Disclaimer: This site uses affiliate links. Learn More.
By Bat Digest
Updated August 10, 2023
This, combined with our 2016 review, should get you on the right path if you're looking at pulling the trigger. Our extensive experience, both in game and in cage with the Combat MAXUM, suggests the 2017 Combat MAXUM is best for hitters looking for the absolute most barrel size per swing weight. The barrel's physical size, the bat's defining feature, is unrivaled in the market. While the MAXUM's total barrel size is first in class, we were not convinced its max performance area is any larger than other top shelf performance bats. But, we do think the Combat competes for the top spot in best performance bat.
There are virtually no changes to the 2017 Combat MAXUM when compared to the 2016 version aside from the change in color design. This approach is not uncommon for many bat companies, so nothing to be up in arms about. They simply manufacture so many bats based on their expected sales volume for a given year, and then revamp the design for the following year and reprint. If a buyer is smart, they'd look for the 2016 version of the MAXUM while it can still be found in wrapper. Soon enough, probably by early 2017, we will see the prices equalize.
We have long heralded Combat's firm commitment to perfecting the single piece composite stick with an ultra light swing weight (MOI). The design, in theory, delivers the absolute most power directly to the ball and then amplifies it through the use of a well worked in composite. in practice, Combat has done more than any other company to match the theory. The 2017 Combat MAXUM is the latest in Combat's quest. The bat is a single piece composite bat formed into the largest barrel on the market.
Durability, which may have been a concern three or four years ago in the full composite space, has been designed out of the equation with more reliable construction and Combat's industry-exclusive 500 day (one time replacement) warranty.