Bat Grip for Strength, Power, & Control

Learn the right technique for bat grip as we show you how to handle the bat for maximum power, strength, and control.

 Today we are going to be talking about bat grip. We're going to go over the preferred grip we like to teach our hitters, and some of the things that we see in our lessons that you want to avoid.

Grip in fingers / Avoid Palms

A lot of young hitters like to hold the bat in the palms of their hands and this leads to improper set up as well as a very tight restricted swing. Make sure when you are gripping the bat to hold it along the calluses toward the bottom of your fingers. That way you can really use your hands and wrists to throw the barrel.

Line Up Knuckles

The second thing we want to do when gripping the bat is line up the knuckles on your fingers (proximal interphalangeal joints) instead of the knuckles on your hands.

 There are a couple reasons why we want to do this. Number one, is having our hands in this position will result in the palm up, palm down position at contact, the strongest position you can be in. Number two, it creates angles in your wrist which allows you to throw the bat head through the zone quicker and with more power.

All 10 Fingers around the Handle

A lot of hitters have some portion of the hand off the bat. This might be gripping the knob in the palm so the pinky finger is under the bat or even gripping the bat with a raised finger (finger lifted off of the handle)

The reason that we don't want to do this is because we're losing control and power. A good way to think about this is imagine having all 10 fingers around the handle means you are hitting with 100% power and control. Every finger that is not around the handle is 10% of your power and control that you are losing. If you have two fingers not around the handle, you are swinging with only 80% of your power and control. That is why we tell our players to grip the bat with all ten fingers and don’t let them come off. If they don’t, they are choosing to hit at a disadvantage.

Hands Together

Some players have the correct grip, with all fingers on the bat and their hands aligned, but they have a gap in between their hands. To correct this, make sure the bottom fat part of your hand is on top of your thumb.

Bat Grip Drill

Here is a drill you can do with your players to make sure their grip is correct at setup. Have your player get into their contact position in the hitting zone. From there have them slowly reverse their swing back to the setup position. This will help make sure the grip the palm up palm down grip they have at contact is the same grip they have in their setup.. 

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