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By Bat Digest | Last Updated November 17, 2022
For several years DeMarini has created a beast of a bat in the Voodoo line, and many expect DeMarini to do it again this year. Hence the excitement for a wildly popular model that, year in and year out, has lived up to high expectations (if not outpaced them).
The 2016 Voodoo Raw will come in 4 categories: BBCOR, Youth (2 1/4), Senior Barrel, and, new to the 2016 class, a Junior Big Barrel (2 3/4). We took each version into the cage and have broken down their reviews below.
The BBCOR version will likely be the most popular of the Voodoo Raw bats. Like the 2015 Overlord FT last year, the 2016 Voodoo Raw showed head-spinning power and top-notch performance in the cage. With this bat, it takes just a matter of minutes to realize why players at all levels love the Voodoo. The 2016 BBCOR Raw pings perfectly on impact, feels flawless on contact, and hits homers you can’t bring back.
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There are some differences from 2015 Overlord FT worth mentioning:
The 2 1/4 youth line of bats from DeMarini’s hybrid line will include, again, a drop 13 Voodoo. Of particular note, the 2016 youth barreled Voodoo Raw, unlike all the other Raws this year, has a light swing weight (MOI). That fact, coupled with its massive size range of 28 inches up to 32 inches, makes it the most versatile Voodoo Raw in the entire 2016 lineup.
One fear we always take into the cage with a drop 13 is how easily hand sting can affect batter confidence—skinny, and light bats tend to wring your hands like the dickens on mishits. The last thing a young player needs is the fear of getting electrocuted every-time he attacks a baseball. But DeMarini’s two-piece technology in the Voodoo has come as close as anything to solving that issue in the light swinging bats. Overall
When reviewing baseball bats, it’s hard to think of negative things when there isn’t anything negative to say. The Voodoo is to the high-performance hybrid bat arena what the Rolls Royce is to the luxury car market in that it defines the space. It was the first (that stuck), it dominates the hybrid bat market, and it is the standard to which all other hybrid bats are compared. From T-Ball to Travel Ball to the NCAA World Series in Omaha, the 2016 Raw will serve as yet another loved iteration in a long genealogy of Voodoo bats that flat out rake.
When the bat is released on August 1st, 2015, the new Voodoo Raw’s best pricing is usually found at Amazon (with a search like this) or a place like a baseball express (with a search like this). After August 1st, eBay searches like this are always an interesting place to look. Similar bats will be the 716 Select from Slugger and the 2016 MAKO Hybrid XL.
The overall rating uses seven different weighted metrics to determine our overall score. Half of total rating comes from the player and our exit speed tests (Player Rating: 25%, Performance: 25%).The other categories are Relevance (20%), Demand (10%), Durability (10%), Resell Score (5%), and Tech Specs (5%).
*: When a bat is denoted by a star (*) it is a preliminary rating. Expect it to be updated as we learn more about the bat and gather more data.
(PlaRa) Player Rating: We measure player rating from user reviews. Those users include our own hitters that we test at the lab as well as reviews we find online.
(ExVe) Performance: Performance measures the exit speeds and distances we capture in our hitting lab with HitTrax using these bats.
(Relv) Relevance: We measure the number of sizes and the MOI of the bat. Bats with a wider range of options get a better score.
(Dmnd) Demand: Demand is measured by consumer sentiment and the buzz around the bat.
(Drb) Durability: A bat’s durability is measured by user reviews as well as feedback from manufacturers.
(ReSl) Resell Score: Based on the price the bats go for used. Higher prices mean greater user demand which means, generally, a better bat. A resell value closer to its original price means a higher score.
(Tech) Tech Specs: We rate the bat on its technological advancements from previous years and compared to the industry at large. This is our chance to reward companies who are trying to innovate.
MOI
MOI or Mass Moment of Inertia is a measurement of bat swing weight. This quantifies how difficult it is to swing a bat. The industry often refers to this as things like End Load or Balanced but those words have been overused to the point of meaninglessness. We measure the actual swing weights of each bat we test using the industry-standard pendulum period, balance point, and scale weight. You can read more about that here.
Price
The price is the original MSRP price of the bat.
Type
The types of bats are single-piece alloy (SPA), two-piece composite (TPC), single-piece composite (SPC), hybrid (Hyb.), and wood (Wood). Hybrid bats are made of composite handles and alloy barrles.
Date
The estimated date the bat began distribution.
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