Real Baseball Players Practice With Wood Bats and Win With Aluminium Bats

Practice With Wood Baseball Bats and Win With Metal Baseball Bats
By Guest Author: John Peter

Let me say this up front...
I do not like aluminum bats . . . but I'll win with them.
Practice with wood . . . and you'll win with aluminum.

It's really very simple. An aluminum bat swing can be mechanically flawed but still get results. Inflated averages & power numbers abound with huge aluminum sweet spots & tricked-out metal alloys!

But eventually bigger fields and better pitching eliminates many aluminum bat hitters well before High School . . . and it doesn't have to be!

Allow me to explain . . .

Much of the physical side of the game is about:

BATSPEED

HANDSPEED

FOOTSPEED

Much of hitting is about:

TIMING & BALANCE (Strength helps too)

Wood Bats feel head-heavy, with much smaller sweet spots so any imperfections in a swing are magnified. (Are you getting the picture?)

Training with wood forces the player to become mechanically precise & builds bat speed and strength. Additionally, wood trains hitters to really learn the strike zone and not swing at bad pitches (ever hit one off the end or the handle? . . . it hurts... and many times it breaks!)

To successfully swing with wood...

Trigger the hands earlier into the load position
Keep your hands inside the ball (meaning hands closer to the body throughout the swing to make for a quick rotation to the ball)
Stick with it until your muscle memory acclimates to this new weapon.

#1 Defined

Dead Hands Kill Players!

The first thing a hitter must do is take away the pitcher's fastball. In general, that is a pitcher's best pitch. From Clemens, Johnson, Martinez & Maddux, to the baddest pitcher in your league. Spot the fastball and you are a real pitcher. Ok, hitter what are you going to do about it? You're going to crush it... that's what!

Hands Start The Swing!

Start your swing with your hands (it's your timing mechanism). . . and you can time a jet or a fastball! Call it a trigger, load or hitch, it's all the same. Just get some movement from your hands starting when the pitcher separates his hands from his glove with a movement toward the back shoulder.

#2 Defined

Keep Your Hands Inside The Ball...What?

Keep your hands 4-6 inches from your body throughout the swing. Think about hitting the inside half of the baseball (the half that's closest to you). This will train you to have a shorter, quicker stroke and will help keep balls straight and not allow them to hook foul...see Barry Bonds!

#3 Defined

Use your wood bat instead of your game aluminum for tee work, soft toss, in a cage & when hitting live pitching & you'll get the results you're looking for!

NOTES:

Wood Increases Bat Speed!

Bat Speed Equals Power!

In summary, any player or team that trains with wood will hit the ball harder, plus increase contact and power over all who don't. Ask any hitting coach.

Coaching Hint

Kids, like adults, do not necessarily care for change. Get creative, make it cool like real ballplayers and they may accept it easier. Use marker to put their number on the knob. Tape the handle. Buy some stick-em. Have them use a permanent marker and put their "Signature on the business end."

The Rules

Since January 1, 2001, high school players nationwide must use bats that weigh no less than 3 oz. of their length (meaning a 33" bat can't weigh less than 30 oz.). The barrel diameters have shrunk from 2-3/4" to 2-5/8" and the exit velocities were changed so that batted balls don't "jump" off the bat as quickly. In other words, these bats more resemble the performance of wood.

Younger players take note! The college bat rules have changed, the high schools have changed, and the changes may not be finished. So, train with wood and you will win with aluminum.

http://www.baseballtips.com/

Baseball tips & youth baseball equipment, training aids & instruction! It's all here for baseball coaching of pitchers & hitters, little league to high school.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Peter

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Baseball Bats - What's the Best Wood?

Baseball Bats - What's the Best Wood?

By David Biddle

Over the past decade, maple baseball bats have become very popular with pros and amateurs alike -- especially after Barry Bonds set all his records using now famous Sam Bats composed exclusively of maple. The theory is that maple is harder than ash and it doesn't flex and bend as much during the energy transfer to the ball the way ash does. In fact, discerning fans can hear the difference between balls hit with ash and maple. Maple has more of a dull popping sound. Ash has that classic CRACK sound that old-school fans revere.

But is maple better? It depends on whom you ask. According to officials with Louisville Slugger, the bats they make for Derek Jeter are all ash, while the bats they make for Alex Rodriguez are maple. Louisville Slugger says that the breakdown between the two woods in Major League Baseball is actually about 50:50.

For those who believe in maple, the idea is that it's stronger and will therefore flex less and last longer. Ash proponents indicate that they think the flex and bend property of ash is actually beneficial to the hitter (this is also why strong hands are so important for hitters).

Maple is typically more expensive than ash. Some of this has to do with supply and demand, but some also simply has to do with the need to subject maple to more stringent drying processes so as to reduce moisture content. Raw maple lumber for bat makers will usually cost about 15-25% more than ash. Obviously, these costs are passed on to the customer.

Bats are also made out of other hard woods. Birch is gaining some popularity, as are hickory and oak now that drying kilns have become more advanced. Bamboo bats are also popular -- especially in Southeast Asia. These bats are actually laminated strips of bamboo held together by a sophisticated adhesive technique. Many baseball junkies believe that birch and bamboo are actually a sort of middle ground between maple and ash. And some people swear by hickory (which is the wood Babe Ruth's bats were made of).

Hybrid bats combining wood with metal, plastic, or bamboo are now being used by amateur players to help them make the switch from metal to wood.

In the end, it's probably fair to say that each player is going to have to decide what type of bat he or she wants to use. Some young players will buy the exact same model bat from a bat maker in both maple and ash, then experiment. Others say they like to use ash in the summer and maple during colder months. Whatever the choice, maybe one of the more fun things about wood bats is that they keep hitters thinking and tinkering with the main tool of their trade.

David Biddle has coached youth baseball for more than 15 years. Of the 33 teams he has skippered, eight have won league championships (from 9U to 14U). He also brought two teams to Philadelphia's city championships (sadly, never to win). Mr. Biddle has taught hitting to more than six hundred young players since 1992. He writes the blog "Hitting with Wood," and published an essay called "Pondering Baseball's Purity" in The Philadelphia Inquirer in 2007.

Read more about the wood bat trend in amateur baseball at http://hittingwithwood.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=David_Biddle



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