Potentially, although it could also be because pros have no need to worry about longevity of a bat? I mean Gilchrist hit a long ball, with arguably bigger boundaries using a similar shape.
Exactly this. It's like big hitters and sixes didn't exist before big bats. Or maybe it was the fact T20 didn't? The game changed and it wasn't down to the bats, it was the style of cricket, the skillset and training imo. Most pro's wouldn't have been playing when smaller edges were around and that was kind of my point, bigger bats are all some people have known so assume this is what enables power hitting. But tell Sobers, Botham and Gilchrist etc that.
Biggest 6 I saw in our games all of last season was a hit by a number 11 with an old Hunts County. Bat was small, the six was huge!