But this season, for the first time, Little League is banning most composite-barrel bats because they enable kids to hit the ball too fast and too far. The moratorium follows years of percolating concern about injury rates in youth sports. The timing of the youth ban caught bat makers, retailers and parents by surprise. Little League, the world's largest youth baseball organization with 2.6 million participants, announced bans on composites for older kids and for its giant 12-and-under divisions last year.