Posted by: coachld (ldlaflam@yahoo.com) on Fri May 9 10:04:59 2008

Please help...I am really confused by bat barrel size. Why would you not want your child to hit with a smaller barrel at an early age? My son is 8 and uses a 2 1/4 bat (29/17...he is 4'6/88lbs) even though most of the kids on his team use 2 3/4. I purchased the bat thinking that it was a requirement in his leage but I must be wrong because all of the kids on his team are swinging the 3/4. I don't know what my son's batting average is but I know that he has not K'd all year and I could count on one hand how many times he has hit into an out.

I am a football coach so I don't know much about baseball other than what I have learned on sites like this along with my little league experience. However, it seems to make sense to me that learning to hit the sweet spot with a smaller barrel would make them that much better when they move to a bigger barrel. Am I way off base or should I look at getting my kid into a larger barrel?