When my son played U9 ball, it was anarchy. I started him off with a 16 ounce bat that had no technology. On a cold night, he took one in close to the handle and it rattled his hands off. Stung so bad, it brought tears. That's when I started learning about bats.
U9 sorta sucked, both financially, and from a frustration standpoint, because the big barrel bats he could use were too short, and the longer bats he could use had a 2 1/4" barrel. So, we went through a lot of bats that year, trying to strike a balance. Not too long, not too short, not too heavy, not too light.
All in all, I spent over a thousand bucks on bats that year.
U10, he transitioned to a 29/19 Easton Stealth Speed (which later evolved into the Omen and then evolved into the S1.) It was a great bat. It was also our first carbon composite bat. At one point, his coach told me his bat was worn out. So, I bought him an Omen.
Thing is, the bat wasn't worn out. It just wasn't quite broken in, yet. Soon thereafter, the ball started making a distinctly different sound off the bat and started rocketing off it with even more velocity.
Carbon fiber bats need to be broken in. The manufacturers insist that they don't, but I've heard other accounts of the same thing. After a few hundred batted balls, they sound different and perform better.
Why? There are two theories, here, but only one of them makes sense to me. The first is that the fibers, when used, get compressed further. Thus, the bat gets harder. This makes zero sense to me, but you hear it quite a bit.
The theory that DOES make sense is that as the bat is used, the carbon fibers actually get loosened up. Thus, the bat becomes more flexible. More springy. My opinion is that this is what happens.
Anyway, I'm a carbon fiber fan, but there's something to be said for aluminum. It hits right out of the wrapper. The carbon fiber bats hit just as well, IMHO, but they hit better after extended use.
In the case of my son's Speed, extended use was almost 2 full seasons of about half the team using the bat. I am absolutely NOT worried about wearing out a carbon fiber bat as so many others have warned against. It might happen, but in youth baseball, they'll outgrow it before they wear it out.
This year, things get complicated again. I need to move my son up in drop. So, his previous drop 10 bats need to start giving way to progressively smaller drops so he can gradually work his way towards drop 3, which is what he needs to play with in High School.
The philosophy I like to follow, here, is that length is more critical than weight. A shorter bat is easier to control than a longer one. So, find the length that works, first.
In this case, my son is swinging a 30 inch bat very, very well. So, 30/31 is probably his length.
Weight? Lots of different theories on this one. The rule of thumb I've heard is that you take the heaviest bat that you can swing without slowing down, then back off an ounce or two.
Weight, in my opinion, is less of a factor than people think. An ounce is not a lot of weight, not even on a baseball bat. The bats my son uses are "balanced" (versus "end loaded"). So, an extra ounce of weight is distributed along the entire length of the bat, not just at the end.
An ouce is basically the weight of a really thick letter that requires more than one stamp.
So, using e-bay and justbats.com, I'm bringing in a few bats for him to try.
Right now, his arsenal consists of:
30/20 SV12. No USSSA Stamp. It appears he has already outgrown this one. The SV12 is an awesome bat, IMHO and was a great power-hitter bat. Near as I can figure, it has eventually evolved into the Easton XL2.
30/21 Easton Rival. No technology in this thing. One piece construction. However, kids hit a ton with this bat. The two things against this bat are: no technology and a reputation for denting easily.
In my opinion, once you dent a thin-walled aluminum bat, it's done. You've ruined the rebounding properties of the barrel.
The technology is an issue, too. My son's hands sting on the hits up on the handle.
No two ways about it, though, my son kills with this bat. First game using it, he went 3/4 with a single, double and triple. His only out was a hard shot that the pitcher managed to catch and throw him out.
I am pretty sure the rival evolved into the Easton S3.
So, the new bats coming are:
1. Combat Grifter, 30/21. Same weight and length as his Rival. We'll have to see how this goes. Never used one before. Got an insanely good price on it, though. This is our first Combat. I think the top of the heap for them is the S3, but I don't know that much about their product line. This one retails for about $200. Worst case, it'll go up on e-bay and I'll get most of the money back out.
2. Easton Surge 31/21. I actually am more worried about the 1" length than I am about an extra ounce of weight. However, most of the height-weight charts show that he should probably be using a 31" bat. So, we'll give it a shot. This is the bat that evolved into this year's S2.
3. Easton Omen 30/22. This one evolved into this year's S1. I am sort of hoping that this ends up being his bat, but so far, things don't look good. He really doesn't seem to like 22 ounce bats. (After action report: hit well with this bat, but popped up and was late a bit. Pretty solid indication that the weight is too much. Since the length is not an issue, this bat will just have to wait. Will still have him swing it here and there, but too heavy for right now.)
In the end, does 1 inch make that much difference? Does 1 ounce? My opinion is that both make a small difference. However, the main thing is: what does a kid THINK is working for him.
Hitting is as much mental as physical and if a kid is convinced that 31" is too long, then it's too long. If a kid is convinced that 22 ounces is too heavy, then it's too heavy.
At least at this point, I've got 3 quality bats for him to try. One of them should work. If not, I'll keep trying. The next few years are going to be a challenge as I continue to work the various drops. Once we finish up this year, he has only 3 more years of club ball, then off to High School, where he'll need a drop 3 bat.
There are a lot of ways to bridge the gap between drop 10 and drop 3. They all cost money, and if past experience is any indicator, I'll try them all.
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