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First, consider the barrel size of the discount bats you re shopping for. The barrel size involves the top part of the bat. It measures both the barrel length and barrel diameter. When it comes to a sweet spot on a baseball bat, you want a longer barrel. The common wisdom is that longer barrels, generally speaking, have larger sweet spots.

This goes against common practice, though. Most players tend toward smaller barrels and a lighter bat for faster swing speed. Your standard baseball bat will have a diameter of about 2.5 inches. Your standard fast pitch softball barrel will be slightly bigger at 2.75 inches.

Your second measurement of importance for your discount bats is the bat taper, which is the diameter of the bat at its handle. Your typical baseball bat has a taper of 31/32 of an inch. This size varies, nonetheless, depending on the weight of your bat. There are players who claim that a narrower taper on a lighter bat allows them to rotate their wrists faster, while there are others who say the bigger taper helps lessen the pain when you don t catch a ball with the sweet spot.