Fastpitch vs slowpitch softball bats: what differs

The verdict

How each one is sized

This is the difference that trips people up first, because the two categories do not use the same vocabulary.

• Fastpitch is sized by drop. Drop is length minus weight: a 30 in bat at -11 weighs 19 oz. The drop lets a maker sell the same length to a light 10-year-old and a strong 14-year-old at different weights. Fastpitch drops run -13 to -8.
• Slowpitch is sized by weight. The Easton Tantrum on this page is sold in 25.5, 26 and 27 oz. No drop is printed because the length barely varies: slowpitch is a 34 in game.

That difference tells you who each category is for. A sizing system built around drops exists because the players are growing. A sizing system built around ounces exists because the players are not.

Barrel length is the visible difference

Put the two bats side by side and the barrel is what you notice. Both use a 2 1/4 in barrel diameter, so the difference is not width; it is how much of the bat is barrel.

The long barrel is a direct consequence of the pitch. A slowpitch hitter sees a ball arriving slowly on a predictable arc, so the design goal is the largest possible hitting surface. A fastpitch hitter has a fraction of a second, so the design goal is a bat that can be started and controlled.

Certification, and why the marks do not transfer

Both games are certified, and by overlapping bodies, which is exactly why this gets confusing. The marks are not interchangeable even when the acronym is the same.

Little League Softball requires a 2 1/4 in barrel and the BPF 1.20 print under Rule 1.10, with a 33 in length cap. USA Softball and USSSA certify fastpitch and slowpitch separately, and a bat approved for USSSA slowpitch is not thereby approved for fastpitch. Easton and Rawlings both use the term “All Association” for fastpitch bats they consider approved across the sanctioning bodies; that is a maker's phrase, not a stamp, and it never appears on a slowpitch bat.

Can you use one for the other?

In a sanctioned game, no, in both directions. In the back garden it matters less, but it is worth knowing what actually happens.

A youth fastpitch bat used in a slowpitch game is legal nowhere and, more practically, is far too light: an adult swinging a 19 oz bat at a lobbed ball gets nothing out of it. A slowpitch bat used by a fastpitch player is both illegal and unusable: 25.5 oz in a 34 in length cannot be started in time against a pitcher, and the extra barrel makes the swing weight worse.

And a baseball bat is a third category again: a 2 5/8 in barrel with a USA, USSSA or BBCOR mark, legal in neither softball game. That comparison is on youth baseball bat vs softball bat.

Why families ask this question

Almost always for one of three reasons, and the answer differs slightly for each.

• There is an adult slowpitch bat in the house. The one from a work league or a parent's team. It is not a spare for a fastpitch player, on length, weight and certification. Buy a fastpitch bat; the budget options start at $59.99 on fastpitch bats under $100.
• A parent is starting slowpitch themselves and shopping in the same place. Fine, but they are two separate purchases, and this site covers the youth fastpitch side.
• Someone has been told slowpitch bats “hit farther”. They have longer barrels, not a higher performance ceiling, and each game's certification caps its own bats. A longer barrel is not an advantage against a pitcher you cannot time.

If you are buying for a fastpitch player, the sizing question is settled on the fastpitch bat size chart and the ranked options are on best fastpitch softball bats.

Side by side