He's nearly 10, and 4' 7" tall (55 inch).  I know next to nothing about baseball, but we were going to head to the store and I was wondering, what size bat should we buy?

probably somewhere around 28-30 inches would be best. as light as possible, too.

Quoted: probably somewhere around 28-30 inches would be best. as light as possible, too.

That long? I use a 32 inch, 29 ounces bat for Hgihschool baseball and I'm 16.

I'd say, go for the bat that he can swing good with. If you have a batting cage nearby, see if you can try the different bats at teh speeds he will be facing. A too heavy bat will result in him striking out almost constantly.

Hmm, a batting cage to practice and try out different weights might be good.  I'm afraid I've done little for developing this interest (in fact, I have little interest in any team sports.  I climb, that's my sport).  

If it matters, he weighs 68 lbs.  I suppose a lighter bat which may be easier to hit with would be better than a heavier one that can send the ball farther.  Confidence would be built more by hitting consitantly within the infeild than occasionally to the outfield.

Quoted: Hmm, a batting cage to practice and try out different weights might be good.  I'm afraid I've done little for developing this interest (in fact, I have little interest in any team sports.  I climb, that's my sport).   If it matters, he weighs 68 lbs.  I suppose a lighter bat which may be easier to hit with would be better than a heavier one that can send the ball farther.  Confidence would be built more by hitting consitantly within the infeild than occasionally to the outfield.

The first year I played high shcool baseball, I used a shorter and lighter bat than anybody else on the team. I was one of the only people who could consistantly get base hits. If he has a good swing and a little muscle (its mostly legs) he will be able to hit the ball well with any bat he can get around in time.

My son is 11, 5'3" 109lbs.  He is into baseball and he uses a 31" 21oz. (-10) bat.  It is a Damarini F2.  The F2 is without a doubt THE Little League bat, if the batter can handle the weight.  The team from Hawaii that just won the Little League World Series used F2's almost exclusively.  Enough of this.

A new player the size of your son should use as light a bat as you can find like -12 or -13.  Like Beefy said a bat that is too heavy will make hitting difficult.  28" would be OK but he'll outgrow it quickly.  30" may require him to choke up.  Little League bats can be expensive.  We've had good experiences with Demarini, Easton, and Worth.  The Worth Copperhead at around $60 is a great bat.  The higher end Demarini and Easton bats are pushing $200.

Also it is bat speed not weight that gives the ball distance.  A few years ago College and High School players were limited to -3oz bats to primarily protect pitchers.  If pro players used the lighter aluminium alloy bats they would probably kill each other.  The pitcher could never react in time to field or get out of the way of a well hit ball.

Quoted: Also it is bat speed not weight that gives the ball distance.  A few years ago College and High School players were limited to -3oz bats to primarily protect pitchers.  If pro players used the lighter aluminium alloy bats they would probably kill each other.  The pitcher could never react in time to field or get out of the way of a well hit ball.

We are still limited to -3 bats. Last year, I almost killed the pitcher. He threw the ball and I hit it right back at his head, knocked him down pretty good.

www.fogdog.com has some info and charts on selecting the proper
size and weight.  www.justbats.com is another place I
have shopped.
I agree with the "as light as possible" advice you have been given already.

DanM

<----- Note avatar.

I'm 48 and I still play in the MSBL here in SA - so I have somewhat of an idea.  I finished this season at .358, one strike out, two walks.

I've never coached kids before, so I can' help you with the bat size.  But I use a 32" 29oz -3 Easton.  We can't use any greater drops than that.

Bat speed equates into distance when hitting a ball.  Get with a batting coach who can figure out what bat to use.  But I'll bet it won't be no longer than 28" - probably shorter.

If the batting coach isn't an option, I'd take him to a cage and let him try some of the rental bats to get an idea of his speed.

Having him use a bat that is too heavy will be a problem.  Every once in a while we'll see a guy get back into baseball and try to a bat that's too heavy - he does nothing but get pissed.

Think cork...and why the pros (try to) use it.

Hey, and have fun!

When I was a kid, in the fifties, Louisville Sluggers were the best
and they cost twelve dollars. I realize that was a few years back; but
two hundred for a bat?  I'm afraid to ask if balls cost more than two
dollars and pro-level gloves more than twenty-four dollars.

I use wooden bats in the cages, and they run about $50 or so - I haven't bought one in 3 years  - I found one I like about bought 4 of them - down to the last one now.

You can go here for some current prices - this is where I buy just about all my stuff.

www.baseballexp.com/baseball/home.do

Is he left handed or right handed?

Quoted: Is he left handed or right handed?

What difference does that make to a hitter?

If it does, news to me.

Quoted: Quoted: Is he left handed or right handed? What difference does that make to a hitter? If it does, news to me.

I'm curious as to how this matters also.

left handed bats are special order.

Quoted: left handed bats are special order.

HA!

Damn, I forgot about that.

They stock them right next to the bucket of foul line, right?

Quoted: My son is 11, 5'3" 109lbs.  He is into baseball and he uses a 31" 21oz. (-10) bat.  It is a Damarini F2.  The F2 is without a doubt THE Little League bat, if the batter can handle the weight.  The team from Hawaii that just won the Little League World Series used F2's almost exclusively.  Enough of this. A new player the size of your son should use as light a bat as you can find like -12 or -13.  Like Beefy said a bat that is too heavy will make hitting difficult.  28" would be OK but he'll outgrow it quickly.  30" may require him to choke up.  Little League bats can be expensive.  We've had good experiences with Demarini, Easton, and Worth.  The Worth Copperhead at around $60 is a great bat.  The higher end Demarini and Easton bats are pushing $200. Also it is bat speed not weight that gives the ball distance.  A few years ago College and High School players were limited to -3oz bats to primarily protect pitchers.  If pro players used the lighter aluminium alloy bats they would probably kill each other.  The pitcher could never react in time to field or get out of the way of a well hit ball.

Demarini must have improved a lot, no one would touch them when I played little league and babe ruth ball

Quoted: Quoted: left handed bats are special order. HA! Damn, I forgot about that. They stock them right next to the bucket of foul line, right?

Funny stuff.

Lacrosse: What men play during boys baseball season.

Quoted: Lacrosse: What Girliemen play during boys baseball season.

Fixed it for you.

It should be this big.

Quoted: Quoted: left handed bats are special order. HA! Damn, I forgot about that. They stock them right next to the bucket of foul line, right?

Over my head.  Spell it out if it's funny. Please.

Or is the idea a batter would need a special bat if he's a lefty the joke?

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: left handed bats are special order. HA! Damn, I forgot about that. They stock them right next to the bucket of foul line, right? Over my head.  Spell it out if it's funny. Please. Or is the idea a batter would need a special bat if he's a lefty the joke?

Spell out what - his joke or my joke?

And are you serious?

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: left handed bats are special order. HA! Damn, I forgot about that. They stock them right next to the bucket of foul line, right? Over my head.  Spell it out if it's funny. Please. Or is the idea a batter would need a special bat if he's a lefty the joke?

You don't play baseball, do you?

how well does she handle yours??  

Demarini must have improved a lot, no one would touch them when I played little league and babe ruth ball


Demarini came out with the F2 a few years ago and they are something else.  I'd bet that they add 10-20 feet+ to the flight of the ball.  The bats are double walled and the trampoline effect is greater than anything I have seen the kids hit.  The bats are legal in Little League.  

The downside to the bats is if you hit during cold weather (50'S or lower) the bats can dent.  Not an issue with the little guys but it can be as skills improve.

I've done a little research into this topic as I'm both a science teacher and avid softball player (go ahead and joke).

A PhD who has done EXTENSIVE research into the physics of hitting recommends that kids up to around their mid-teens go with as light a bat as they can get a hold of.  After they get into their mid-teens, kids seem to be able to handle heavier bats better and can get more pop from them.

If you're interested in his work, this link should be exactly the info you're wanting.

Good luck!  Baseball is still something to take American pride in.  Hope your boy has fun with it!

Beefypeanut,

I see you are 16 - keep playing the game, man.

I play in the 48+  league here: www.samsbl.com  My picture was on there a while back.

I couldn't play for 16 yrs or so due to the mil.  But picked it back up in 2001 - felt like I never left.  

Except for my aching back and all...

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: left handed bats are special order. HA! Damn, I forgot about that. They stock them right next to the bucket of foul line, right? Over my head.  Spell it out if it's funny. Please. Or is the idea a batter would need a special bat if he's a lefty the joke? You don't play baseball, do you?

No. explain the joke

Quoted:
I've done a little research into this topic as I'm both a science teacher and avid softball player (go ahead and joke).

Don't mind if I do...

Softball is for old men and girls.

That is a running joke with a guy a work who is half my age and plays softball...hope you take it with the same good humor he and I exchange pleasantries.

Quoted: Quoted: I've done a little research into this topic as I'm both a science teacher and avid softball player (go ahead and joke). Don't mind if I do... Softball is for old men and girls. That is a running joke with a guy a work who is half my age and plays softball...hope you take it with the same good humor he and I exchange pleasantries.

I don't mind the ribbing at all, but give me one that I haven't heard before!

the bucket of foul line

The 'foul line' is made of chalk and is laid out on a ball field as the dividing line which delineates a fair ball from a foul ball.

A ‘bucket of foul line’ uses the word ‘line’ to describe a string type object.

So...you start the season off by sending the bat boy over to the dugout to get a ‘bucket of foul line,’ which doesn’t really exist.  But he goes over there looking for a bucket, full of string that is named ‘foul.’

I’m an electrician, and we use this at work also - send the guy over to get a bucket of 330.  It really is 3:30 - the time we quit work.  But the new guy doesn’t know that.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I've done a little research into this topic as I'm both a science teacher and avid softball player (go ahead and joke). Don't mind if I do... Softball is for old men and girls. That is a running joke with a guy a work who is half my age and plays softball...hope you take it with the same good humor he and I exchange pleasantries. I don't mind the ribbing at all, but give me one that I haven't heard before!

That's the only one I know.  

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: left handed bats are special order. HA! Damn, I forgot about that. They stock them right next to the bucket of foul line, right? Over my head.  Spell it out if it's funny. Please. Or is the idea a batter would need a special bat if he's a lefty the joke?

I coach 4 teams between both my boys,  two of them are accelerated so I have some experience helping kids get the right stick.

I would say by FAR the most important thing is the WEIGHT.  Get the lightest friggin bat you can that's still long enough.  

To give you an idea, my 11 year old son uses a 30 or 31 inch bat and one is 17.5 Oz and one is 19 Oz.  He's got the 2nd best average on the team and bat weight is a major part of that.

Now, why a lighter bat?  A lighter bat gives kids a split second longer to look at the pitch.  They are also a lot easier to get moving and up to speed without distorting your body and by extension your swing.  Most if not all kids tend to want to go with a bigger bat so they'll get more "distance" or more homers.

this is a HUGE mistake.  First of all, if you can't swing a bat well, you won't be hitting anything let alone homeruns.  Second,  a bigger bat generally does NOT give you more distance.   Remember the classic E-MC/2?  Well it's not the right formula to use for acclerating  bats and energy transfer but it'll do just fine for the purpose.  

Basically if you double bat size you double energy transfer (in a perfect world, all other things being equal) but if you double the bat SPEED the energy transfer is squared.  The upshot is you generally get kids hitting farther if you drop their bat weight and get their bat speed up.

So for a beginner, a heavy bat will frustrate them and take the fun out of it.  So get him a bat of decent length,  probably 28"-30" and a very light for size bat,  roughly 17-19 Oz.

Just for comparison,  pros use VERY light for weight bats.  If they were comparatively sized to little leaguers they'd be using 14-16 Oz bats.

It's all about the bat speed baby!

incindentaly,  hitting seems to be the most interesting part of baseball for young kids and we've had GREAT success with new players on our city league teams with a DVD I got off Ebay a few years ago by this guy named Emansky or something, it's called teaching the major league swing and it does a pretty good job of breaking down the mechanics of the rotational swing. If you don't have a good hitting coach for your boy, get the DVD and watch it together,   it'll make him a much better hitter.

I wish I'd have learned rotational mechanics in high school.  I was all state catcher three years in a row and was considered a power hitter cause I was 6'5" and 270'ish but I was all arm.  I would have hit a lot more had I been rotating and not just muscling it.  I still play some  baseball and a lot of softball and since I switched to a rotational swing I've doubled my homer count.

Good luck with your boy and ball, it's all we do all summer.  I just finished putting a jugs batting cage up in the back yard today and my hands hurt from hanging net and hitting balls all afternoon.  It's pretty sweet!  We're going to cooperstown next year for a little league world series tournament with our 11 year old team and it should be a big help.

Not to be nitpicky, but the collision between bat and ball is a momentum issue...kinetic energy transfer is much less important.

HOWEVER, you're completely right by suggesting a bat around 30 inches and mid/high teens in ounces.

I'd buy a mid-range bat, because he'll outgrow it in a few years and will need more length when he gets taller.  THEN splurge and get a nice stick if he's still into baseball.

Fellas, thanks.  I tell my wife all the time "AR15.com is the best source of information, for anything."  She just thinks I'm trying to justify spending time here rather than lovingly cleaning my guns, but she just doesn't get the whole "Hive Mind" thing.

So, to sum up.  I'm after a 28 to 30 inch alluminum bat, looking for something in the weight range of 16oz.  Medium price range or garage sale until he either loses interest or grows out of the bat.

Thanks again.  

Quoted: Demarini must have improved a lot, no one would touch them when I played little league and babe ruth ball Demarini came out with the F2 a few years ago and they are something else.  I'd bet that they add 10-20 feet+ to the flight of the ball.  The bats are double walled and the trampoline effect is greater than anything I have seen the kids hit.  The bats are legal in Little League.   The downside to the bats is if you hit during cold weather (50'S or lower) the bats can dent.  Not an issue with the little guys but it can be as skills improve.

yup, that was the issue back when I played, which wasn't all that long ago, ~12 years ago, we had two guys on the team w/ demarinis, both dented the crap out of their bats during batting practice and we heard other kids had the same issue, glad to hear they fixed it because they were otherwise really well balanced, sweet hitting bats

Hey Gimpy,

To save some $$, you may want to check the clearance bins, etc.

At the Baseball Exp store I linked to earlier, they always have gloves, bats, etc that are last years left-overs.  Just an idea.

Quoted: Hey Gimpy, To save some $$, you may want to check the clearance bins, etc. At the Baseball Exp store I linked to earlier, they always have gloves, bats, etc that are last years left-overs.  Just an idea.

Defenatly (sp?) Bats are so darn expensive, when I have to buy one, I always buy last years model. It is waay cheaper than the new bat and there isn't a whole lot of difference other than color. (As far as I can tell)

Quoted: Not to be nitpicky, but the collision between bat and ball is a momentum issue...kinetic energy transfer is much less important. HOWEVER, you're completely right by suggesting a bat around 30 inches and mid/high teens in ounces. I'd buy a mid-range bat, because he'll outgrow it in a few years and will need more length when he gets taller.  THEN splurge and get a nice stick if he's still into baseball.

leakycow,  I know it's not the correct formula but it's a heck of a lot easier to explain in the time alloted.  

I made the nearly fatal mistake of asking my dad, who is a nuclear physicist, about the laws governing energy transfer and kinetic momentum.

I lasted about an hour of mind-numbingly boring explanation of the math involved before all my neurons packed it up and died right on the spot.  I got about 5 minutes of useful content out of the hour and the rest was just blah blah blah blah

Anyway, like you said the upshot is you gotta get that bat moving as fast as possible and you'll be launchin' balls pretty well...

Something small. Something he can whip around. Teach him to make contact with the ball first. The hand eye coordination needs to come first, power will come with confidence.

Quoted: I made the nearly fatal mistake of asking my dad, who is a nuclear physicist, about the laws governing energy transfer and kinetic momentum. I lasted about an hour of mind-numbingly boring explanation of the math involved before all my neurons packed it up and died right on the spot.  I got about 5 minutes of useful content out of the hour and the rest was just blah blah blah blah

I can only imagine what that's like.

As far as bats go, I think most people would agree that, while the upper-level bats seem pricey, they do give somewhat better performance than the 20-buck bat at Wally World.

Honestly, with a son starting out in little league, I wouldn't pursue the bat that has huge pop, but would instead find one that's balanced (not end-loaded) and has a large sweet spot.

Again, since this bat will soon be outgrown by your son, I wouldn't blow 3 digits on it, but would try to find something in the 40-60 dollar range.

I never had my own bat until I was 14 or 15 years old.  I figured out what worked for me by using the other kids on my teams bats.  Pretty much everyone shares bats, so its a good was to find out what you like without wasting money.

At his age, I don't remember there being any rules about bat weight vs length... so I went with the lightest bat the team had that was something like 27 or 28 inches.

There was also some little test to see if a bat was too heavy for the hitter.  Hold the bat with one hand, and hold your arm straight out, so your arm and the bat are parrallel to the floor.  You should be able to hold the bat like like for 20-30 seconds without much struggle.  Its been years since I did this.. so I could remember it wrong.  Just something to experiment with.

Heck, I think we should all go back to wooden bats.  I only started using an aluminum bat 3 yrs ago.  I catch, and I don't think I'll ever get used to hearing 'ping' as compared to 'crack.'

Our league voted on making June a 'Wood Only' month - it was voted down.