USA Baseball, the national governing body for the sport of baseball in the U.S. has gotten into the bat performance business.  Please see the below quote from their website:

“USA Baseball, the national governing body for the sport of baseball in the U.S. in conjunction with participating national member organizations has adopted a new method for measuring bat performance in the testing of youth bats.”

How does this effect travel baseball?  To answer this question, first you have to understand who falls under the USA Baseball Umbrella.  The short answer to that is, any organization that governs community league baseball falls under the USA Baseball Sanction.  Below is a list of organizations that are members of USA Baseball.

AABC
Babe Ruth Baseball/Cal Ripken Baseball (This does not include Ripken Tournaments)
Dixie Youth Baseball
Dixie Boys Baseball
Little League Baseball 
PONY Baseball

Now let understand the bats themselves.  The folks at USA Baseball and their member organizations got together and decided that they wanted youth bats (13 and under non BBCOR) to perform more like a wood bat. See the below quote from USA Baseball

“Similar to the NCAA and NFHS BBCOR standard, which helped to eliminate discrepancies with different length bats and thus provide a more direct measure of bat performance, the USA Baseball bat standard will allow youth baseball organizations in the United States to reach their goal of establishing a wood-like standard, a standard that will provide for the long-term integrity of the game.”

Now, there is another entity that governs the performance of youth baseball bats.  Since 2012 USSSA Baseball has used the 1.15 BPF for 2 ¼”, 2 5/3” & 2 ¾” barrel bats.  This standard was developed by NYU Physics Professor, Dr. Richard A. Brandt, over 15 years ago. The BPF standard is based on fundamental laws of physics that allow Dr. Brandt’s testing lab to measure the relative performance of bats to be used in USSSA play.  Based on its on field experience with the BPF standard, USSSA believes that the 1.15 BPF standard for 14U and younger Big Barrel and Small Barrel baseball play provides an excellent performance level for the game. 

The USSSA BPF 1.15 will be continued to be used by Travel Baseball Sanctioning organizations.

The difference between the two standards is actually very simple.  The USSSA BPF 1.15 bats will be more lively and will, simply put, hit the ball further and the USA bats.

In conclusion, USSSA bats are not permitted to be used in game play in any of the USA Baseball member organizations (Rec League). However, Outlaw players can use either the USA licensed bats or USSSA licensed bats. Please be aware, that using the USA bats will put the player in competitive disadvantage.