Stats4Gnats posted:John,
That was a lot of good reading, but I’m afraid it didn’t answer either of my questions, so I’ll ask them again.
Can you explain just how getting “a “sense” of where they just made contact” helps a hitter become better?
Also, do non-wood bats not give any “sense” of the same thing, or is it that they don’t do it as well?
Sorry, I thought it was sort of implicit. A goal in hitting is to hit the ball on the sweet spot on the bat. You get way more bang for your buck in doing so. The ball comes off a lot harder and harder is better. Becoming a better hitter is learning how to adjust your swing as the ball comes in to try and make contact as close to the SS as possible. Just like a tennis player "knows" how to swing so contact is made in the center of his racquet. The vibrational feedback, along with vision, is what helps a player to know whether he accomplished this or not. The part about non wood bats is in the other answer. The BBCOR non wood bats aren't as bad as the old "steroid" bats (still in use in youth leagues) The trampoline effect pretty much guaranteed they would not develop a feel for the sweet spot. I've seen some really terrible swings with those bats that produce a ball that has no business going as far as it does!
Hope that clarifies.