Kid miving to big barrel next season- need advice on bat weight

[slicew]

My kid is moving up to 11U baseball next year and can use a 2 5/8 barrel for the 1st time. I have heard 2 schools of thought on what bat weight I should get for my kid next season. One school says get him a -8 for age 11 and a -5 when he's 12 get him a -5. That way when he's 13 he can try out for the high school C-team and not have a massive adjustment to make to swing the -3. The other school of thought is to get him the weight that get's him the best results now (even if it's a -10) and trust that his natural growth and strength will progress at a rate that will have him ready for the -3 when the time comes. I tend to lean towards the latter because the results are what will get him the playing time and the confidence he'll need to have any chance at playing at any HS level. Any advice will be appreciated.

[Jake Patterson]

Slice,
I have never been an advocate of a large drops at this age. While it allows the average player to be more successful, it also provides greater opportunity to develop bad habits... I am not certain what the age cut offs are - and I feel it depends on the child.... but my advice is to move to the lower drops as fast as you can.
Jake

[skipper5]

My kid is moving up to 11U baseball next year and can use a 2 5/8 barrel for the 1st time. I have heard 2 schools of thought on what bat weight I should get for my kid next season. One school says get him a -8 for age 11 and a -5 when he's 12 get him a -5. That way when he's 13 he can try out for the high school C-team and not have a massive adjustment to make to swing the -3. The other school of thought is to get him the weight that get's him the best results now (even if it's a -10) and trust that his natural growth and strength will progress at a rate that will have him ready for the -3 when the time comes. I tend to lean towards the latter because the results are what will get him the playing time and the confidence he'll need to have any chance at playing at any HS level. Any advice will be appreciated.

I will be in the minority voting for results now.
I am in the minority in having observed the switch to a minus-3 bat is no big deal.

[Coach C]

I agree with Jake. My son 12u has been raking this season with a -8. about half way through the season it dawned on me that he could handle a -5. If I had to rewind the season it would have been -5.

[Jake Patterson]

I will be in the minority voting for results now.
I am in the minority in having observed the switch to a minus-3 bat is no big deal.

Skip,
Repectfully disagree.... Over my years of coaching school ball I found this to be one of our major issues. Players who were very successful with high-drop bats couldn't understand why they could not hit in HS. Throwing your hands out with high-drop, high-flex bats can result in a homerun in youth ball - it's a dribbler in HS. JMHO

[Baseball gLove]

Skip,
Repectfully disagree.... Over my years of coaching school ball I found this to be one of our major issues. Players who were very successful with high-drop bats couldn't understand why they could not hit in HS. Throwing your hands out with high-drop, high-flex bats can result in a homerun in youth ball - it's a dribbler in HS. JMHO

My 12 was swinging a 29-`9.5 as a 7 & 8 year old, a 32-22 as 9 & 10, and a -8 as a 11. He is now alternating between a 32-27 and a 31-28 BBCOR as a 12 for BP. He is not allowed to swing the BBCOR in games per league rules.

[BamaYankee]

My son moved up to 11-12s this season. Swung a -9 small barrel for three years. Moving up to big barrels, I got him a -10. My reasoning at the time was I thought it would help him against (expected) faster pitching. I also got a great deal on the bat, which shouldn't be the main factor, but it was a great deal. Further justified because Dixie Youth will come out with new restrictions for O-Zone (11-12) bats and I didn't want to sink a lot of money into a bat he would possible only use for three months.

He's got crazy numbers right now (.600, 10 for last 12, No HR) but if I could do this year over again, I would go for the heavier bat. As it turns out, he could easily swing a heavier bat, and the pitching hasn't been much faster than he was used to.

[Roothog66]

I've always advocated swinging the longest, heaviest bat you can swing without compromising mechanics. You have to think of a bat as a lever. As it whips around to make contact with the ball exit speed will depend a lot on the length and mass of the lever. While bat speed is somewhat important, I don't believe it to be as much a factor as length and weight.

[Roothog66]

My kid, at 12, swings a 32/27. In practice he hits very well with a 32/29, but it isn't BBCOR and I'm not quite willing to give up the advantage of non-BBCOR bats until I have to. If he were allowed to hit with a -3 BESR, he would be doing that.

[bbrages]

My kid, at 12, swings a 32/27.

Yeah, but your kid is about as big as an adult, if I remember correctly..?

[tg643]

My son's LL was loaded with travel quality pitchers at eleven and twelve. He used a -10 in games. He needed the -10 to pull the trigger on a lot of 60-70 mph pitchers from 46 feet. He used a -5 wood bat in BP at eleven. He used a -3 in BP at twelve. When he played 13U fall ball after LL when he was twelve he had no problem swinging a -3 bat in games. He was 5', 95 pounds when 13U fall ball started.

[dominik]

the strength of the kid is important. I don't like too light bats too. go as heavy as the kid can handle with ease. but not heavier.

calender age here is really not the determining factor. it would be stupid to say 8yo -11, 10yo -8, 12 yo -5, 14yo -3. this can be right for some kids but not for every kid.

If the bat is too heavy for a kids swing it will seriously mess up with his mechanics.

there is a test for this:
-have the kid hold the bat with his bottom hand
-extend the arm and bat horizontal in shoulder height to the side (like jim thome pre swing but a little more horizontal http://thebaseballhaven.files.wordpr.../jim-thome.jpg)
-if the kid cannot hold this position for 20 seconds the bat is too heavy (if he dumps the barrell there he will likely dump it in the swing too)

[tg643]

I will be in the minority voting for results now.
I am in the minority in having observed the switch to a minus-3 bat is no big deal.

I don't believe it was a big deal for the kids who could play. For marginal players who probably wouldn't have played high school ball regardless, the difficulty with the transition may have driven them out of the game sooner.

[Standballdad]

Use the heaviest and longest bat your son can handle. My sons progression:

12U TB 31/23 -8
13U TB 32/27 -5
14U TB 32/29 & 33/30 (BBCOR)
First year in HS he will be swinging 33/30 BBCOR he is 5'7" 140lbs.

[trademark]

Last season my son was 12 YO and swung a -8.5.
He's now 13 and is swinging a drop 5.
Next year, when he's a freshman, he'll move up to -3 as required.
So far, I think we've made the right choice for him from a weight progression stand point.