2018 Lousiville Slugger 918 Prime Review

Name: 2018 Louisville Slugger 918 Prime
Brand: Louisville Slugger

By Bat Digest | Last Updated November 17, 2022

We hit with the 918 Prime for an entire season. One of our BBCOR players used the 32/29 during his high school play.

Price Check

2018 918 Prime Video

2018 918 Prime Video

2018 918 Prime Models

He loved the smooth feel on hits and mishits, as well as the occasional bursts of power. The balance was right in line for this two-hole base hitting type player. We would recommend the bat for the same. That insight, and others, are found in this 2019 Louisville Slugger 918 Review.

BBCOR

Buy It Amazon JustBats DSG Sideline

…/10

USSSA –8

Buy It Amazon JustBats DSG Sideline

…/10

Model Recommendations

BBCOR Review

Prime 918 BBCOR Ratings (key)

MOI	Tech	Drb	Flx	Prof	ReSl	PlaRa	ExVe	Relv	Dmnd
3	4	3	2	4	3	4	5	4	3

…
OVERALL/10

Price It

Amazon SidelineSwap JustBats

100% Composite Microform barrel design for lighter swing weight and maximum pop TRU3 Technology allows for independent movement between the barrel and the handle that controls vibration and provides unmatched feel on contact. TRU3™ technology creates a feel unique to each sport and player type. New RTX™ end cap for longer barrel shape Balanced swing weight score: 1.7 New custom Lizard Skin™ premium performance grip Available for customization at SluggerCustomBats.com BBCOR-certified 1-year warranty

Sizing: 31, 32, 33, 34-inch

Release Date: October 1, 2017

Serial: WTLBBP918B3

Bat Type: Two Piece Composite

Barrel Size: 2 5/8

See other BBCOR Bats

USSSA Drop 8 Review

Prime 918 USSSA Drop 8 Ratings (key)

MOI	Tech	Drb	Flx	Prof	ReSl	PlaRa	ExVe	Relv	Dmnd
3	4	3	2	3	4	4	4	5	3

…
OVERALL/10

Price It

Amazon SidelineSwap JustBats

The new Prime 918 (-8) 2 3/4" Senior League bat from Louisville Slugger is the most complete bat in the game. 100% Composite barrel Proprietary MicroForm barrel design for lighter swing weight and maximum pop TRU3 Technology allows for independent movement between the barrel and the handle that controls vibration and provides unmatched feel on contact. TRU3™ technology creates a feel unique to each sport and player type. New RTX™ End Cap for a huge barrel shape Balanced swing weight feel Custom Lizard Skin™ premium performance grip

Sizing: 29, 30, 31, 32-inch

Release Date: October 1, 2017

Serial: WTLSLP918X8

Bat Type: Two Piece Composite

Barrel Size: 2 3/4

See other Drop 8 USSSA Bats

Comparable Bats

Not many years ago, the two-piece composite space only had a few legitimate options. Now, several two-piece composite bats grace the plate. In addition to the 917 Prime, another very similar bat is the Easton MAKO Beast.

At the time of this writing, the MAKO Beast is the most recent BBCOR bat on the market for Easton. It is a 2017 model. Soon, for 2018, Easton will release an Easton Ghost bat in BBCOR. At this point, how comparable that bat will be to the 917 Prime is anyone’s guess.

See the Beast and other BBCOR bat reviews here.

Previous Models

The most exciting thing for the 2018 Slugger 918 Prime is the opportunity to create a custom bat. Slugger has taken, almost verbatim, the site from their sister company DeMarini and built the opportunity to produce a custom-made bat.

We were given a chance to take the process for a spin pre-release and can say it was as smooth as we could hope. Dozens of great color options, the opportunity to personalize the barrel, and the lizard skin options were all great touches. You can expect an update to this page when we get our hands on our Custom 918. Here is an image of the bat we produced.

Overall Ratings

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.