For Soriano, a Heavy Bat Has Always Felt Just Right About a decade ago, during Alfonso Soriano's first stint with the Yankees, he left one of his bats by the cage after batting practice before a game against the Toronto Blue Jays. It looked to be a C43 model, light in the barrel, tinted like corn flour. Several Blue Jays players passed it around and took a few swings, including Vernon Wells, the 230-pound slugger. After feeling it, Wells quickly put it down. "Too heavy for me," Wells said. For years, Soriano's All-Star ability has come with one oversized distinction: he consistently uses one of the heaviest bats in baseball. Not just proportionally, for a player with his wiry frame. At 35 inches long and 33 ½ ounces, it is as big a stick as the Sam Bat Company manufactures. That makes Soriano's bat look like something out of a Flintstones cartoon compared with the bats normally swung by players of considerably larger physical stature like Miguel Cabrera (34 inches, 32 ounces), Adam Dunn (34 ½ inches, 32 ounces) or Alex Rodriguez (34 inches, 31 ounces). Soriano has happily defied the standard truism that only the biggest sluggers swing the biggest bats. "Over the last 10 years," Arlene Anderson, the president of Sam Bat, said, "Alfonso has consistently ordered the largest and heaviest bat we produce." Anderson has worked personally with Soriano for six years, fashioning his bat to cater to his desired feel. She likened it to a tailor altering a suit, and for most of his career, Soriano preferred one size: extra long and extra heavy. In May 2012, though, Cubs Manager Dale Sveum approached Soriano about switching to a lighter bat to help him snap out of some of his hitting struggles. Sveum thought the 36-year-old Soriano might not have the hand speed and wrist strength required to lug such heavy lumber anymore. Soriano, who in recent years had started using a 33-ounce bat, acquiesced, dropping to a 32-ounce model. He has since returned to a bat weighing at least 33 ounces, and there were three of them resting against the inside panel of his locker this weekend, each with a spit of pine tar up the barrel and white tape loosely wrapped around the handle. The change of bats has appeared to help; he ended a long home run drought early in the 2012 season. And on Sunday, he hit his 18th homer of the season and drove in the winning run in a 6-5 win over Tampa Bay. "I just started with a bigger bat and I felt comfortable with it," Soriano said. That's what I've used all my career. During his early Yankee days, as a 6-foot-1 and 180-pound infielder, Soriano's bat was a source of clubhouse curiosity. Because he hit .284 with 98 home runs in five seasons (only three full seasons) in New York, coaches were not about to ask him to switch to anything lighter. Teammates marveled at how quickly he could move his hands through the hitting zone with a bat few others would even pick up. "It was like something Hank Bauer might use," said David Cone, the YES Network analyst who played with Soriano from 1999 to 2000. It just looked humongous. Soriano's crouched stance helped him generate power through his legs. His hips produced excellent torque, and his hands and wrists were abnormally strong. "It's not necessarily size that determines how strong you are," Wells said. He's put together in a very wiry frame, so he was able to get it through the zone in a hurry. If force equals mass times acceleration, then a player able to move a larger bat through the zone faster would indeed accelerate the speed of a batted ball. Wells said that was the conventional thought, at least. But a player must be able to swing the bat in time to meet a rapidly approaching ball, requiring a balance of the right size and weight. These days, Wells added, players seem to be dropping down in bat weight to account for the increasing velocity they have seen from pitchers. He has used either a 31- or 32-ounce bat his entire career. The days of Ruthian bats weighing 42 ounces or of Al Simmons swinging a 38-inch Louisville Slugger are long gone. Major League Baseball does not regulate bat weights, only length and diameter, with no bats allowable beyond 42 inches long and 2 ¾ inches around (Soriano's bat barrel is 2 ½ inches in diameter). For players, it is a matter of comfort. Anderson said the only player that she knew who currently swings a bat comparable to Soriano's is the Brewers" Ryan Braun, whose bat is 35 inches and 33 ounces. She said the former slugger Jose Canseco used to order 34-ounce bats. The most popular size for major league players is 34 inches and 32 ounces. Soriano shook his head when asked if he would feel comfortable going down to anything quite that tiny. "If I couldn't handle the bat, I'd be the first person to switch or change for a lighter bat," Soriano said. But for me, so far, it's been working. What would have happened if he had swung a lighter bat his entire career? Soriano tries not to think about the alternative. I don't know," Soriano said. The only thing I know is I feel comfortable with the bat I use now, so that's what's important.