Lev- they are not wasting their money... they are making a ton of money... yes they are doing research.. but none of the bat companies do INDEPENDENT research, it is all by "researches" they choose and they post the results they want... sure technology is there, but it is to make a mi**** a hit, that is it plain and simple. That way mom and dad will buy them... no real difference in top 10 bats out there...
same concept as in when you go to target and go to the action figures and look for batman. There is a batman in a gillion different color patterns (same figure though)... but by having a bunch the kid will want to collect all of them... making the manufaturer very happy... its called Marketing 101.
in your professional opinion, who will produce better results: the best high school player in your home town swinging your latest "best" 2010 Model bat OR the best hitter in the AFLAC game this year swinging a bat that is 8 years old? Yes, the AFLAC athlete who would have better mechanics, repeatable swing out there...
YES, there is a difference between a $50 bat and a $200 bat... but i will take the $50 bat and a player with good mechanics than the average kid with a $200 bat...
those bats are being banned from college because they soften and have a greater trampoline effect.. and? they can make a bat that could hit a ball 600 feet... doesn't make the player better.
and with that "great" youth player dropping barrel of bat... well, the bat head will ALWAYS be below the hands - or dropped - unless the pitch is a high fastball... then it would be parallel to ground...
but you probably teach barrel above hands/don't drop bat head - which is my point... a kid needs that $200 bat when taught by people that don't know how to teach, because their failure rate is so high relative to the kid taught that the barrel will always drop at the begining of his swing....
ever wonder why at almost every major league instructional camp (for players just drafted out of high school) they have to go through a delearning of "aluminum bat mechanics"...