Need a hand looking for the perfect softball bat? We’re here to help.
Over the next two weeks, we’ll post entries to explain some of the basics of softball bats. Whether you’re picking out a bat for youth, recreational or competitive leagues — fastpitch or slowpitch — we hope it’ll help you find the ideal bat.
We’ll kick off our 2011 Bat Guide with the most fundamental aspect of finding the right softball bat.
Size.
It’s the first thing to consider when buying a new softball bat. With the right length and weight, you’ll have the best chance of making solid contact with the ball every time you are at bat. You want the heaviest, largest bat you can swing, while still keeping good control.
If the bat is too heavy, you’ll struggle with control and timing (i.e. lots of foul balls). If the bat is too light, you won’t be getting as much power as you can.
Or to put it another way:
Bat weight x Swing Speed = Power
We need to get the most possible bat weight and swing speed — while maintaining control — so where do we start?
We start with length
You can get a general look at where you should fall with this bat sizing chart, provided by our friends at Louisville Slugger. Match your height and weight, and it will give you the most common bat length for your body type.
Click for big
So, for example, a 5-foot-3, 115-pound player would most likely swing a 31-inch bat.
From there, you can tweak it. It comes down to the player’s strength, hitting style, experience controlling the bat and the bat rules of her league.
If the player is strong or a power hitter, and she’s able to handle a 32-inch bat without control problems, she should definitely use the larger bat. If the player isn’t so confident with a 31-inch bat — say, her role on the team is more of a pinch runner, not a strong hitter — she can move down to a 30 or 29-inch bat.
Contact hitters often play with bats that aren’t as large, in order to have more control on their swing. But when they do that, they sacrifice power.
In the end, it all comes down to the player’s personal style. Take a few cuts with different sizes of bats, and find what you’re most comfortable with.
What about weight?
The weight of the bat is often tied to the length of the bat. Youth level softball bats usually have drops between -12.5 and -11, while adult softball bats are usually between -10 and -8.
A drop is the bat’s length minus its weight. That means if the -10 bat is 33 inches long, it will weigh 23 ounces.
No matter what level of baseball you play, it all comes down to the same formula: Find the largest and heaviest bat you can comfortably control.
Thursday, we’ll take a look at aluminum bats vs. composite bats, explaining the benefits and drawbacks of each.
Related: Take a look at our selection of softball bats.
Posted by Team Express 
