New bat for fall ball

[Michaelturd]

Hi, I'm going to buy my son a new bat for the fall and trying to decide if I should go to a 31" or stay with a 30". He is 10 years old, 5'2" and 147 lb. The bat is going to be a Combat -10. Thanks for any input.

[2999hits]

My 10 year old is about the same size and swings a 31-21 B1 with no problem. Really depends on the kid though. If he's that size and is strong enough for a 31-21 then he should be able to take the ball easily out of a 200' park. If he's not getting that distance then I might go with with 30-20.

[LLdad]

What do people feed their kids to get them so freakin big? Jeez.

I would think he'd easily have 200' power and could handle a 31" bat. I'm not sure a 31" is necessary though. With the way bats pop these days, I'm becoming more and more of a believer in staying shorter for control and quickness. The extra length is not needed for power, so I don't see the need to push it.

My kid is obviously much smaller, but I don't expect him to go over 30" until he's 13.

[glgto]

my son when 9 hit a 28" -10
when 10 hit a 30 - 8.5
this year at 11u we tryed 31 -9 and -5 and had to choke up so we went back to 30" -8 with the new fall ball bat and keeping the -5 31 choked up for backup.

[tom2p]

The original post and replies should state LL (2 1/4) - or big barrel (2 5/8). Without this clarification, we could be comparing apples to oranges.
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LL Dad - I'm with you. I have seen a few kids benefit from a 31 inch bat at a relatively early stage (10 yr old) - but most were better with a 30 inch bat (at that stage). (The longer bats become a requirement at the higher levels when the kids begin to face accomplished pitchers with a good breaking ball).
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All the talk about high end bats, composite, double wall, etc ..... the best youth baseball hitter I have seen in person used the cheapest bat in the league - a $40 LS 30-22. He stepped up to a 31 inch bat as a 12 yr old after he damaged the 30 and could not find another 30-22.
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[Michaelturd]

It is going to be a 2 1/4 little league bat. A B1 or a B2. Get it good and ugly for next spring.

[KevinOK]

My 10 year old is 5-6 and 165 lbs with 5% body fat. He squats 320, dead lifts 400, and bench press is only a modest 250. He currently swings a techzilla 33" though thinking of switching to the -3.

He generates bat speed in excess of 75 mph and his fast ball has been clocked at 73mph. I won't let him throw breaking balls yet but he can and does throw a nasty knuckle ball around 55mph, that just tears kids up after seeing a couple 70+mph fast balls, a change up knuckleball.


:rolleyes::D:rolleyes::D:


Sorry could not resist.

[Michaelturd]

Yeah thanks for the snide remarks. He is currently seeing a doctor and about to start treatment for central precocious puberty. He started puberty at the age of 8. That is why he is so big, but don't believe me. I never said he was an ungodly athlete, in fact he is a little clumsy because of his height. He even has acne, so go ahead and be an ass if it makes you feel better.:mad:

[mcp]

I don't doubt it...

On my son's 9-10yo football team last fall we had 2 10yo's over 145...1 was a solid 160. Coordinated, strong, and fast....he would have been scary if he really knew how to hit, but it was his first year of football and it took him most of the season to figure it out. The avg size of our 10yo's was about 90lbs or so...my son was 103 last fall, and bigger than alot of kids on the team, but dwarfed by a few. We also had some 60lbr's. Kids vary sooooo much these days, and they are getting bigger and bigger it seems. Good luck with your son. :)

[tom2p]

Biggest kid I can recall in our LL org was a 12 yr old at 6-2 175 lb. His father was a former NFL OL.
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Speaking of football, last season #1 tackler on an undefeated 8-9 yr old team was a 65 lb safety. He is also an accomplished wrestler - as were a number of kids on the team.
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[dsore1218]

My dad was 6'4" in sixth grade. My mom never made it past 5', although she has cousins over 7'.

My dad has nephews (my cousins) that were at least 6'6" and 240 at 14 (9th grade). They obviously played football but they could really play baseball as well. I sure wouldn't crack any jokes at their size, they could hurt you :)!

My oldest son was a year younger than the second boy, he rode on his shoulders and they would do Dumb and Dumber quotes until we told them to knock it off. My son was 5'2" - 5'4" and maybe 120 lbs. My son was an all-star shortstop for 4 years in Majors, 2 years in Juniors, played IF/OF all 4 years in high school. He took a year off for volunteer service and is just starting back at college. He is destined for a J.C. with a couple of D1's coming to see him next week. He is 6'1", 195 now.

My point? Who cares about DNA early? The cousins never made it through the first year of college, lazy workers. My son worked hard and grew late. It could have been the other way around very easily.

Find the right tools, make sure they love the game and provide them the opportunity to play. That is all anyone can do!!

Don't push them to one bat or the other, let them try some out and go with the results.

[KevinOK]

Michaelturd,

My reply was merely in jest as indicated by the faces and upfront apology, and it was not pointed at your son specifically. Sorry you could not see that.

It seems every post I read on this board the kids are down right huge. My son is also very big for his age with few his age bigger, but yet it seems most on this board make him look small in compaison. So I figure many are either guessing wrongly and hedging on the real big side or most everyone who post on this board has kids who are going to be giants.

Again apologies, nothing personal, lighten up.

[KevinOK]

For what it is worth, measure your son from the wrist joint to the ground, with his shoes on, and use that for length of bat. The charts are worthless.

I would stick with the drop 10 weight.

[jayhawk]

Kevin, with the exception of MichaelTurd, it really does seem like everyones kid here is the future offensive line for an NFL team or the next Brock Lesnar.
I want to know what you folks feed your kids! My son is 60 lbs soak and wet and less than 5'0" at 10 years old.

[LLdad]

Brock Lesnar apologized for his post fight behavior the other night because my kid told him too.;)

I have one of the small ones...well, short at least. He's getting stockier by the day but soccer season should take care of some of that.

[2999hits]

I'm guessing there's a correlation between larger then normal youth players and the desire of their parents to put the best tool in their hands. The 60 pound 9 year old genrerally doesn't have enough bat speed to realize and true difference between bats.

My kid was 4'11" 125 pounds and hitting HR's at 200 ft at 9 so I decided that he might benefit from the higher tech bats so the research (this site is one of the tools) began. I was pointed in the Combat direction and couldn't be happier.

I can tell you the one person I've met in person from this site has a 5'6" 10 year old, no fabrication on his part. Honestly what's the point of misrepresenting your kid to a bunch of strangers that you will likely never meet.

[D_wats]

I can tell you the one person I've met in person from this site has a 5'6" 10 year old, no fabrication on his part. Honestly what's the point of misrepresenting your kid to a bunch of strangers that you will likely never meet.

That's freaking big. One of the parents (a really big guy himself) was talking about how big he thought his son would be (6-8 or so). My reply was that unless Keegs is going to excel at basketball I have no desire to see him over 6" 5' or so. Really now how many 6-8/6-10 baseball/football players do you see.

Like any parent I'm interested when I hear of a kid hitting the ball as far as mine. With a couple of exceptions the ones I've seen/read about don't appear to have much of a future in baseball, unless they put down the donut holes and put on some running shoes, LOL. I don't mean to offend anyone but I've been really surprised at how many pretty overweight kids I've seen on the baseball field.

[tom2p]

Quote:
I'm guessing there's a correlation between larger then normal youth players and the desire of their parents to put the best tool in their hands. The 60 pound 9 year old genrerally doesn't have enough bat speed to realize and true difference between bats.
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Agree - but in some ways, it is the small/lightweight player that can benefit more from the ideal bat - a high-end bat with a significant drop - than the bigger more accomplished player. Especially at 9 an 10 yrs old.
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While most of the bigger kids may benefit from a high end bat, I believe most of these same kids would hit the ball well with just about any bat - provided the bat was the appropriate size (length/weight). With the smaller kids, many of them would struggle to generate the bat speed with the heavier bats.
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[2999hits]

Agree - but in some ways, it is the small/lightweight player that can benefit more from the ideal bat - a high-end bat with a significant drop - than the bigger more accomplished player. Especially at 9 an 10 yrs old.


I've never had trouble finding cheap lightweight bats ($50) on the internet (-13 and -13.5) but I do agree that getting the correct weight bat in the hands of all kids is vital. When it comes to the composite, multi wall, 50/50 construction gear you need to get enough compression on the barrell to really see the results.

Although I know my son could hit with any bat there's no comparison bewtween how the ball comes off his well broken in B1 and a $50 aluminum bat.

[tom2p]

For some of the more accomplished players - on the small LL fields with a 200 ft (or so) fence - the bat almost does not matter. They will hit the ball out with a $40 bat - just as they will with a $200 bat. One ball may travel 225 ft - the other 235 ft. And they will hit hard shots to the infield that few LL infielders will want to mess with - again - with any bat.
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Often, it is the size/weight of the bat that matters as much (or more) as the construction. Give a kid 22 ounce bat - any 22 ounce bat - and with good bat speed he will hit a well pitched ball out (over 200 ft fence).
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[tom2p]

jayhawk - my kids are relatively small and skinny .... no future NLF OL !
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My oldest kid almost always used one of the smaller bats on his team ..... I made sure he could swing fast/hard - with good form/mechanics.
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My youngest kid a little different - also skinny - but stronger and has more power - so he uses a bat that is bigger/heavier than my oldest kid did (when he was at that stage). Still uses a relatively small bat when compared to some other kids.
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I am big on bat speed - good bat speed - with good form/mechanics. Don't want to see kid with big hitch, bad balance, head moving, etc. Also don't want to see kid starting swing prematurely to get the bat on the ball - that does not translate well into future success when kid will see variety of pitches - including change-up and breaking balls.
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Also bigger on OBP, avg, etc - than I am on home runs. Must admit, home runs are great - but not wise to lose focus on the other aspects of hitting. Also must consider that many long balls that go out now will just be fly balls that are caught in the outfield when kids are on the big field in middle school.
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jayhawk - my oldest kid was similar size to your kid at that age - one of his fav bats was DeMarini Voodoo - -11.5 drop - 2007 model. Highly recommended for kid that size. Bats he preferred - TPX Omaha XS Scandium (29-17, 30-18), Worth Wicked Insanity (29-17), and DeMarini Voodoo (29-17.5, 30-18.5). Also used a F2 (29-19) and F3 (30-20).
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