Why bat speed?

Why should you try to increase batspeed? It is pretty simple: batspeed is the biggest factor for batted ball velocity. Here is a site with some pretty cool calculations:

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The formula says that off a Tee the exit velocity is around 1.1 times or a little more the batspeed. That means an 80 mph batspeed with a wood bat would lead to around a 90 mph exit speed off a Tee ( if you hit the ball in the sweet spot of course it can be much less if you don’t hit it on the screws).

Pitch velocity also plays a role but only to a much smaller degree.

Batted ball velocity has a very high correlation with performance. Better hitters tend to have higher batted ball speeds. Home runs in MLB usually are hit at a velocity upward of 100 mph. The hardest hit balls in MLB are around 120 mph, anything above 110 is really smoked.

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Batspeed is not everything of course, you also need to make flush contact in the sweet spot and hit the ball in the right trajectory ( home runs usually have a launch angle of around 20-40 degrees). Do increase the chance to make such contact swing quickness and “shortness” ( elite swings take less than 150 milliseconds) is needed as well as a good swing plane, timing and barrell accuracy.

But if you want to become a really good batter increasing swing speed really helps.

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