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I know my son still has some time on this topic but he is 11 years old and plays USSSA Major baseball. USSSA allows the use of senior league bats, inwhich he has used for the last 2.5 seasons. The question is when should he start making the transition to the -3 bats of high school? The summer season prior to freshman year? Eight grade? Seventh Grade? or just weight until try-outs?

He is pretty large kid, 5'3", 125 lbs but I know if I put a -3 bat in his hands now he couldn't get around on an average fastball, or adjust to a change up.

How did your kids go through this transition phase? Did they just swing a -3 bat during practices and still use the light weight bat in games or did you all follow a set plan for this to happen. I have seen many -5 bats out there, I guessed they are called powerhitter bats or something like that. Anyways, I didn't have to go through this transition when I was growing up because we didn't have these fancy light weight bats, so this is a new experience for me. Thanks for all your advise and wisdom ahead of time.
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My son took about half his hitting practice cuts with a -5 wood at ~10/11YO. Then took about half his cuts with a -3 wood at 12/14YO. During this time he was using a -8 aluminum.

He started using a -3 aluminum the fall he turned league age 14 (e.g., after his 13YO spring/summer season). This gave him a full calendar year to adjust to the -3 before high school tryouts. He now uses a -2 wood in his hitting practice.

He is not a big kid, as he is a late grower.

I wouldn't be worried about an 11YO using a -3 in games yet. But I would have him swinging wood in some of his hitting practice.
Ditto CoachR

My son did the same thing ... wood in the cage year-round starting at age 12 (sized according to his size/strength), used -5 in 8th grade transitioning to -3 during the summer club season prior to going into HS. Now as a junior, he uses a heavy wood bat (34" -1.5) in the cage combined with wrist weights to work on handspeed and wrist/forearm strength. In games, he switches between a 33" & 34" depending upon the pitcher.

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