What Should I look for in a baseball bat

What You Should Know

• Recognize different materials used in making baseball bats and how they impact young hitters
• Learn to correctly identify various parts of a bat
• Understand various bat certifications and league rules

Introduction

How hard can it be to buy a stick to swing? Well, researching and selecting that right baseball bat have grown quite complex since the days of playing stick ball.

There are literally thousands of baseball bat models on the market in terms of lengths, weights and designs made from wood, metal and composite materials.

In addition, young players often want to swing a bat that is too long and/or heavy because they think it makes them look cool or hit the ball further. Some some parents fall into the same trap of buying an oversized and expensive bat thinking their child will grow into a bat and use it for few years. This approach will work as your child’s growth slows in later years but the same approach will most likely NOT work when your kid is growing leaps and bounds every few months.

Just keep in mind that when your child is young, you should be focusing on them being a contact hitter with with a set of good swing mechanics and swing speed. Hitting long balls will come naturally as your child gets stronger.

Below is my recommended age appropriate baseball bat types:

• 5 to 7 year olds (T-ball) = one-piece, alloy bats; USABaseball or USSSA certified (depending on your league rules)
• 8-12 year olds = one-piece alloy bats or two-piece, composite bats; USABaseball or USSSA certified (depending on your league rules)
• 13-14 year olds = one-piece alloy bats or two-piece composite bats (drop 5); USABaseball, USSSA certified or BBCOR (depending on your league rules)
• 15+ year olds = wood bats (meet length limit; no certification required) or BBCOR certified, one-piece alloy bats or two-piece composite bats

I highly suggest you breeze through the remainder of the article to gain a good understanding of good and bad baseball bats before making a purchase.

After reading this post, you should head on over to “Ultimate Sizing Guide to Baseball Equipment” to size the right baseball bat for your child.

Table of Contents

• Baseball bat materials
  • Metal (a.k.a. alloy or aluminum)
  • Composite
  • Hybrid
  • Wood
• Anatomy of a baseball bat
• Bat Certifications
• League Rules
• Illegal Baseball Bats
• Bat Preparations
• Bat Sizing Guide
• Buying a Used Bat?
• Key Takeaways
• Frequently Asked Questions

Metal baseball bats

Alternatively referred to as an alloy or aluminum bat, metal bats became popular in the mid-1970s due to its high durability and lighter weight (due to the hollow barrel design) compared to wood bats.

Given that youth leagues are operating with a tight budget, a team sharing three or four bats among rec players for the entire season or two made perfect economic sense over wood bats which broken quite often.

The barrels and handles may be made from different types of aluminum or other alloy metals with each with varying degrees of durability, length and density.

The higher quality of a particular alloy (i.e. aircraft aluminum) offers reduced bat stings as well as longer usage so bats made from these materials will demand higher prices.

Metal bats also tend to be lighter because the barrel is hollow.  A lighter bat obviously makes it easy for young players to learn how to swing but you need to keep in mind that the weight distribution is considerably different than that of a wood bat.

In addition, due to the general public perception that metal bats pose a significant safety risk to youth baseball players due to high exit velocity (i.e. speed of a batted ball), most leagues limit the use of metal bats to very young players (i.e. T-ball or Farm A/AA) where balls tend not be hit that hard, making the exit velocity a non-issue.

Single-wall vs Double-wall

The barrel of a modern aluminum bat comes in a single-wall or double-wall design, identifying how many layers of metal makes up the barrel of a bat.

Single wall metal bats are more widely accepted among youth baseball leagues because the barrel design lowers the exit velocity of a batted ball when compared to most double wall bats.

A double wall structure, also referred to as a double barrel, offers a wider sweet spot region and higher durability due to added mass. Most composite bats are almost always multi-walled and even some some alloy bats are multi-walled.

However it is important to note that most youth leagues DO NOT ALLOW a double barrel one-piece alloy bats!

Durability

By far, metal bats are the most durable materials used in making baseball bats. However, they are NOT indestructible.

If your child constantly makes contact near the end cap (and some kids slam their bats on the home plate or ground when striking out), the metal will potentially split, rendering it useless.

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Composite baseball bats

Although graphite / plastic bats developed in the 1980s were the first “composite” bats, today’s composite bat industry was based on carbon fiber bats made by Miken in the 90s.

Why did composite bats become popular? I can think of two reasons.

First, the composite bats are lighter than alloy bats which means that while maintaining the same weight as an alloy bat, composite bats can be made longer.

Manufacturers did exactly that by elongating the barrel length which in turn gave batters a larger sweet spot.

Second, young batters were exposed to less hand stings (hand stings are caused by hitting the ball on a non-sweet spot on a bat) because the composite materials tend to mute the vibration and a larger sweet spot meant less chance of hitting outside this region.

Most composite bats are made with a layers of carbon fiber, plastic and resin that is very durable and some bats come with adjustable weight distribution (i.e. balanced to end-loaded – more on this later)

Because the composite bat’s lifespan is directly correlated to how many balls it hits, you should save your game day bat for games and use an alternative bat during batting practices.

Unlike alloy bats which can be used right from the store purchase, composite bats require a break in period to loosen up the resin and compact fibers in the bat. You should follow the manufacturer’s specific guideline but for the most part, you will need to hit around 200 balls (make sure to rotate the ball after each 20 or so hits).

Lastly, you want to make sure that the bat is NOT TOO LIGHT for your child. If your child is the strong type, makes consistent contact with a baseball and uses a lighter bat than he can truly handle, he will most likely end up breaking the bat after a short period of time.

How Composite Bats are Made

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Hybrid baseball bats

Most commonly referred to as a two-piece bat, a hybrid baseball bat consists of both composite and aluminum materials.

In such configuration, a handle is usually made from a composite material (to reduce hand stings) and a barrel is made from alloy and this combination allows the bat to have the trampoline effect when the ball umps off the bat after contact.

Because the batted ball’s exit velocity (speed of a ball when bat makes a contact) is increased due to this trampoline effect. most composite bats are used for older players, with BBCOR being used by high school players.

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Wood baseball bats

Characterized by its well know “crack” sound after hitting a ball, wood is the tried-and-true material for baseball bats.

Wood bats were reserved mostly for the professional ball players but the recent trend is for younger players use them as well (I have seen some 11u players experimenting wood baseball bats as most national youth leagues allow wood bats around 11u-12u age group).

Still, under most circumstances, you will see few high school kits using wood bats due to its heavier weight in comparison to composite bats.

Out of all wood types, the most common wood bats are made from ash, maple and birch with each wood type having it’s own unique traits:

• Maple bats
• Ash bats
• Birch bats
• Bamboo bats**

** Bamboo bat is technically NOT wood but classified as grass

Maple wood bats

Maple wood bats are the most common type of wood bats used to day by the MLB players.

The strongest maple bats are made from sugar maple trees, also referred to as rock maple, these bats offer a hard hitting surface with minimal flex., which are usually made from sugar maple trees, are fairly stiff and heavier than other wood bats but is also very durable.

Maple has curly wood grain which makes it extremely dense.

Due to weight, I recommend this bat for older youth players (13+).

Ash wood bats

Usually made from Northern White Ash, are lighter and softer which results in the flex or springboard effect appreciated by many youth players.

Before maple bat’s recent popularity, the majority of wood baseball bats were made from ash trees.

In contrast to maple’s density, ash is a softer wood which allows a bat to flex, providing the trampoline effect.

Due to how the grains are structured, ash bats will eventually wear out where grains will de-laminate.

Ash bats are more forgiving than other hard wood bats so ash bats tend to have larger sweet spots.

Birch wood bats

Birch baseball bats are not too common as they are imported.

Birch baseball bats provide a good mixture of hard-hitting surface (like maple) and flex (like ash).

Birch is a lighter than maplewood aluminum bats tend to be more affordable than wood, perform equally well regardless of temperature, and last longer than wooden bats. The downside is they tend to have a smaller sweet spot.

Bamboo “wood” bats

Unlike trees, bamboo shoots grow at a rapid rate and it can be harvested and regrown in a very short amount of time (about three to five years). So switching to bamboo based products would alleviate the stress on the world’s forests.

Bamboo bats are made by pressing bamboo strips together with adhesives into a billet. The billet is then carved and shaved into the shape of a bat and processed with finishing touches.

Because of the steps required to make a billet, bats are considered to be composite so they are NOT allowed in MLB.

Furthermore, most national youth leagues do not permit the use of bamboo bats either so check with your local league before making the purchase.

So why would you want to buy a bamboo bat? Because if super strong and highly durable which means you can use it during practice without worrying about breaking it often.

How Wood Bats are Made

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Anatomy of a Baseball Bat

Before digging into which baseball bat to choose, you should first get familiar with the various parts of your lumber. Every bat can be broken down into five essential regions: the knob, grip, handle, barrel and endcap. Beginning from the bottom, the knob helps keep your hands in place as they hold onto the grip of the bat. Next, your bat’s diameter tapers from the skinny handle to the wider barrel. The barrel is where you should look to make contact with the ball. Lastly, an endcap can help improve your bat’s control while limiting the added weight.

All baseball bats share the following five “parts”:

• Knob
• Grip / handle
• Taper
• Barrel – the area where the ball makes contact with a bat
• End / End cap

Knob

One of the most important aspect of swinging a bat is to NOT grip your bat too tightly. A loosely held bat allows a batter to do three things:

• adjust his wrist for maximum bat control
• increase bat speed
• wrist roll over (after making contact with baseball) to complete the swing motion

Another words, a grip that is too tight will restrict his bat swing mechanics which is not desirable. A tight grip will also increase the likelihood of a wrist pain on the bottom hand nearest to the knob (the pain is caused when the bottom hand’s rigid wrist hits against a rotating knob).

Most youth players use a bat that is either a single-piece metal bat (commonly used in tee-ball) or a composite bat. The most common knob design for metal and composite bats is the oval design.

The Axe knob is a trademarked design from AxeBat which states that “…Axe knob is engineered for the biomechanics and ergonomics of your swing, the axe handle supports your most natural and efficient movement through the hitting zone” (you can get the supporting details from the UCLA research paper here). Axe knob only comes with a single piece BBCOR or USABaseball/USSSA composite bats. Another words, the axe knob design is NOT available for wood bats.

The convex design is relatively new and it’s goal is to minimize the wrist paint that comes with gripping the bat too tight.

As young players transition onto the “big” fields (60×90), most start to wood bats. Like the youth bats, wood bats come in two knob designs: oval and smooth.

Oval knob is most commonly used for 13 and 14 year old players who are still learning to hit with a heavier wood bat. Most older players, including professional ball players use the smooth knob design which allows maximum wrist rotation.

But because the knob no longer functions as a stop (and players grip their bats loosely), batters sometimes lose their bats when they fly off their hands (a reason why some ball players wear batting gloves or apply tar to their bat handles).

Grip/ Handle

The handle is where you place your hands. Almost all metal and composite bats come with pre-installed grip tapes to keep hands in place (in lien of tar) and limit hand stings when contact with a ball on the non-sweet spot (more on this later) of a bat.

As stated previously, most players using wood bats apply tar to their bats, though some do wrap their wood bat handles with a grip tape (my son uses VukGripz).

Taper

This is where the bat’s skinny handle transitions into the wider barrel for all wood bats and most metal bats.

For youth composite bats, this taper section is where the handle material (usually metal) gets connected to the barrel material (layered carbon fiber).

s is an area where a handle transitions into a barrel.

MNext, your bat’s diameter tapers from the skinny handle to the wider barrelost composite bats are 2-piece design

Barrel / Sweet spot

Batter’s success comes down making hard contacts with baseballs on a consistent basis.

But that does not mean your child needs to be like Paul Bunyan and swing a tree limb to hit baseballs.

On the contrary, most professional coaches say that using a properly sized 2 1/4″ bat (especially for young players) is far better than letting young players swing a big barrel (i.e. 2 3/4″) bat.

The sweet spot, which is the location on a barrel for maximizing how far the batted ball travels after being hit can be calculated scientifically, is more crucial in aiding your child’s hitting development.

On average, the sweet spot on a baseball bat starts around 5 inches away from the end of the bat and extends 3 inches on a barrel from that point.

If you want to find area more accurately, you can grip the bat handle with one hand (normal grip placement) and take a hammer and gently tap at various places along the barrel. When you find a region where you feel no vibration is the sweet spot.

End / End cap

The end of the barrel may be referred to as the top, end or end cap of the bat.

Alloy and composite bats have a plastic piece to cap off the end of the bat. For most composite bats, the end cap is used to vary the weight distribution . For example, end loaded bats sacrifice a bit of bat control to give it more pop when making contact with a baseball.

Wood bats, on the other hand is made from a solid piece of wood so they do not have end caps. Instead, the end of the bat is either flat (or slightly convex) or cupped (concave).

Why is the end of a baseball bat cupped? Cupping of wood bats is done to lessen the weight by few ounces while keeping the overall length of the bat the same. Cupping also keeps the sweet spot at the same location on the bat.

However, if a batter consistently makes contact near the end of a cupped bat, the cupped area will split or crack which will make the cracked bat illegal to be used in games.

If your child’s upper body is very weak, his swing tends to pull the results in “bat casting” or bat pulls away from the boWhen purchasing a composite bat with variable end cap weight,

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Bat Certifications

Below is an outline of the baseball bat certifications issued by USA Baseball, USSSA, BBCOR and BESR [1] governing bodies.

Check with your league but most require bats with one of these certifications.

Softball bats usually come with an USA Sotball (formerly known as ASA) or ISA stamps (Diamond Sports Gear has an excellent article about softball bat certifications so if interested, go here to read it)

[1] BESR certification was discontinued on December 31, 2011.

USA Baseball

Following the footsteps of the BBCOR standard used by NFHS and NCAA, the USA Baseball bat standard established a wood-like performance standard for youth baseball bats starting backing in January 1, 2018.

Prior to USA Baseball certification, most bat manufacturers used BPF 1.15 label and a league approval stamps.

As of this writing in 2022, all national youth leagues require either the USA Baseball or USSSA certifications for alloy and composite bats. As usual, all wood bats are excluded from this certification requirement but you should first check with your local league rules.

For a detailed information on the USA Baseball bat certification, read this article from USA Baseball.

USSSA

Founded in1968 as the United States Slow-Pitch Softball Association, the name was officially changed to the United States Specialty Sports Association (or sometimes referred to as U-Trip) in 1997 to reflect the growing governing body of Slow Pitch softball, Fast pitch softball, baseball, basketball and golf.

The USSSA certification is measured by “BPF” (Bat Performance Factor) which is simply the increase in the liveliness of a ball hitting a bat compared to throwing a ball against a solid wall. There are three USSSA BPF ratings:

• BPF 1.15 – baseball
• BPF 1.20 – Fast pitch / slow pitch softball
• BPF 1.21 – Senior League Softball

Unlike the USABaseball and BBCOR certified bats, USSSA certified bats include “big barrels” or barrel size with 2 3/4″.

Because USSSA bats are higher performing bats than USABaseball bats, you cannot use USSSA certified bats in a youth league that uses USABaseball bats.

Conversely, you *can* use USABaseball bats in USSSA leagues (but you probably don’t want to do that).

You can read the most up-to-date USSSA bat rules here.

BBCOR (Bat-Ball Coefficient of Restitution)

When your child “graduates” onto the big field (60’x90′ field), most travel and school teams will require them to use a baseball bat with the BBCOR stamp on it with some leagues offering a 1 year transition period where players can use a USA Baseball stamped drop 5 bats.

Some parents confuse and think that their child can use a USA Baseball stamped drop 3 bats instead of a BBCOR bat. This is incorrect.

“Drop 3” (-3) or “BBCOR” or “BBCOR 0.50” all describe the same exact bat (I have yet to see a drop 3 bat that does nto have a BBCOR stamp on it so if you do, please send me a photo).

BBCOR is the standard certification used to level the playing field for baseball bats used by high school and college ball players:

• Must maintain the length to weight ratio of drop three (-3)
• Maximum barrel diameter of 2 5/8-inches
• Maximum length of 36 inches

Unlike the USA Baseball or USSSA certifications, BBCOR certication standardizes the measurement of the trampoline effect of the bat when a ball makes contact.

Just remember that BBCOR stamp is required for alloy (usually a 1-piece design like the Louisville Slugger) or composite (usually a 2-piece design like Demarini) bats.

Wood bats are permitted to be used without the BBCOR markings as long as the length and weight requirements for a particular league/school are met.

BESR (Ball Exit Speed Ration)

Ball Exit Speed Ratio or BESR was the standard that used to govern High School and Collegiate play up until December 31, 2011.

Similar to USA Baseball and USSSA certifications, BESR measured the exit speed of a batted ball.

Under this certification standard, it was required that all non-wood bats have a maximum exit speed of 97 mph.

Like BBCOR bats, BESR bats had to have no more than a drop 3 (-3) length to weight ratio, had to have a 2 5/8-inch barrel and could not be longer than 36 inches.

As of January 1, 2012, all BESR bats were banned from use in high school and collegiate level baseball, and can no longer be legally used anywhere.

If you are coach or manager and allow your player to use one of these bats and someone gets hurt, you may end up being liable so check all bats!

League Rules

Although USA Baseball certification is pretty much standard for many national youth leagues, you want to confirm what bats are allowed for your specific local baseball league.

• Little League – USA Baseball, max 2 5/8″ barrel diameter; for certain age group, you may be allowed to use BBCOR bats (for wood bat info for Little League, click here for more info)
• Cal Ripken (under Babe Ruth, not Ripken baseball) – same as Little League rules (Cal Ripken bat rules)
• PONY – USA Baseball certification stamp; for 2 /5/8″ barrel size; USSA for 2 1/4″ barrel size; max 42 inches in length for -4 through -12 (PONY bat rules)

Illegal Bats

Bats become illegal for two reasons:

• The original specs on a bat is under-rated when compared to the current rating standards
• End-user modifies their bats (post-manufacturing mods)

In the case of end-user bat modifications, here are three common methods:

• Bat rolling – bat is rolled between 2 rollers to “squeeze” the barrel to increases the trampoline effect; artificially increasing the trampoline effect allows a batter to hit the ball farther

• Corking – exclusively for wood bats where a long hole is drilled in the middle of the bat and cork material is added for additional pop
• Bat Shaving – shave the inner layer of alloy for alloy bats or composite bats with alloy barrels in order to reduce weight

Not only is it wrong to teach your child that cheating is okay, your child may actually end up hurting a defender. so the bottom line is DON’T DO IT!

For the up-to-date list of illegal bats, you can read the list from BatDigest.

Bat Preparations

Alloy and wood bats are considered to be “hot out of the wrapper” meaning you can start using them right away with no further preparations.

On the other hand, manufacturers recommend that you “break-in the barrel” for composite bats.

Why do I need to break in a composite bat?

To achieve maximum performance, the resin (glue that holds carbon fiber layers) needs to be loosened and fibers compacted.

Some people wonder if the break-in process will reduce the lifespan of a bat, but the manufacturers state that as long as baseballs are hit with 40-50% strength, the lifespan will not be negatively impacted.

How do I break in my composite bat?

The brak0in process consists of hitting around 50-60 baseballs, then rotating the bat a quarter-turn and hit another 50-60 baseballs to loosen up resin between carbon fibers.

Simply repeat the process until you have batted the manufacturer’s recommended number of baseballs (usually around 200-250 baseballs)

It is best to mix in hitting off a tee, soft-toss and live pitching during the break-in period.

Keep in mind that most manufacturers will VOID their warranty if you hit off of non-baseballs (i.e. dimpled balls) thrown from a pitching machine!

Bat Sizing

Please read my nifty Baseball Equipment Sizing Guide for your bat sizing needs.

Buying a Used Baseball Bat?

Also, please keep in mind that Benefits of buying a new bat:

• Composite vs Metal
  • Bat stings on hands happens when a player makes contact with a ball near the top or the handle of a bat (non-sweet spot)
  • Stings tends to be worse for metal bats because they are more prone to transmitting the vibration
  • Hand stings for composite
• Ripped or compressed handle wraps
  • Handle wraps can provide a great protection against vibrations; because these bats are used by many players over 3-4 years, bat wraps tend not to be in good shape
• Bat is too long or short for your child
  • If you are child is smaller or larger than the average size (refer to the CDC sizing guide in my Ultimate Sizing Guide to Baseball Equipment post), the team bat most likely will also be too short or small
• Larger barrel size
  • You can choose between 2 1/4″ or 2 5/8″ barrels. Although larger barrels provide slightly bigger hitting surface for easier hitting, they tend to be heavier than 2 1/4″ bats

Having said the above, you can get some great deals by purchasing a used bat but I recommend first physically inspecting the bat, then if possible hit some balls on a field.

Here are some things to watch out for and ask the seller:

• Make sure the bat has the proper certification standard required by your league (the only exception would be if your team is playing in the Cooperstown tournament where any non-modified bats can be used)
• How old is the bat? Composite bats will lose its “pop” when stored in a hot environment (i.e. trunk of a truck in Arizona)
• Was it used for rec games, travel games or both? Travel pitchers throw faster and travel batters hit harder and often. More contacts means reduced lifespan
• End cap area of a bat tends to crack first so closely examine this region; also look at the paint on the barrel area for any long horizontal surface cracks (this indicates that the bat has been rolled)
• If you can, bring a tape measure and weight scale to detect if the bat has shaved or rolled
• Grab the bat by the barrel and gently tap the handle/knob on the ground; you should NOT hear any rattling sounds (rattling sound means the bat is broken)
• Roll the bat on a flat ground to see if the bat is bent

Because you need to physically inspect the bat, I recommend buying a bat from:

• Craigslist
• Facebook Marketplace
• Sideline Swap
• Play It Again Sports

Key Takeaways

Frequently Asked Questions About Baseball Bats

• Metal to wood bat transition
  • Antonelli Baseall (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbVavnJzL8c)
• What does drop 10 mean on a baseball bat?
• How do you determine baseball bat size?
• How do you pick a bat for Little League?
• What drop bat should a 13 year old use?
• Is a one-piece or two-piece bat better for youth players?
  • One-piece design is usually heavier than a two-piece design so one-piece bats are favored by bigger and stronger players with above average bat speed (power hitters)
  • Two-piece bats provide greater flex at contact, creating a “whip” effect that results in increased bat speed so they are suited for contact hitters. Two-piece design also reduces bat stings which occurs when a ball makes contact off the sweet spot
• What’s the difference between USA and USSSA bats?
  • USABats are designed to mimic wood bats; USSSA bats are not the they perform with much more pop (ball comes off the bat quicker)
• What does 1.15 mean on a bat?
  • 1.15 indicates BPF or Bat Performance Factor which measures how fast the ball comes off the bat (exit velocity). 1.15 BPF is the standard for travel teams and it comes in 2 1/4″, 2 5/8″ and 2 3/4″ (big barrel) barrel sizes.
• What bats are legal for Cal Ripken?
  • Cal Ripken (part of Babe Ruth league, NOT Ripken Baseball) players must use bats that have the USABat stamp on them with the barrel size not exceeding 2 5/8″. BBCOR bats can only be used in the Pony/Senior Leagues and Babe Ruth League (13+ years old).
• Why are USSSA bats illegal?
  • USSSA bats are not legal where USABaseball bats are used because USSA bats perform better (better pops)
• Why was the USABaseball certification created?
  • USA Baseball standards were created to reduce the pop, thereby behaving more like wood bats while maintaining the durability of metal bats
• What does BBCOR .50 mean?
  • All non-wood BBCOR baseball bats will have the “BBCOR Certified . 50” stamp (pictured above) on it, typically, just above the handle or on the taper of the bat.
• How can you tell if a bat is broken?
  • grab the bat by the barrel and gently tap the handle/knob on the ground; good bats will make a clean “tap” sound; broken bats will make an odd rattle sound (the best way to describe this sound is when your have a sheet of paper rapidly vibrating in front of a fan). Keep in mind that certain composite bats will naturally make a rattling sound (i.e Rawlings Threat composite bats)
• How long does a bat last?
  • A durability of a baseball bat is not necessarily linked to the usage duration. As far as the durability is concerned, most one-piece alloy bats will last 4+ years as long as they are not abused. On the other hand, composite bats have a definitive shelf life of around 2 years (shorter if your child is a strong hitter and plays for a rec and travel teams). Usage duration, however, is linked to your child’s growth rate. If your child is growing like a bean stalk every few months, you will have to shell out for a longer/heavier bat.