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Updated August 4, 2022
By Bat Digest
We take most of these from our major best bat articles and narrow them down to the bats we think are best for the 13-year-olds.
After hours of testing, lots of feedback, and recording exit speed data, we’ve come up with a narrowed list of our favorite bats for a 13-year-old. In USSSA, we like the CF as the best bat for a 13-year-old. If you’re in the USA bat market for a 13-year-old then check out the ADV 360 in a drop 5. BBCOR players who are 13 will like the light-swinging Easton Maxum.
We updated this list with most of the 2020 bats. Many 2019 options remain on the list as they didn’t beat out the new versions of the bat and can still reasonable be found on major vendor sites.
Certification: USSSA
Sizes: 30, 31, 32, 33
Barrel Size: 2 5/8
Drop: 5
Swing Weight: Mid+
Serial Number: WTDXCB522
Original Price: $350
Release Month: October 2021
$350
Original Price
Look, this bat is a monster. If you are 13 years old and are allowed to swing this bat, then thank your lucky stars. Sincerely, it will NEVER get better than this. BBCOR bats are duds compared to this monster. It is, without a doubt, the best-performing legal bat on the market today. Some other drop 5 bats hit it well, too, in USSSA, but swing this bat as a 13-year-old if you can because you’ll one day be able to tell your grandchildren that you were one of the few who got to swing the drop 5 CF as a teenager. Swing hard, run harder.
Certification: BBCOR
Sizes: 31, 32, 33, 34
Barrel Size: 2 5/8
Drop: 3
Swing Weight: Light
Serial Number: BB20MX
Original Price: $400
Release Month: September 2019
$400
Original Price
There are a lot of light-swinging bats in the BBCOR space. But, we like the 2020 (or 2022) Easton Maxum 360. The bat has a massive barrel and comes in a 31-inch we think should be the right size for many 13-year-olds. That said if your boy needs a smaller bat. Do NOT buy the right bat in the wrong size. If you want/need a smaller bat, go with something like the Solo from Slugger or Voodoo that come in 30-inch lengths.
Certification: USA
Sizes: 30, 31, 32
Barrel Size: 2 5/8
Drop: 5
Swing Weight: Mid+
Serial Number: YBB20ADV5
Original Price: $300
Release Month: September 2019
$300
Original Price
If you have to swing a USA bat and you are 13 years old then we like the ADV in a drop 5. Unless you are just a massive 13-year-old, if you can swing either a BBCOR or a USA bat, then we say choose the drop 5 in USA as that lower swing weight in a drop 5 will really help with bat speed. We are fans of the drop 5 ADV in USA for a 13-year-old, a great pick, great bat.
Why We Love the 2022 Zen
Look, this bat is a monster. If you are 13 years old and are allowed to swing this bat, then thank your lucky stars. Sincerely, it will NEVER get better than this. BBCOR bats are duds compared to this monster. It is, without a doubt, the best-performing legal bat on the market today. Some other drop 5 bats hit it well, too, in USSSA, but swing this bat as a 13-year-old if you can because you’ll one day be able to tell your grandchildren that you were one of the few who got to swing the drop 5 CF as a teenager. Swing hard, run harder.
Certification: USSSA
Barrel Size: 2 5/8
Sizes: 30, 31, 32, 33
Drop: 5
Serial Number: WTDXCB522
Release Month: October 2021
Why We Love the 2020 Maxum 360
There are a lot of light-swinging bats in the BBCOR space. But, we like the 2020 (or 2022) Easton Maxum 360. The bat has a massive barrel and comes in a 31-inch we think should be the right size for many 13-year-olds. That said if your boy needs a smaller bat. Do NOT buy the right bat in the wrong size. If you want/need a smaller bat, go with something like the Solo from Slugger or Voodoo that come in 30-inch lengths.
Certification: BBCOR
Barrel Size: 2 5/8
Sizes: 31, 32, 33, 34
Drop: 3
Serial Number: BB20MX
Release Month: September 2019
Why We Love the 2020 ADV 360
If you have to swing a USA bat and you are 13 years old then we like the ADV in a drop 5. Unless you are just a massive 13-year-old, if you can swing either a BBCOR or a USA bat, then we say choose the drop 5 in USA as that lower swing weight in a drop 5 will really help with bat speed. We are fans of the drop 5 ADV in USA for a 13-year-old, a great pick, great bat.
Certification: USA
Barrel Size: 2 5/8
Sizes: 30, 31, 32
Drop: 5
Serial Number: YBB20ADV5
Release Month: September 2019
Our general rule is to take the player’s age and multiply it by the number of games they will play. So, a 13-year-old playing 25 games this year should spend NO MORE than $325 on their bat.
Of course, many variables go into how much you should spend, but we like to put a maximum on parents so they don’t feel torn between spending too much. At $325, you can get most of the fastpitch bats in the space.
The 13-year-old bat market has many options since it has become the nexus of every league and age. There are 13-year-olds still playing USA or USSSA leagues, as well as a new crop playing BBCOR. You also have some leagues that restrict bat drops to 5 or 8 only for 13U. Throw in the fact that some 13-year-olds are huge while others are still waiting to grow, and you have a verifiable cluster of bat options. To say the least, narrowing down all the bats out there to the best is a terrible proposition as it depends on what you want. This is, of course, to say nothing about wood bats.
The right size bat for a 13-year-old depends on their league. If it’s BBCOR, the most common bat size is 31/28, followed by 32/29. If you’re in USSSA or USA, the correct bat size for most 13-year-olds is a 32/27. You can see more commentary on our bat size chart here.
We surveyed over 100 13-year-old players in BBCOR leagues to determine the correct bat size. We found the most popular size as 31/28, followed closely by 32/29. Many BBCOR bats, you may have noticed, don’t come in a 31-inch.
Our survey also showed that more people were happy with their 31/28 than their 32/29, but not by much. We’d suggest a 31 for most and a 32 if you feel you know what you are doing. See more bat sizing data here.
We did a similar thing with our non-BBCOR playing 13-year-olds. We found sizes all over the map, with the most popular as 31/26. However, the 32/22 wasn’t far behind.
We’d do all we could to shy away from the drop 10 bat market as a 13-year-old. BBCOR is right around the corner and making the jump from a drop 10 to a drop 3 might be a bad idea. As well, many leagues are imposing drop bans on the 13U teams. For example, USSSA doesn’t allow 13-year-olds to play with anything other than a drop 8 or 5. (Effective January 1, 2020). Even if you are in a non-BBCOR or USSSA league, we’d suggest getting as much weight in the bat as you can swing to get you ready for freshman ball right around the corner.
At the time of this writing most of the 2020 baseball bats have hit the market. We don’t think there is much to hold out for especially in the drop 8 or drop 5 space. Often, and we expect it this year, big companies like DeMarini come out with a limited edition CF for the holiday push. But, those unique color ups are the same bat with a color up. So, if you’re not in the mood to wait around and get something potentially unique then we’d suggest you dive right into the 13 year old bat market.
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