BBCOR Bat Size

A bat is a personal item. It’s hard for anyone who hasn’t seen him play to tell him what bat he should be using. All I can recommend is a bat he’s quick with regardless of size.

My son moved from a 32/19 to 33/30 junior year of high school. He was 6’1” 170, hitting for power and rarely striking out. He moved to a 34/31 as a 6’2” 190-195 college player.

A more balanced voodoo, atlas, catX would probably be perfect.  My 2024 swings a 33.5 Bonesaber Hybrid.  6'2 180. I think the extra 1/2" is kind of a novelty for him.  Not many guys use that size.  Gets it thru the zone on time fine. 

Thank you - trying it out in person would be our ideal, but we really have not been able to locate the specific bats or sizes that he is looking at locally (we probably should have tried some out at the cool baseball store we visited while at the tournament in Georgia this summer as they seemed very well stocked, but we did not think to do so), so we are estimating quite a bit based on other bats he has used/tried.  The responses with age/weight comparisons are helpful as we guestimate - much appreciated!

You will not go wrong with a balanced 33". The Atlas is amazing. 

As mentioned, bats size is a very dependent on the person using it. My son was a 5'11, 150lb sophomore swinging a 32 Meta. He was ok with it. He picked up a 33 Goods and mashed with it. Had him try a 33 Voodoo and he hated it. He's now 6'1"+, 195, and still uses the Goods.

Are there any batting cages he can go to with friends to try different bats? I always ordered from Justbats because they had an easy return policy and had most bats in stock.

We love Just Bats (I do not work for them ).  Yes, the boys try out one another's bats all of the time and I know they all have their favorites - mine loves his Voodoo One.  Yes, they make ordering, etc. easy - it would just be awesome to try bats side by side to compare.

Baseball04;

With 2 strikes he should "choke" up the 33.5" on the handle. Handle should be tapered. Watch films of Barry Bonds. How long is his arms?

Bob

@ILoveBaseball04 posted:

We love Just Bats (I do not work for them ).  Yes, the boys try out one another's bats all of the time and I know they all have their favorites - mine loves his Voodoo One.  Yes, they make ordering, etc. easy - it would just be awesome to try bats side by side to compare.

Pretty sure this is frowned upon, but I've purchased a couple bats at a time in the past and just kept the wrapper on them. After a couple rounds of BP he would tell me which he liked best and we returned the one he didn't like.

@Consultant posted:

Baseball04;

With 2 strikes he should "choke" up the 33.5" on the handle. Handle should be tapered. Watch films of Barry Bonds. How long is his arms?

Bob

Long arms, long legs.   He is contemplating the 33" or 33.5," and perhaps there really is not a significant difference between the two.  Thanks!

@TerribleBPthrower posted:

Pretty sure this is frowned upon, but I've purchased a couple bats at a time in the past and just kept the wrapper on them. After a couple rounds of BP he would tell me which he liked best and we returned the one he didn't like.

Considering how difficult it is to find some of these bats locally in stock (I've tried calling around), this is a smart approach.   

Balanced or end weighted shouldn’t matter. When a player gets to college ball it’s, “Here’s you bat.” If you can hit, you hit. If you can’t hit you blame it on the bat.

My son never liked DeMarini bats. He never used one except to try it. He got to college and was handed his DeMarini bats.

Bats digest has great information on Moment of Inertia(resistance to swing, end load vs balance) analysis on bats.  As a general rule, adding an extra inch of bat is a bigger change than going from a balance bat to an end loaded bat.

I would always choose control over additional length.  Consistent hard contact is more important than occasional really hard contact.  Son loves "The Goods". Max exit velo on 33" at 102.  Max exit velo on 34" was 107.  He said the 34" felt great but his hard contact rate went way down.

If, and it's a big if, he can handle the extra length, it will add power.  Most college players hit a 33".  A few mashers step up to a 34".  In high school, there aren't a lot of guys that can handle a longer bat.

@JETSR71 posted:

Bats digest has great information on Moment of Inertia(resistance to swing, end load vs balance) analysis on bats.  As a general rule, adding an extra inch of bat is a bigger change than going from a balance bat to an end loaded bat.

I would always choose control over additional length.  Consistent hard contact is more important than occasional really hard contact.  Son loves "The Goods". Max exit velo on 33" at 102.  Max exit velo on 34" was 107.  He said the 34" felt great but his hard contact rate went way down.

If, and it's a big if, he can handle the extra length, it will add power.  Most college players hit a 33".  A few mashers step up to a 34".  In high school, there aren't a lot of guys that can handle a longer bat.

I agree with all of this and had he not already performed very well against excellent competition with a 33" wood bat in recent tournaments, I'd likely be refusing and telling him to stick with the 32".  But he actually said he feels like he is hitting better with the 33" wood than the 32" BBCOR and says he really likes the extra length and it feels like the right size.  Still, we may be leaning towards the 33".  He can always go up to a bigger size later if he really needs to. Thank you!

I think mentally he still thinks like a "contact hitter" (he was a younger/smaller youth player every year), even though he's now strong enough to hit for some power.  So his mental bias seems to be towards the balanced bats when he has the choice. 

Baseball 04;

Mike Diaz, former Pirates OF nicknamed "Rambo" had a special bat, when he hit off Dwight Gooden. 33" 31 oz. and he was deep in the batters box.

Bob