Welcome to Episode #3 of the Chasing Baseball Dreams podcast where Bobby talks to Ben Jenkins. Ben is the CEO of Warstic and a former Mississippi State shortstop. He designs bats for major league players. And in this conversation, he says the thing most bat companies won't say out loud.
The new USA high school bat rules are coming. Drop 4, drop 5, drop 6. Parents lost their minds thinking high school kids would be swinging USA bats that launch missiles. That's not what's happening. Ben breaks down why, and what the rule change actually means for your son.
But the bigger conversation here is about something most baseball parents have never thought about. The heaviest, longest bat your son can control and flush the ball with is the bat he should be swinging. Not the lightest one. Not the one with the biggest barrel. Not the one a reviewer ranked number one.
Ben talks about why mass matters more than bat speed when it comes to real exit velo. He explains why major league hitters almost never go lighter than a drop 2. He walks through bat profiles, from the 243 to the 271, and why the bat that looks the best almost never swings the best. He talks about what contact really means and why the game is shifting back toward hitters who can beat a pitcher multiple ways instead of swinging for the fence every at bat.
He also gets honest about something most CEOs would never admit. When Warstic had the number one ranked bat, not every kid who bought it was a good fit for it. That's the part parents need to hear. The "best bat" is only the best bat if it matches what your son does in the box.
We talk about his son Shaw heading to college baseball, the real reason kids struggle with a drop 3 in high school, why wood bats are one of the simplest and best training tools at any age, and how USA Baseball taking over bat standards from the NCAA could raise bat prices through licensing fees.
If you've ever stood in a store staring at a wall of 100 bats wondering which one your son needs, this episode will cut through the noise.
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0:49 ... Welcome and intro to Ben Jenkins, CEO of Warstic
1:18 ... The new USA high school bat rules explained
3:18 ... What bats were like when we played (beezers, BESRs, and taking ground balls from guys with drop 4s)
5:43 ... The myth that a lighter bat means more exit velo
7:01 ... Ben's bat formula: swing the heaviest, longest you can control and flush
8:42 ... Why flushing the ball matters more than max exit velo
10:02 ... Why mass wins the physics equation
12:19 ... MLB players who want smaller barrels than most 13U kids swing
12:46 ... Why bat reviews feel so good to parents (and what they miss)
16:56 ... Bat profiles: the 243, the 271, the 110, and why shape changes everything
21:20 ... The overwhelm of 100 bats on a wall
24:05 ... Should every player swing wood in the cages?
25:49 ... How a parent with no baseball background can tell if the bat is wrong
27:42 ... "My kid is behind, he needs a lighter bat" ... why that's almost never the answer
29:53 ... Contact is coming back (and real uniforms at the All-Star Game)
33:37 ... Transition back to the USA bat rules and the "sell more bats" conspiracy
37:51 ... How USA Baseball benefits from the rule change through licensing fees
40:36 ... Why kids struggle with a drop 3 in high school (and how to fix it early)
41:25 ... Ben's son Shaw and his team switching to drop 3 a year early
44:20 ... What if Shaw wanted to swing a competitor's bat?
48:37 ... Being real in the age of AI and the repaint story
#baseballbats #travelbaseball #youthbaseball #warstic #highschoolbaseball
52 mins