I researched Tee Ball and Coach’s Pitch baseball bats a bit today.
You can get a Tee Ball bat for under $30 but the “Coach’s pitch bats” or “Youth” bats sell for $80-$250.
There is probably not much difference in the performance of the Tee Ball bats so it is probably fine to just grab one from Target, Sports Authority, Dick’s or Wal-mart.
But as a comparison, you might consider the basic option for a 4-5 year old from Louisville Slugger: the Omaha Tee Ball bat.
It comes nice and small:
24″ / 13 oz.
25″ / 14 oz.
26″ / 15 oz.
This is a called a -9 bat because it has 9 less ounces than inches. In general, you want to use as light a bat as you can find.
But apparently Tee Ball bats are not really designed for hitting a pitched ball.
A point of comparison then for the next size up is the Louisville Sluggers Omaha Coach’s Pitch bat for a 5-6 year old.
They are slightly bigger than the Tee Ball bats:
26″ / 16 oz.
27″ / 17 oz.
28″ / 18 oz.
This is a called a -10 bat because it has 10 less ounces than inches.
Neither of these Louisville Slugger Omaha bats are composite bats but are rather aluminum ones. A lot of composite bats have been outlawed this year by leagues because they hit farther and faster than aluminum ones (and have the accompanying dangers).
I would like to get two bats for our three and five year olds to start using: the smallest Tee Ball bat (24″ / 13 oz.) and the smallest Coach’s Pitch bat (26″ / 16 oz.).
P.S. Leagues have unique rules about which bats are allowed so it is smart to wait until you know those rules before purchasing. For example, counterintuitively, our “Coach’s Pitch” league for 4-5 year olds only allows Tee Ball bats labeled as such and does not allow “Coach’s pitch” bats.
See also my post:
MacGregor Batting Tee is sturdy for kids and college players
and my
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