Heavy Bat Hitting Drill for Kids Who Swing With Their Arms

If your son is swinging with nothing but his arms, he will cast the barrel and cut across the zone, and a light metal bat will let him get away with it all winter. That’s why a heavy bat hitting drill is one of the better tools I have for kids who swing with their arms. It is not a strongman contest. It is a constraint. He cannot muscle 44 ounces by leading with his hands.

The weight forces him to slot the back arm and use his body to rotate the barrel into the contact zone. If he tries to push it with the upper body, the bat just tells on him. Faster than a lecture, and he can feel it.

What the heavy bat is for

Power comes from the body’s sequence, not from muscling the bat with the hands. Hips lead, the barrel accelerates and stays through the ball. You don’t see pitchers get their arm out in front of their hips, and hitting is the same idea going the other way. Put a heavy wood bat in his hands off a tee into a net after he’s warm, a few rounds of eight, and if the swing turns into a drag, the bat is too heavy or the round is too long. Stop. The point is the sequence, not making him tired.

Then go back to a regular wood bat and swing with intent. The heavy bat taught the body. The game bat is where you keep the speed. How to build bat speed at home is that second half, and it doesn’t work if you leave the heavy bat in his hands for three months like it’s a membership.

What it is not

It is not a gadget you buy an 11-year-old and leave in the bag until spring. It is not 12 mph in three weeks. Used wrong, a club that’s too heavy makes him drag the barrel and disconnect. Used right, it makes it physically harder to push with the hands, which is the whole point.

Your job in the yard is not to rebuild his swing every night. Pick one purpose. The heavy bat is one purpose: get the body involved. Then hit until he’s tired. Coordination comes in waves with young kids, which is frustrating if you’re watching for nightly improvement. You may not see anything, and then one day it clicks. The hitting drills and the 20 minutes are enough for that.