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Originally Posted by MPREZIV
I used to play ball in HS, and played with a guy that was a complete jack-ass. He had some serious power, and no talent what-so-ever, at the plate. Great in the field, but couldn't hit the broad side of a barn! I had a decent swing, but due to my size, not nearly the power of that dude, and thus was looked at as less of a batter. I can understand the desire for more power, but it's not worth "cheating", no matter how you decide to "cheat". The fact that when he did make contact with the ball it went far made him a cocky bastard, but it was so few and far between!
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I was the same way. I played for 11 years from age 7 to 18, and I think my career totals included only like 5 doubles, 1 tripple, and 0 homeruns. But I was always batting 1st, 2nd, or 5th (assuming I wasn't slumping). IMO, being a contact hitter is way more useful than being a power hitter, at least for the team. I never once screwed up a sac bunt, including 5 or 6 squeeze plays, I've gone 5 for 5 with 5 rbi's in a game that we scored only 7 runs in to win (and I was one of the other 2 runs), I've got no speed and yet I've stolen plenty of bases (just gotta figure out when the pitcher is throwing to the plate), I've even stolen home (I was on 3rd, and the guy at the plate screwed up the squeeze bunt, but it didn't matter since I just about beat the pitch to the plate.
My point is that to be an offensive benefit to the team, massive strength is really near the bottom of the list of useful attributes. We has a kid on my 16-18yr old team that we had to buy heavier bats for because he was so strong. He struck out or popped up nearly every at bat, except for the one time where he made solid contact and hit the ball 500 feet. Very strong kit, but not the best asset to the team.