My youngest, who will be a sophmore this fall, is playing in the Valley League this summer, and despite extreme self-confidence, struggled early with the wooden bats. He seems to be getting the hang of it (at the 20 AB stage), but in talking to the team's GM of 15 years, he told me some things of interest:
1.Year in, year out, it seems to take newcomers 20-30 at bats to adjust to the wooden bats;
2.It's normal, even expected, for freshmen to struggle a bit;
3. They often see guys return their second year, clearly stronger and better.
While we talked, he pointed out a guy currently hitting around .400; he said his freshman year, he never hit a ball to the left side of the infield and his few hits were normally "find a hole grounders". My older son told me of a Valley League teammate that went 0 for his first 30 with the wooden bat...but was drafted this year (3 years later) in the 15th round.
Moral of the story: if they're young and struggling with wood, they're far from alone. Playing 6-7 days a week, on teams full of talented players from all over the country, hitting with wood and fielding daily, is a very very good thing.
Original Post
