Bratt Bats

Question
Could you recommend specific drills for the bratt bat?

Thank you

Answer
Brian,
   The bratt's bat can be done with any drill.  I usually use it on the batting T, soft toss, and dry swings.  Anything that involves timing or fast pitching should be done with your game bat and not the bratts bat.  The bratts bat is obviously heavy and will slow your swing down and make you react quicker in order to get the bat on the ball.  If you try to use it during fast pitching drills or timing drills it will only mess with your timing.  
   One downfall of the bratts bat is that it cannot be used with real baseballs, you must use tennis balls or wiffle balls.  The bratts bat will help with your hitting strength and start to increase your bat speed.  Along with the bratts bat you should do weight training so you get total body strength.  Flexibility is very important.  Start on a flexibility program as soon as possible.  Flexibility will help increase strength, increase range of motion, and increase speed.  The last drill to do in conjunction with the bratts bat is underload training.  Try to find a bat that is about 20% lighter than your game bat.  Swinging a bat like this will make you swing faster than normal.  In order to swing faster you need to teach your muscles how to move faster and with coordination.  A wiffle bat is obviously too light for this but if you swing a wiffle bat as hard as you can you may feel out of control.  With this drill you want to train the muscles to move faster and be able to stabilize the swing so it is controlled.  
   Rotate your drills with each bat don't get in the habit of doing the same drill with the same bat everyday.  Also get a swing speed radar.  This will let you be able to track you progress.  They are around $100 and are a great investment.  You can check them out at www.swingspeedradar.com.  You can also call Al Dilz who is the president of the company, his number is 888-542-9246.  Mention my name (John Priest) and Nokona baseball, I have spoken with him numerous times and he may be able to help you out.  

Thank You,
John Priest