- Dec 11, 2010
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My girl is 5'3" (almost 5'4"), weighs around 120 lbs and is 13 1/2 years old. So far we've only played ASA. We only recently started getting into travel ball so I'm not sure what tournaments we're going to be entering in the future.
My daughter tried a friends 2017 32/23 (-9) LXT and seemed to hit the ball just as far as her 2014 Xeno 31/21 (-10) via front toss and tee work. Probably even farther but that's just me eye-balling things as nothing was ever measured. The one negative is that it looked like it slowed down her swing speed though. She seemed to do really good against the slower pitchers but seemed like she was late against faster pitchers and kept striking out. I'm not sure if this was attributed to too big of a jump in bat size? ie going up 1 inch in length and 2 oz in weight? I also thought I read somewhere that the 2017 LXT's were heavier than other years as well? Maybe a newer lighter 32/22 (-10) LXT would fit her better? I would say she can put some good pace on the ball when she hits it, but I definitely wouldn't consider her a power hitter as she's never put one over the fence. Not sure if that is the definition of a power hitter or not ?
Does anyone know how the 2019 LXT versions were? Better/worse than previous years? They're basically in the same price range as 2019 Xeno's and 2018 Ghosts right now.
The unfortunate thing is that I live in a smaller city. The closest place to try out bats would probably be like 3 hour drive. Maybe I just need to bite the bullet and make the drive.....
Waterpro, here are my quick thoughts on your situation.
My gut tells me the 32 -9 balanced does not fit her swing. Sounds like the mass of the bigger bat is cancelling out the increased bat speed she had with the 31/21 and the distance is pretty similar. A low drop balanced bat can feel/swing much heavier than an identical 32 -9 that has the weighting more toward the end of the barrel like Xeno or Ghost. Here is the problem with the -9 in games for your dd’s situation: When you have to commit to the swing too early, better and faster pitching will chew you up for various reasons. (Notice I said better pitching before faster.)
I think you have several solid possibilities here: If she hits the ball hard to all fields in front toss/games with the 31 Xeno, that bat still fits her good enough to keep using it. The next set of possibilities is a 32/22 Ghost, Xeno or LXT. The LXT is the different bat in the mix because it is a true balanced bat. The Ghost and Xeno will be the more similar bats of the three above. If you want to move her up a bat size, winter is probably the time to do it depending on how much you play. Hope this helps.