Given 2 players as equal as possible in all respects, how much better if at all would one be than the other, if at age 10 he began practicing with wood, the other never used a wood bat and both take the same number of swings under the same conditions.
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The player using wood will get training the other player won't. The kid using wood will be training to hit off a small sweet spot. When he picks up metal he will get the best results. He will be hitting off the sweetest spot of a large sweet spot.
i remember in 14u my son fisted a line drive double down the line. I commented to a parent with wood he would be holding a bat handle as he went back to the dugout. Those fisted hits with metal can create a lot of false confidence.
i had my son hitting with wood in BP starting at eleven. Starting with 16u almost every tournament was wood.
Concur with RJM. My 2018 has been using wood in the off season and fall teams since he was 11U. As his fundamentals have improved, and using wood preseason to metal during season there's a noticeable difference between his performance compared to the other kids that don't do this.
His club team now dictates the players use wood in the fall and during off season training.
Having my son use wood in LL BP frustrated him. One of his teammates hit a lot of homers in BP. With wood my son would hit line drives to or off the fence with an occasional shot over he fence.
i told him when his teammate washes out of the game before varsity remember I told him so. This kid's moon shots were routine fly outs by varsity tryouts.
RJM posted:Having my son use wood in LL BP frustrated him. One of his teammates hit a lot of homers in BP.
LLWS would definitely be more competitive with wood. New metal bats changed the game. Turn on TV and you see strikeouts and check swing HRs. Was always told that deficiencies in swing aren't masked with wood. Depends on player but son preferred wood that he used with American Legion each summer.
7.3742% better.
Sorry, that was snarky. My real answer is, who knows?
2019Son's travel team only uses wood in both practice and games, with the exception of a few national tournaments in which metal is allowed. Does it help them become better? I tend to agree with RJM that it does, for the reason he stated. How much it helps them is unknowable, IMO.
2017s travel team uses wood only. Both fall and summer. Since he started using wood 2 years ago you can see a difference in his swing. Has some nice line drive hits with the wood. When HS season starts and he is "allowed" to use a metal/composite bat he really smacks the $**t out of the ball. Its from learning to swing a bat properly using a wood bat.
different opinion here, in LL I would say there is no advantage what so ever. it is bombs away from u10-u12. Let the boys enjoy it is supposed to be fun.
At 13 we trained with a BB core all winter and played a split season with BSER (or whatever the exact letters are) and BBcore. the minus 3 did what was needed for weight, strength etc. The sweet spot is what is, the object of every kid is to hit it square regardless of the material.
The fall of 14u he started playing some wood bat, by the fall of 15u it was almost exclusively wood bat. We actually have an advantage with wood now because he hits the sweet spot a higher % of times then 90% or more...but he never trained once with them until he was 14.
The other side of it is my younger one started training wood at 11 because his coach thought it was important...it wasn't he is no better or worse because of it. Now he claims he is better hitter with wood, we all know that is just silly but you can't convince a 14 year old of that!
Bottom line is if the boy can hit, trains well, uses a good approach to his AB's it doesn't make a damn bit of difference what he trains with at 10,12 or 14 IMO.
What matters is if he training properly so when they make the switch to wood it really isn't an issue.
Stats4Gnats posted:Given 2 players as equal as possible in all respects, how much better if at all would one be than the other, if at age 10 he began practicing with wood, the other never used a wood bat and both take the same number of swings under the same conditions.
Generally speaking, I would say that metal bats are better for kids before High School. It's easier to get a bat for them that fits them for bat control where wood can be too barrel weighted for some to control. For this age group, the metal give tend to provide confidence as there's larger sweet-spots and balls can also be hit somewhat effectively when contact is outside of the sweet-spot. While the latter might be of some advantage, what it does is create a habit of not consistently squaring up the ball on the sweet-spot. Then when they get older, the wonder why they break so many wood bats with they later on start playing with them.
Once kids get into HS, it's a good idea to practice as much as possible with wood to develop the habit of squaring the ball up on the smaller sweet spot. This not only helps with producing better hits when using metal in HS, it also help develop better at-bats where the player learn to be more selective about the pitches he will go after and how he goes about trying to make contact.
Let them have fun with Metal through 6th grade. around 7th and 8th grade, begin to use wood bat regularly to prepare for future wood bat showcases/tournaments and too improve overall hitting. My 2019 went about it this way and does just fine with wood bat.
RJM posted:i remember in 14u my son fisted a line drive double down the line. I commented to a parent with wood he would be holding a bat handle as he went back to the dugout. Those fisted hits with metal can create a lot of false confidence.
i had my son hitting with wood in BP starting at eleven. Starting with 16u almost every tournament was wood.
RJM, that logic is a head shaker. He had been training with wood from 11 and at 14 he couldn't hit the sweet spot and got jammed. Confidence is huge in baseball. Sounds like a solid kid that stuck with the game. Many kids frustrated at 11 might switch to Lacroose. So the LL kid that was flying out in HS VS tryouts was all because he didn't swing wood in LL BP. I am glad that kid got a chance to hit some over the fence. You just can't make this stuff up.
From what I have seen it takes very little time to adjust from bat to bat. There is not much difference in swing weight from BBCOR to wood.
Do you play "pepper" with wood ?
Bob
real green posted:From what I have seen it takes very little time to adjust from bat to bat. There is not much difference in swing weight from BBCOR to wood.
There's a lot of adjustment when as the pitching velocity increases the more wood bats are broken when the ball is hit off the end of the bat or just above the hands. Doing so with a BBCOR bat can produce a little better hits and keep the bat as reusable. 
real green posted:RJM posted:i remember in 14u my son fisted a line drive double down the line. I commented to a parent with wood he would be holding a bat handle as he went back to the dugout. Those fisted hits with metal can create a lot of false confidence.
i had my son hitting with wood in BP starting at eleven. Starting with 16u almost every tournament was wood.
RJM, that logic is a head shaker. He had been training with wood from 11 and at 14 he couldn't hit the sweet spot and got jammed. Confidence is huge in baseball. Sounds like a solid kid that stuck with the game. Many kids frustrated at 11 might switch to Lacroose. So the LL kid that was flying out in HS VS tryouts was all because he didn't swing wood in LL BP. I am glad that kid got a chance to hit some over the fence. You just can't make this stuff up.
You're missing the point. My son took the training advice. The other kid refused. On the double my son was fisted. He only got a hit because he put the best swing he could on a tough pitch. But a lot of kids would get a bunch of these kinds of hits off very hittable pitches and believe they are good hitters. The other kid was out muscling the field. He hit homers in LL getting fisted. With false confidence his father and he didn't see the need to improve his swing. It came back to bite him. He didn't make varsity.
The most swings a kid will get is in BP. I believe taking BP with wood forced my son to focus on hitting with the sweet spot of the bat. My son was five feet when he was twelve. He owned the league. He finished second in homers. He had a high quality swing. Of course he used metal in games. As a 5'2 13u player he was hitting line drives. From there it was just a matter of growing and filling out to hit for power. A lot of kids who fooled themselves with metal flopped when hey hit the 60/90. Kids a lot bigger than my son.
its also just personal experience and opinion based on the experience. Like results, experiences may vary. I know kids who never touched a wood bat until 16u who were good players.
Consultant posted:Do you play "pepper" with wood ?
Bob
Do kids play pepper anymore? I don't believe I've ever seen kids in my son's generation playing.
Why not? It is a great game. Teaches hitting, fielding and throwing and without effort
Bob
Playing pepper was great for my son and his travel team teammates when they were starting to get warmed up before a game. (And yes, they did it with wood or whatever bats they were going to play with at a tournament)
Consultant posted:Why not? It is a great game. Teaches hitting, fielding and throwing and without effort
Bob
I'm not disagreeing. I just didn't see it. Almost everywhere we played through 16u didn't allow batted balls on or near the field before games. We only got BP if there was a cage. Soft toss or tee work required a net. We often did pregame with whiffle golf balls.
Luv pepper but it is truly a dying game. I had my team play it in spare time from 9 to 12, kids loved it. the moment I quit coaching I don't believe any of them ever played it again! different coach different agenda.
