc.
How to Hit Like a Major Leaguer 
One thing about practicing with a wooden bat is that it will be very expensive if you try to use wood in batting cages with the heavier yellow balls. They split wooden bats right in half!