What is the best bat?

[nuclear1]

My son is 9, 5'0" 100 lbs., Mustang league, very good hitter, All-Star. We purchased the Stealth BST35 29/19 2 5/8" bat for him this year which I am not totally convinced was our best choice. He experiences a lot of bat sting, even with a bat glove and handle protector. The ball comes off the bat OK but it is time to see what might be better. The players smashing the ball the best in our league, are using 2 3/4 inch bats, regardless of metallurgy. What is the best bat for our situation? I intend on staying below $150, but would pay more if there was a substantial difference in performance. Any thoughts would be welcome.

[dfoke]

Man, everyone has some big boys on this site! Your son is the same size as mine and mine just turned 11!

Anyway, I am comfortable in suggesting that the DeMarini's are a very good choice. You can probably get an 08 CF3 on Ebay for $190. I think it is worth another $40.

My son is currently using an Anderson Techzilla XP 30/21 and is hitting them over the fence fairly regularly. But he has only had it for a few weeks now. It is definitely going about 20-30' farther than his DeMarini CF3 but the CF3 was still and awesome bat. It was definitely better than the Louisville slugger TPX and his Easton Stealth that we also tried this year.

We haven't tried the Combat bats but it is definitely the "Buzz Bat" right now. Something to look into.

Hope this helps a little. Good luck.

Dave

[SJI045]

Have heard and seen good things on the rawlings rush (gold) bat and the Worth Lithium Edge (both.a -10 and 2 3/4" barrel). For '09 Rawlings made the new Rush Lite which will run you between $239 and up depending on website you buy from. The '08 Rush is just as good and can be had for much less you just have to look. The '09 Worth Lithium Edge, which replaced '08 Prodigy, is supposed to be less resistent to dents and has really good pop and can be had for at least $164 and up.

Here are a couple sites 4 u:

http://www.directsports.com/catalog/browse/closeout1/4.html

Scroll down until you see the rush bat.

http://www.hitrunscore.com/slle10-worth-senior-league-baseball-bat.html

Hope this helps and good luck

:)

[dfoke]

More bats that I didn't think about. So many options it makes my head spin!

[nuclear1]

Thanks guys! Keep the info coming. Dfoke, I read your earlier thread and you guys have landed on the techzilla bat. Are the Anderson bats all just 2 1/4" bats? What have been your observations regarding barrel size? What has your son and others been using? By the way, my son turns 10 before the end of the year, but he is one of the bigger kids.

[dfoke]

Since my son plays in Little League I really don't know much about the big Barrels. I think that the only Big Barrel Anderson has is a -5. Anderson has heavier bats because they are trying to get players closer to the -3 that they will play with in H.S. as they get older. Sorry, no much help. Good luck!

[nuclear1]

Thanks guys for the responses. Thanks SJI045 for the websites! I was not aware of these sites. The one site does have a nice price on the Rush bat. I will be looking further and watching the rest of the talk on this forum for additional info. I intend to take my son over to a couple of sports shops to try out some different size bats and how they feel before buying. Thanks again!

[2ManyBats]

All this info is Good But, to quote a fellow member dsore1218.. "The bat is Just a Tool"

Easton Stealths (Alloys) seem to be end loaded. #1 sons loves his and will not give it up.
( SC900 alloy bought new for the 2008 season ). He choses it over his "Balanced" Composite - Catalyst.

He just seems to be more comfortable swinging it. Here's what I have to deal with. We ( Mom & I ) get our sons new bats for each new season ... but in his 3 Last Tournaments he batted better than 500 in them, and capped it off batting 700 in the season ending tournament.

I think it was money well spent ! But in the back of my mind we cant help but be thinking ..."What if he was swinging one of those "Hot" Composites $300 specials ... Would the ball have traveled Further ?... Come off the bat Better ?

[dsore1218]

Love the post. Ahhh the smell of second guessing during tournament season!! I can quote distances and HR's and the such from probably the most successful back to back weekends I have been around. Batting average of .455 for the team, ERA of 0.42 for 10 games. Everything was clicking. But in the end, all of our guys have had the same bats from the start of the season through this weekend. Not just one bat per kid but no new wild stuff for these guys. Not one crack or dent or split. Everyone is staying with a bat consistently. They are hitting about 150 points higher than I would say they were during the school season if they had all been on the same team or at the same school. These are 16 yr olds. 1/2 from Varsity, 1/2 from JV, bits and pieces that we put together for a fun 2 weeks.

You can second guess bat choice, stance, approach at the plate, etc. I know that is the strongest part of my game, the second guessing part. But these last few weeks have taught me again that consistency, knowing your bat, swinging what you want, pays off in the end. We can think 'Maybe that fly ball would have gone another 20 ft. or maybe the kid hates the bat and never takes it off his shoulder' but I would never send a kid to the plate with a bat he hates.

Good luck deciding the best bat, until next February (football starts in 2 weeks) our favorite bats are 2 CF3's, couple of Plasma's, Stealths, Exo, Exo 2, Catalyst, SV12 and some slump busting Dynasty's.

It is all subjective - otherwise there would be no point in wasting our time on this site!!!!!

[dear ol dad]

Congrats Dsore it's MOST fun when you win. for anyone on the fence about selecting a bat
Go with any Louisville Slugger TPX and never look back!