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By Bat Digest | Last Updated November 17, 2022
After considerable cage time, measuring the bat’s exit speed, barrel size, and exact swing weight, we put together this 2018 Adidas Aero Burner Comp Review. The felt good on hits and mishits, runs right in the range of a low to moderate swing weight and showed promise on its exit speeds. The bat’s minimal release in a BBCOR 33 or 34-inch length will severely limit its public uptake. The 2018 Adidas Aero Burner Comp is meant for collegiate players and top-shelf high school kids that want to move outside the beaten path of BBCOR bats.
Assuming you find yourself in the two-piece composite 33 or 34-inch BBCOR space, the Aero Burner is an option. Everyone else is out of luck, as that is the only size this bat is made. If that is one of you, and you are an elite High School or Collegiate hitter, we suggest you also consider aluminum barrels and stiffer bats.
Big-time players tend to prefer these features in the BBCOR space as they act and feel more like wood. However, if you are in the market for a 33 and 34-inch BBCOR bat and want to stick with a two-piece composite as well as want the best looking one on the market, the 2018 Adidas Aero Burner Comp might be the bat for you.
There is nothing remarkable about the connective piece of the bat. Most other companies have some technology they like to discuss when it comes to the connective piece of their high-end composite designs, but Adidas calls it an Energy connective piece and moves on. In some regard, we can appreciate the acceptance that the bat’s features are about the barrel, handle and grip instead of some nuanced connective piece.
The most technically impressive feature of the 2018 Aero Burner is the end cap. This new piece to the 2018 version allowed for a slightly lighter design and more extended barrel size.
Aesthetically the bat is brilliant, we think. Never underestimate Adidas’ ability to create stunning sports equipment.
Most major brands (in fact, all of them but Marucci) produce a high-end two-piece composite baseball bat. DeMarini has the CF Zen, Easton has the Ghost X, Rawlings has the Quatro, Axe has the Avenge. These bats each produce good-sized barrels, light swing weights and are priced at the top of the food chain. It is, on a good day, difficult to separate these from one another. If you were looking for top-performing BBCOR, we would suggest the Quatro. If you want the perfect feel, then, maybe, the 918 Prime from Slugger or the CF Zen from DeMarini. If you want a combination of all of that, then perhaps the Easton Ghost. The Adidas Aero Burner wins in the best-looking category and competes well enough across the board to be worth your consideration.
There are several 2018 bats which fall in the following categories:
Adidas’ 2018 Aero has all the features that justify the price point. That is the price of the Aero Burner prices out like other two-piece composite bats in the market. The idea is for a light swinging big barreled two-piece bat that is easy on the hands. Our overall experience was it did an excellent job of dampening sting, but not as good as a few of the other BBCOR bats we like.
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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