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May 7, 2020 | by Brian Duryea | @BatDigest
Answer Categories: 13 Year Old, BBCORSee All Dear Bat Guy Answers
Dear Bat Guy,I’m 12 years old, almost turning 13 and 5,2 in height. I’m just getting into middle school baseball. My school team requires a -3 bat, which is mainly BBCOR. But all the bats are really expensive. Which bats do you recommend? I don’t know if a 29-inch, 30, or even a 31-inch is good? I like balanced bats and lighter bats so what BBCOR bats do you suggest for me that are light or balanced and cheap? What size should I get it in?
Chase
Chase,
Fun times ahead for you. A 13-year-old in a BBCOR bat is always a tough one. That jump to a 27-ounce bat or so is a real one.
You have two options.
Crazy enough, if you survey all the 13-year-olds who play BBCOR bats (which we did), you’ll find the most popular bat size is a 31/28. Although it feels heavy at first for most of them, it ends up working out pretty well as their strength and timing get better.
So, we’d suggest you go with a 31/28—despite it feeling heavy—in an inexpensive but good BBCOR bat like the Omaha series. Or, if you’re feeling crazy, try to find an older two-piece composite BBCOR bat on Sideline Swap or eBay.
In terms of light and balanced (which sort of mean the same thing to us) we’d go for a two piece composite. Consider a bat line like the CF, Quatro, 919 or ADV/Ghost series.
One quick search as we wrote this out was a 2018 CF Zen for the mid $100s.
Otherwise, look at our older best BBCOR bat options and see if you can’t find one on a used market site.