Bat sizes/weights, etc.

Heck nyexpat, why worry about it now? You should have come here and asked the question BEFORE you bought the bat, not now that the boy has it. Let him go and have fun, and hopefully he’ll end up being the best hitter in 3 counties. If he’s that good, he’ll have plenty of time to adjust, and in the meantime you can be proud as a peacock.

Good luck to the boy!

thanks. i feel the same way.
i think he should just use the bat, but since i'm not a coach and wasn't the one who made him change the bat today, i got concerned that someone was f'ing with something that they shouldn't have been f'ing with ;-)
p.s. we got him the bat b/c he liked it and BEFORE we decided to let him play select.
it's just a game to me. am not one of those overbearing sideline types.

What size big barrel was he using? He can easily make the transition in phases, he probably should be using a big barrel -5 or -8.

Side note ; If he is whiffing it is more likely its not the bat.

Hi and welcome,
Just noticed you posted in two places so I'm copying my other reply...

I'm going to bounce around a bit. First, no, it wouldn't be horrible if he uses his current bat that he likes for one more season.
That being said, be aware that using a heavier bat has nothing to do with "going pro". The benchmark you need to be concerned with is that HS regulations, including freshman and JV ball, require use of a -3 (or heavier). If he is playing travel ball, I assume there is a high likelihood he will eventually want to play HS ball. It is definitely a good idea to start transitioning from the really light and narrow LL bats to something a bit heavier and wider sooner rather than later. Just as long as he can handle the weight - and at his size, he can certainly handle a bat heavier than 18 oz.

IMO, the most important thing is to avoid the thought process that he is hitting really well because of the bat. Focus on the skill development and really de-emphasize any notion that good results are largely equipment driven. He should grow to be confident that he can hit well with any stick. It's the indian, not the arrow.

Some other things to consider...

A really light bat (and -13 is as light as they come) means less mass to hit the ball hard, particularly as he starts moving up against harder throwers.

A wider barrel means less swing-and-miss when timing is good but bat plane is just off.

Hitters go through streaks regardless of how good the bat is. The bat he loves today is the bat he'll hate tomorrow.

When he starts playing travel, he will see most of the other players using the big barrels and will eventually want to do the same.

Best wishes and have fun.

Great Response!

I agree.
Thanks for taking the time to post such a sagacious response.

He's 11. If he's having success let him run with it and have fun. Plenty of time for baseball related stress as it becomes more serious down the road.

My son was roughly that size at 11 so I'm assuming a similar growth curve up to that point, and was using a 30/22. A -13 seems excessively light for all but the smallest/weakest 11 year olds, and echoing cabbagedad's post it's quite likely that a heavier bat would actually perform better. Depending on what grade he's in and what bats might be required for MS/HS in your area, I'd want to have him using at worst a -9/-10 now, with a plan to progress to -5/-3 as required (or as he grows).

up in this neck of the woods, -11-13 is typical for 11 year-olds. I know they try to get kids to use the big barrel for travel, but if he is still playing on a serious little league all-star team, the switching back and forth seems unproductive. He is 11. let him swing what he wants. My philosophy is that the little field is for development and fun.

Put myself in the camp of not understanding the need for flyweight 30 & 31" bats for for normal strength to big 10 & 11 year olds. Growing up, besides regular tournaments, both of my boys played in quite a few wood bat tournaments at 10-12 years of age. One won't find 29" or 30" long 19 oz wood bats, a 22 or 23 oz 29" wood bat is more the norm. Our best hitters at that young age hit with wood in the cages & had no problem hitting with 2 oz heavier wood bats in wood bat tournaments. Not a single one of them had problems moving into -5's or -3's.

Last Spring. my youngest faced quite a few smaller 14's & 13's in first organized school ball. Quite a few had just graduated from thin wall drop 10 & drop 11 big barrels to drop 3 bats. The vast majority of these ultra light weight bat kids couldn't hit it out of the infield with their -3's. I feel for them, but their parents sure didn't help them out any getting them ready.

After scanning this thread there is another issue at play than just the weight of the bat. First LL does not allow for big barrel bats. Travel does. We're talking about the diameter of the bat. The more meat on the bat the bigger the sweet spot. Also the pitching distance in travel provides four addition feet to pull the trigger. What might work for travel may not work for LL.

In principal I agree with everyone who said the hitter should use the biggest bat with the smallest drop he can handle. That said, with the way some kids can bring it in LL all-stars it may take a -10 to pull the trigger.

When my son was in LL he swung a -10 in games while swinging a -3 wood bat in BP. Due to this he had no problem making the transition to -3 at thirteen even though he was 5'2", 100.