This blog post will have very limited appeal outside of a few baseball dads who really are curious what to buy. Much to the chagrin of my wallet, I'm discovering pretty much everything there is to know about baseball bats for my 8 year old son. I thought I'd try to impart my lessons learned on others who might be looking for a bat to buy.
My son was hitting pretty well with a little cheapie Easton 16.5 once, 29" bat (Easton reflex). This is what is known as a -12.5, or "drop 12.5" bat. The drop is the difference between the length, in inches, and the weight, in ounces. The bat had the standard 2 1/4" barrel.
He switched to a similar 16/29 bat (Easton Reflex) and started hitting the ball even better. Trouble is, both of those Easton aluminum bats are pretty low-end. They're fine aluminum bats, but just like technology in golf clubs, the new, higher-tech stuff really is better and will produce a noticeable difference.
He went 3 for 3 with the thing one game, but in the very next game, he caught an inside pitch close to the hands and it rattled his hands so much it hurt him quite a bit. His hands were shaking and he was in pain. The bats with more technology reduce vibration a bit. After that episode, he wasn't willing to use his 16 ounce any more.
Hitting is as mental as it is physical and once a hitter believes something, it becomes truth. In this case, he believed that using that bat on inside pitches would hurt. He had a point. He didn't want to use that bat anymore.
In our already mammoth bat collection we already had a really good Easton 29/17 that was half composite (Easton Synergy Speed) with an aluminum hitting area. He felt that it was too heavy. Based on his performance with it in a few practices, it looked like it was.
So, I went bat shopping.
At the sporting goods store, they started talking to me about big barrel bats. They had an Easton 29/19 that was the complete top of the line. It's the Speed Stealth (model BSS13XL). They told me that I could take it home and try it out so long as I didn't take it out of the plastic. Went downstairs and hit some wiffle balls with it. Ran up the pitching machine pretty fast and my son was hitting really well.
It's possible to have a heavier bat that feels lighter due to the way the weight is distributed. I thought maybe that was the case, here.
Took the pastic off, making the bat non-returnable. Took my son to some outside cages and threw him live pitch, he hit pretty well. Went to a practice, the coach threw him BP and he hit well. Then, when he faced one of the pitchers on his team, he looked like he was swinging a log.
He started showing a big looping swing, instead of the compact swing he'd been doing so well with. So, I got the bat out of his hands, immediately.
One would have thought that increasing the weight by 3 ounces over what he feels most comfortable with was a dumb move and one would be right. I guess I was hoping that all the technology, increased composite materials and different weight distribution that it might work out. Until he faced live pitch from kids throwing hard, it looked like it might.
Easton makes a youth baseball model called the Speed II XL (LSS6XL) which is a drop 12. That way, Logan could have a 29" bat that was 17 ounces. Still, an ounce heavier, but hoping the balance and technology would offset that.
Unfortunately, when it arrived, I saw that it was a standard barrel bat. He didn't like the weight, and in 3 games where he used it, he did okay, but I've seen him hit better. We'll hang on to it for next year, but the lack of a big barrel is a big deal.
What I really wanted was a big barrel in 16 ounces. I don't know if they make one, but if they do, it'd only be 26" long since the big barrels all seem to come in drop 10 at the lightest. I thought that would just be way too short compared to the 29" bat he's using, now.
I got him an Easton SV12 27/17. It's a big barrel bat, but it is both shorter and heavier than the 29/16 he hits optimally with. I was hoping the shorter barrel would make up for the slightly heavier weight.
Bottom line: right out of the box, he hits better with this bat than any other he has ever swung. I've never seen him rip so many hits deep to the outfield. The big barrel is everything it's cracked up to be.
The weight, due to the shorter length, is not an issue at all. However, the bat has two downsides. The first is that the hitting area on the bat is very, very small. The second is that being 2 inches shorter is a huge deal. He won't be able to reach anything outside the plate and will have trouble reaching down and away strikes. He'll also have to stand a couple of inches closer to the plate, making it harder to turn on inside pitches.
This sort of thing is always a series of tradeoffs. I feel like he also needs a good 29/16 for umps with a big strike zone. So, I'm going to try a Demarini Voodoo 29/16. It should arrive any day now.
I also don't like the very small sweet spot on the SV12. So, we've also got a Demarini Vexxum 27/17 on the way. Really, I'd rather have a 27/17 in the Speed Stealth (model BSS13XL), but at the moment, those bats are going for $300. Easton just did a $50 price drop on the bat, but it will take a while to shake through the system. Probably won't be able to buy at much of a discount until my son is pretty much ready for a 28/18.
Until we can get him into a big barrel 29" bat (which seems like it won't happen until he can swing a 19 ounce bat), I am afraid we'll need to keep a 29" bat with a standard barrel on hand.
So, this year, we'll have a big barrel 27/17, and a standard barrel 29/16 in the bag. I think he needs two bats in the bag.
Next year or later this year, we'll want a 28/18 big barrel and it really won't be that important to have a bat that's 1" longer in the bag. We'll be able to get down to just one bat.
A final note on big barrel bats. The drop 12s, drop 13s, etc., are usually considered youth bats. The big barrels don't seem to come any lighter than a drop 10, and are considered "senior league" bats.
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