This study by DeRenne et al. (1995) reports the most significant bat speed improvement resulting from weighted bat training - a group of college players showed a 10% improvement in bat speed over a 12 week training period. It’s short, 4-page, study that’s well worth the read (link at bottom of page).
The training protocol included 4 training days per week with 150 total swings (15 sets of 10 swings). Bat weights were alternated each set and the weights used were within 12% of the regular game bat (27-29 oz for light bats and 31-34 oz for heavy bats). Very interestingly, there was no other practice or training during the study so the improvements of the study are attributed directly to the weighted implement training.
There were 2 implement training groups (one used coach BP, the other used dry swings) which both improved, but the BP group improved 4% more. The control group used only dry swings with regular bat and showed a 1% improvement.
Between the Sergio & Boatwright (1993) study covered last week and this one, there are a couple different training protocols shown to significantly improve bat speed in college-aged athletes. This should provide some guidance for programming and also flexibility depending on the time of year and training resources available. It’s possible to combine weighted implement training effectively with concurrent practice and resistance training, and also possible to focus solely on bat speed training with a higher volume of swings.
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