Hands down the Baum bat was our choice. Great pop, my son says its not much of a downtick from his Marucci CAT9 comp bat, and is unbreakable. Depends on the kid obviously but mine would break 1-2 per tournament and the costs began to add up. The Baum bat is expensive ($250) for wood but my son has used it for three years now and claims it still has the same pop.