Bought this in a 27.5in -8, birch version for my son's 7th birthday. It was nice to be able to get him a personalized, Astros color scheme bat for cage use. The balance is nice and it seems like it has more pop than the new USA standard bats. He likes it so much I keep having to pull it off the bat rack come game time; his bat speed just isn't there yet with this. The only thing keeping me from 5 stars is the paint. First, the handle paint goes higher than I would have liked, it has an almost fungo look. This might be due to the barrel size, but just be aware. Second, the paint on the barrel is already flaking. Maybe this is normal, but I didn't expect it to happen from 200ish cuts from a 7 yr old. Overall I am very happy with the bat, and the customer service I encountered from Victus might be the best I have had. As a final thought, I like the .5 size offering; my thinking is it will last longer as far as matching his aluminum game bat, currently 27in (assuming he doesn't break it).