My son is moving up to 13u and he wants to get a drop 5 bat before he has to go to the drop 3. Is that a good move or not? I don't know if it matters or not but he is 5'9 and about 135 lbs.

Thanks.

When we were 13 we had all our players move to -5 at 13; thats a good move.

Ringer1 son moved to a minus 5 during his 14u year. Can't tell you if it made a huge difference or not though.

Check your PM..

Had one that did and one that went straight to a -3. I Don't know that I noticed a difference or if it would have made much.

Let me say this.... and this is strickly my OPINION IT IS NOT BASED ON SOLID FACTS,... but several years ago the legal drop for High School bats was a -5 then it changed to this -3 and BESR Certified. First they had to have a sticker then they realized you could take the sticker off and put it on another bat that maybe WASN'T CERTIFIED so the embeded painted on BESR Stamp was invented. Well this left a lot of -5's on the selves at a lot of Sporting Goods Stores... and I am sure in surplus, so what do we do with them??? We'll call 'em TRANSITION BAIT I mean BAT or was it just a gimick to sale more bats???

What ever it was they are here and some use them and some don't. Let your son decide, if he feels more confident then by all means get him a -5 or just continue with what you have. I have a -5/31" Louisville Slugger Air Attack2 that is like brand new I will give you. Remember though that by the time they reach the 9th grade they will have to use a -3 and with bats being as expensive as they are and lasting about a season and 1/2 or so choosing the right one can be another hair pullingexperience... I always wait until the new bats come out and buy the last years model for about half the cost.... hey it's a new bat....

I can tell you that the -3 bats are much more durable, My son went thru three bats a year using the -8's and -5's ect... now its one a year.

quote:

Originally posted by nortexbaseball:
I can tell you that the -3 bats are much more durable, My son went thru three bats a year using the -8's and -5's ect... now its one a year.

I agree some what, I just think that the technology finally got tweaked around enough that they got the bats right.

For what it's worth my Son's prefer EASTON STEALTH's

My son that is 21 transitioned to a -5 when he was 13 yrs old and my current 13 yr old started working w/ a -5 last Fall. I would recommend a -5 if your son is strong enough to handle it. We had a player on our team that handled my son's 30/25 Dynasty better than his Rawlings that was 31/23 (or close to a 23). Not sure if it was the balance or what, but his speed, power and contact drastically improved. Pretty interesting.

If he really wants to swing the 5 drop, let him. If you force a drop 3 into his hands, he's going to want to dump it as soon as he starts struggling.

I developed a theory about bat weight and how it would impact my son when he was about 12. This was about the time the -3 was going to be mandated for hs play. I thought it was best to introduce him to the -3 (and wood) in the pre high school years allowing him plenty of time to adjust to the slightly heavier bat making the transition to HS play easier. At the same time I devised exercises that would strengthen his wrists and forearms to help handle a heavier bat. Rice bucket, thera bands etc --- and LOTS of soft toss. While he was strong for his age I wouldn't say he was exceptionally strong. He handled the -3 and never looked back. I have always felt it was best to adjust your son UP to the game instead of trying to adjust the game DOWN to your son. It's possible that he may have sacrificed a few hits when he was 12 by going to the -3 earlier than mandated but I'm sure it helped him hit a few more home runs in high school and college. I believe it helped in the long run and would do it again.
Fungo

My son went to the drop 5 in the fall of his 14U league. We then started the 14U season with it, then about a month later went to the drop 3. He had no problems with the adjustment. You can go straight to a drop 3 from your drop 8 or 9, they may struggle a little at first, but they will get the hang of it. It's a confidence issue though. If you go straight to a drop 3, then they may struggle a little longer and the confidence then can struggle as well. It's an investment we were willing to make, and it paid off. He has batted 4 hole for the past two seasons.

Try to see if you can borrow one and see how it feels first before you take the plunge if you can do that.

Texan Son went -3 and loved it. Never looked back. It really isn't that big a difference (between -5 and -3).

Don't make a big deal of it. Just hand him the new bat & he'll want to go hit with it. All will be well...

OA5II


great post topic.. if you have any more good story ideas pass them along to me

dmcnabb@theoldcoach.com....

I pitch stories to Baseball America buddies and this will be one... although i always have to check that those seamheads hadn't already done it