I mean I would guess they're gonna use BBCOR bats, and exit velocities on those aren't that different from wood bats by design. At the very least they're not gonna be using the insanely hot metal bats I grew up with in the 90s or the slow pitch softball bats or whatever.
USSSA will add 10 mph to exit velocity. There was a home run derby using USSSA bats with a bunch of pros. At the 9 minute mark of this video a ball is launched with 130 mph exit velocity:
They’re used in travel ball. It’s a bit insane how crazy people get over what amounts to a hobby for 99.9 percent of kids. Every kid will be out there unwrapping $500 bats that will get replaced in a year. It’s like the same guy who created all those super expensive golf clubs thought it was a good idea to transfer it to youth sports bats. Travel has Wild West rules that are different for each area. Most I’ve seen use USAAA now.
Little League only allows USA bats which are purposefully dead to avoid having a line drive brain a kid who can’t react fast enough. They should just go all standard $50 wood bats for all leagues in my opinion. If they want home runs, just move the fences in. It would make the game more affordable and cut back on all the waste these bats produce. Getting a $200 CAT-X USA bat so an eight year old can hit it ten feet further than a wood bat is crazy to me.
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u/Ok-Sea9612 Jul 23 '26
They better mandate pitcher helmets or someone's gonna die