Is this really needed? How does this effect players coming to college and making the transition to heavier bats at that time?

🚨 Big bat news: New drop weights are coming to high school baseball. But don't worry, you don't have to buy a new bat. 

Here's what to know: 🧵 pic.twitter.com/zjPiscLRJp

— USA Baseball (@USABaseball) July 8, 2026

This is a terrible decision for USA Baseball.

Just like the good ole days of the early 90s!!

This doesn't take go into effect until 2028 so maybe they will come to their senses and overturn this.

Still BBCOR so it will have little to no difference. Just lets a 120 pound, 14 year old freshman swing a bat he can actually handle.

That's a key point, and one that I was not considering in my earlier post.

Maybe they should just swing the right size bat. I've seen too many kids swinging 32" and 33" bats when they should be in a 29 or 30. Or maybe stop swinging a Goods when what you really need is a Voodoo. And get in the weight room.
My sons started swinging BBCOR back in junior high to get ready for high school. Nobody cares what you did in junior high. One's playing in college now, and the other was hitting 90+ off the mound with 100+ exit velo as a high school 2028.

While I don't disagree, a 30 inch BBCOR bat is hard to find and they have to swing BBCOR in high school. I just don't think this is creating a huge advantage as the COR is the same and what little added swing velocity they will gain will be traded for the lack of mass behind the ball.

Agz96 said:

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Maybe they should just swing the right size bat. I've seen too many kids swinging 32" and 33" bats when they should be in a 29 or 30. Or maybe stop swinging a Goods when what you really need is a Voodoo. And get in the weight room.
My sons started swinging BBCOR back in junior high to get ready for high school. Nobody cares what you did in junior high. One's playing in college now, and the other was hitting 90+ off the mound with 100+ exit velo as a high school 2028.

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a full grown kid can swing a -6 (I'm pretty sure the one hanging in my garage from 1993 is a -7) to great effectiveness.. it's not just about little guys wanting to swing big bats.

I can promise you there will be high school coaches making their kids swing -6.

I get that there's a physics equation where there's a point of diminishing returns by reducing the mass of the bat and these are supposed to be the same level of performance but if you're a big strong kid getting 95-100mph exit velo with a -3, how much more bat speed can you generate with a -6? Will that be enough to overcome the reduced mass??

The main thing is that the bigger drops have to be limited to sub-varsity play. If you're not able to handle a -3 as a HS senior or varsity player then maybe baseball isn't for you.

I came across a sports science post that estimated that the increased bat speed would result a 4 mph increase in EV. However, the same increase in bat speed with a -3 would result in a 5 mph increase in EV.