SST's Top 10 Myths About Baseball Training
3. "You have to be big to hit the ball far"
It is true that strength helps improve athletic performance, but it does not mean that you have to be big in order to have strength. For example, people may think, when they look at Barry Bonds or Jason Giambi, they are huge athletes and put up tremendous numbers each season. However, Hank Aaron, "Hammerin' Hank", was only 6’0 tall and 180 lbs, and he still hit 755 home runs in his career.1 Or Mickey Mantle. When compared to Mark McGwire, "The Mick" weighed an astounding 55 pounds less and gave up nearly six inches in height.2
If this was a wrestling match, Mantle would get destroyed. However, this is baseball and size does not matter. In Mark McGwire's career, he failed to hit a homerun over 550 feet.3
Even while Mickey Mantle was smaller in sized compared to Mark McGwire, he still hit eight balls over 550 feet and one that reaches 734 feet. And NO, he did not use a corked-bat.
You will find examples for either case that it does not matter how big you are. Nevertheless, I am still leaning towards the side that size does not matter when hitting the long ball.4 You do, however, have to be strong.
1 http://www.baseball-reference.com/a/aaronha01.shtml
2,3,4 http://www.strength-conditioning.net/baseball-bulking-up.htm
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