Published by Kyle Hodge, Lead Engineer
USA Baseball  Approved Bats (USABats) are designed to perform much like wood, where their performance is limited to the highest performing wood. But as outlined below, the benefit of a USA certified bat outweighs the wood bat considerably.
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Wood bats are a traditionalists dream but give a youth player very little benefit. Youth wood bats will have a noticeably smaller sweet spot due to the barrel size being small to keep the bat lightweight. This is extremely noticeable if you compare a wood bat to a composite USA bat. The barrel length and diameter will be much smaller on the wood bat. For the average youth player, a Composite or Alloy USA bat will provide the following:
- Larger sweet spot (higher average exit velos)
- Lower MOI which allows the players to have a higher swing speed and more barrel control
- Noticeable reduction in vibration on mishits
- One piece Alloy would be only a slight vibration change
- Composite/Hybrid bats will have the most vibration canceling properties
- Lighter Drop weight or overall all weight (-10, -12, -13)
- Check out the Hero, our lightest USA model (Perfect for Coach Pitch)
- Durability – can last multiple seasons or until player needs a bigger bat.
In summary, to give your kid the biggest advantage possible get them an Alloy or Composite bat instead of living in the 1800s. We all enjoy the benefits technology has given us just remember that when you’re driving to the game in 100F heat with the AC blasting instead of riding a horse.Â