Things You Should Know before You Buy Your Kid a Baseball or Softball Bat

The first obstacle many of us struggle with is the whole style vs. function thing. Let’s face it, many kids just want to have fun and most importantly, look like an all-star player. That is all well and good, that of course is, until the good-looking bat is not available in the proper weight to length ratio for our baseball or softball player.

Just as poorly fitting shoes impact the way a kid runs, jumps and plays. The wrong sized bat will create bad habits that will adversely affect a young hitter’s batting average.

1. First thing, have your son or daughter stand up, facing you with their feet shoulders width apart.
2. Second, have your kid place their arms in the T formation. Left arm fully extended straight out too their left, and right arm fully extended too their right side with palms up on both hands. Then tell them to relax and drop their arms straight down their sides, left on the left side and right down their right side, doing your best to resist the temptation of having them do, the hokey pokey dance. :)
3. Instruct the batter to make a fist around the bat handle, not a golfers grip.
4. Next, with them standing straight and tall, hand your batter his or her bat. Then have them hold the bat along each side, one hand at a time. The bat should not touch the ground, if so it will be too long.
5. With the batters, hand gripping the bat handle right against the knob end of the bat’s handle, no choking up allowed for this part of the test.
6. Have the batter raise his or her arms back unto the T Stance with palms down, and rotate upward.
7. Repeat using both arms a couple times for each arm, about ten to fifteen seconds each. If your kid struggles, the bat is too heavy for them to swing properly, remember fast hands makes for good power hitting.