Any Youth Baseball nuts out there? Need bat advice...

[Cebby]

Two of my sons are playing "fall ball" this year and since my oldest has a birthday in the middle of the fall ball season, he's asking for a nice composite bat.

We are looking at a number of options and have heard widely varying recommendations. The top reviewed bats seem to be The Easton Stealth Comp (http://baseball.eastonsports.com/bats/YouthBaseball.aspx?page=1) and the Louisville Slugger Exogrid (http://www.slugger.com/baseball/aluminum/exogrid/exogrid-youth-115.html). My son has used a friend's Demarini Vexxum for part of the season and has done pretty well with it, but I've read that these Demarini bats are known to lose their "pop" after a season or two. FWIW, the Demarini brand seems to be very popular around here, but the majority of the players we know who own these bats are marginal players, so they wouldn't know if a bat has lost anything or not. Thrown into the mix is the Demarini Voodoo (http://www.demarini.com/demarini/product1.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198674001344&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302759123&bmUID=1219291066329) and their Vendetta (http://www.demarini.com/demarini/product1.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198674001350&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302759125&bmUID=1219291110688)

My oldest led the league in homers and triples and tied for the most doubles. He's a big 9 year old - 5'-0", 105 lbs. I've been taking him to a college hitting coach, so he's only going to get better. Might as well have technology help him along...

I'm looking to tap the UY community for some experiential knowledge.

[benp]

I'm 17 years old and I have grown up playing Little League Baseball at one of our local parks and now I play baseball in the spring at my high school.

Currently, I have an Easton Stealth. I liked it a lot and it is a very nice bat. Ever since Little League though, I have seemed to like Louisville aka TPX bats better. I had an earlier Easton bat called the Zcore once and I HATED it ( I think it might have had something to do with me not having an overall great year that year), but still I have always seemed to have a slight edge towards Louisville. The Stealth has an interesting design to it. It's almost split into two parts so when the ball hits the bat, it sounds completely dead, almost like a wood bat. And it sounds this way from the moment you take it off the shelf.

My 14 year old brother, who unfortunatly seems to have more natural ability for baseball than I do, has had good luck with both Easton and TPX. His 12 year old year, he had an Easton and lead his team in homeruns.

In Little League, there is also a year where they move from a "skinny barrel" bat so to speak to a "big barrel". The big barrel has a bigger cirumference and has a -5 difference between height and weight vs. a -9 difference. Thats just something to look out for. If this is his last year before switching to a "big barrel" then you might want to hold off to get one until next year.

Basically, you can't go wrong either way. They are both extremely nice bats that will work very well. I think it almost comes down to a head game thing where you eventually think one brand (Easton vs. Louisville) seems to work better than the other. He should really swing the bat at the store and etc. before you buy it because that can really make a difference as well. Sometimes one just "feels" right.

I hope some of that information can be of use to you. Good luck in all your games this fall and spring.

[Cebby]

Thanks Ben. That's very helpful. He won't be into big barrel bats until after 3 more seasons - plus we can pass this bat down to his brothers, so I think we'll get our money's worth out of it.

[benp]

No problem Cebby. I'm glad that I could be off help. Buying one of these bats is a pretty big deal now a days because they cost you an arm and a leg and Little League is all about competition and who can be the best or who has the best bat. It's all so twisted and political with how the teams and chosen and the coach's son playing whenever and wherever he wants. Its a little ridiculous at times, but thats life.

I'm just glad some of my knowledge can actually be useful here on the forums for once! This site is just rich with information about Toyotas and pretty much everything that goes a long with them.

I have an 02 4Runner and I've been quietly reading the forums at YotaTech and over here for almost a year now, slowly building up priceless information about lifts, tires, mechanical stuff, you name it. Infact, I probably know all this stuff better than I do my equations for Calculus class. I think I'm actually getting ready to purchase a SS 1.2 lift soon and step up to some 285s and hopefully eventually get an ARB bumper as well.

[Cheese]

I have a Fatboy and a Doublewall Demarini that are a couple years old and sitting at my parents from when I played sofball. Both bats had 3-4 seasons on them and could still rip.

When I played baseball I used Eastons and really liked them for price and durability. That has been some time ago so I am not sure how much tech is relevant there.

Good on ya for helping the kiddos. I was always skeptical of really big dollar tools until the second at bat with the Fatboy. I went from being a reliable line drive doubler to clearing 300 foot fences once a game.

[Cebby]

Yep, my summers are consumed with baseball anymore.

This was my 5th year coaching in some capacity. The first three years, I was just an assistant, but last year I had my own coach pitch team and then organized and managed the traveling team (post season, lasts through July).

This year I had my own coach pitch team AND kid pitch minors team for the regular season - I also organized both the coach pitch AND kid pitch minors traveling teams this year. To top that off, I'm helping out with the fall ball team as well. Somehow I've gotten a good rep as a coach. :con:

I'm on the board of the local athletic association - will be a year as of the end of August. Next year, I'm taking over running the baseball league. These volunteer organizations are great when you have willing participants to put the time in. We've got a good core group of folks who help, but it seems it's always the same people - nothing irks me more than parents who think that it's a babysitting service - or worse, those who think their kid will get better without putting any work in at home.

Then there's the parental interference issues....but that's another thread entirely...

[Cheese]

Sounds like a good time. I was always lucky, neither of my parents were athletic so there was no pressure, they just encouraged us to have fun. Thankfully my bro is a natural athlete and did well and now I stumbled into the logging stuff.

Has any of that suit filed in VA? about the kid who was killed playing baseball impacted you guys and bats? I thought the parents were suing for compensation and a composite bat ban.

[Cebby]

Has any of that suit filed in VA? about the kid who was killed playing baseball impacted you guys and bats? I thought the parents were suing for compensation and a composite bat ban.


That's news to me - what happened? Did a kid take a shot off of a composite bat, or did one break apart?

[Cheese]

Hit in the chest with the ball, heart abnormality, dead.

Family sued Little League Baseball and Louisville IIRC. Problem was it was not a Little League sanctioned game and Louisville was legit.

I played first during baseball and was afraid of big lefties, some times the hand bruises were a turd on liners.

In softball, I tried really hard to keep the ball out of the infield at head height, I took out a couple pitchers and made some third basemen think twice about grabbing hot shots.

[Cebby]

Hit in the chest with the ball, heart abnormality, dead.

Family sued Little League Baseball and Louisville IIRC. Problem was it was not a Little League sanctioned game and Louisville was legit.

I played first during baseball and was afraid of big lefties, some times the hand bruises were a turd on liners.

In softball, I tried really hard to keep the ball out of the infield at head height, I took out a couple pitchers and made some third basemen think twice about grabbing hot shots.


They make a device called a heart guard that kids should be wearing if they are unable to handle hot liners. I've seen a handful of kids wearing these, but the ball always finds the kids not wearing them.

We had a nasty accident in our girls fastpitch league. A girl took a line drive to the face - caved in her cheekbone and did all sorts of nerve damage. This enacted a rule that the pitcher, 1st & 3rd base wear faceguards.

[chrisyota65]

i prefore the louisville and the easton bats and i had sucess with them both. so keep us posted on witch one you choose and how well he is doing with it

chris

[waskillywabbit]

If your oldest is 9 then I'll assume your others are younger. :D

I think part of the problem with the composite bats is the lack of sound like a normal bat when the ball is hit and the lack of sound causes slower reaction times...just an opinion.

We had (2) Eastons this season, a 27in and 30in, and will continue to use them in fall ball in 7/8 year old, as I mine are both in the same league in the fall and next spring. They are the most popular bat down here and some of the other bats are not Dixie Youth League approved.

The problem is when you get parents on your team that are too damn cheap to buy their child their own bat, usually quite a few do this every season, and then your bat gets used often and after a year it is "dead". Seen it happen a lot in all-stars when a team will get stuck on all using one bat.

:guitar:

[slosurfer]

Wow, I didn't get a "fancy" bat till I bought my own in high school. :flipoff:

Honestly, I always did the best with the bat that "just felt right". For me, the eaton bats felt better than the louisville bats.

Looks like I have some homework to do, Jack will probably be starting t-ball next year. :D

[chrisyota65]

yes you will