Is this unusual? Batting question

[Floridagatorfan]

In our district there is a 12u team that has always had a decent team (average to good) In the last few months this team has consistently had players (atleast 7 to 10 per tournament) hit balls out of the park...over the fences in all fields...they are hitting the fence regularly and the fowl balls are wild. My question is...could they be using a hot bat? Also, the whole team uses the same two bats. How could you tell if a bat has been altered? Or...could this team be doing some awesome batting drills that we do not know about...I'm just curious.

This team has begun winning over highschool teams, 14u...by the way this team mostly has small players 5'3" and less with a few exceptions. If you have any ideas, I would love to hear you opinion.

[Martin]

Sounds a lot like a team I was with several years ago. We emphasized hitting during our off-season, found a good rotational program (it was ok to say "rotational" in those days) and the girls worked their butts off. We saw some significant improvements, but we still were amazed at what some of the other top-shelf teams were able to do. They didn't look much different from us and to our semi-trained eyes they were swinging with the same technique we were working on.

That's when our coach decided to buy some Rocket Techs.

Most of our girls were getting by with average bats. They weren't Wal-Mart specials but they were most definitely not one of the top end bats, either. Once our players matched their improved technique with a high-quality bat, the difference was dramatic over the previous year.

I would think at 12U, there is great potential for a group of dedicated players to show significant improvement in a relatively short period. They've got a lot to learn at that age and the ones who are ready to work can quickly pass by their peers who were getting by on athletic ability alone.

To answer your question, it is possible to tell if a bat has been doctored. A decent umpire will see this during the pregame equipment check. One obvious sign is cracking around the sweet spot.

[3Bsnag]

I agree you will see a remarkable difference at the older 12/13 yr age group when it comes to batting.

However, while I would love to think these girls are just working their tales off and have exceptional hitting coaches, your scenario screams altered bat- "Also, the whole team uses the same two bats."

Do you know what 2 bats they are? Certain bats are easier to juice than others.

[thatguy]

You refer to this team as a 12U team in your "district". Is this an All-star team? If so, an All-star roster full of kids that can hit to the fence would be very unusual at this age, in my opinion. I recently watched a district (All-star) tournament in so cal, 12U, and maybe one kid had enough to get it to the fence, let alone over. I don't know many 12U travel teams that can hit it to the fence consistently, top to bottom. It would be unfortunate if these coaches risked the consequences (whatever they may be) of having these young ladies swing an altered bat. It's ironic that non-altered bats are under such scrutiny these days, that this team feels the need to juice them anyway...allegedly.

[2bucketdad]

If infact the whole team, reguardless of size of the players uses the same bats I find it a bit strange...what are the two bats, are you sure they are the same and not just the same type???

[jofus]

I saw a 14U team once that looked like they used the same couple bats...until you walked over on their side of the field and saw the 10 (out of 12 players) rockettechs lined up in their dugout.

[Tucson]

I thought the same thing that Jofus did.

But - if a LL team used my bats, probably all I would need to furnish them with would be one 30 inch and one 31 inch RT.

As far as Allstars go, I just think back a dozen years ago, when my son was a 12YO Allstar. We practiced year around in a church gym that year. All of the coaches had a kid that would probably be an Allstar and it was open gym for anyone else that wanted to come.

On the boys side of LL, most if not all, of the teams that get to Williamsport are actually highly polished travel teams.

[G2G]

Here is my opinion that is not worth much, with it and $10 you can get a cup of coffe at Starbucks, but I think that we worry to much about bats. I will say that bats do make a difference but most importantly the mechanics of the swing is what is really the key. It is like saying that steriods/HG/Crazy Genes that you get buff at 40, are the only reason why Bonds hit that many homeruns. He is an amazing hitter no matter what he has taken, and I am not a fan of Bonds as a person but I have to respect his swing as a coach.
Scott Miller
http://www.gaptogapsoftball.com

[DBLUE]

I see alot of people make the comment about making too much about te bats. It's their great mechanics that hit the ball that far. This might be true with quite a few players. But, I guarantee there are bats that have been altered( either rolled, or shaved down). Rolling is just breaking the bat in quicker, getting it to the poinrt it would be at after about 200 swings. Shaving now is a little bit nastier. They take end caps off, then shave the barrel down with a metal brush, then add silicon to the end to make up for the weight. You see alot of Eastons being done because of their endcaps being easier to deal with. They have slots on the end cps, so you don't have to use anything to help keep the cap in place. Slowpitch has started this, and it looks like daddies are bringing this uglinss into the fastpitch world.

[DunninLA]

I'm not familiar with the shaved bat scene, so this is more of a question.

It has been written many times on these boards that the difference between say an old Easton 777 and an Anderson 04/05 would be say 180 vs. 195.

If that is true, then a shaved top notch bat (195 as an example) would then be able to hit how far? 210? 220?

Basically I'm thinking that adding 15-25 feet won't make a team of 160 ft hitters (warning track power) hit the ball out of the park. Or whatever distance the fence is, adding 15% distance won't make any rec allstar team I've ever seen all become home run distance hitters. This leads me to believe this team has good batting instruction, and does a lot of cage, tee, and live pitching practice.