2019 DeMarini Sabatoge USA Bat Review | Drop 11 & Drop 12

Overall Ratings Key

To keep consistent ratings across years, models and brands, we’ve devloped an aggregated rating system using 6 categories. As well, we track swing weight (MOI), stiffness and profile although they do not affect the overall score directly. The explanation of each rating is below.

1. MOI: is the swing weight accurately measured at our bat lab. We score it 1 through 5. No score is better than another. This is a descriptive value. A lower number (1) represents a light swinging bat for its class, while a higher number (5) represents an endloaded bat.
2. Tech: The tech advancements in the bat are 5% of its overall score. We award points for innovation even if the invention encourages the industry to try new things.
3. Durability: The bat’s lifespan is rated at 15% of the overall score. We gather this information almost exclusively from the user and player feedback. More reports of a bat breaking then the lower the score.
4. Stiffness: Stiffness is not counted towards the overall score since it’s a complete preference. The higher the number, the stiffer the bat, the lower the number, the more flex in the bat directly after contact. This is significantly correlated to how good a bat feels on mishits and hits.
5. Profile: The profile does not count towards the overall score. However, we do track it. A high number means the bat has an extensive profile, and a lower number means it has a small profile.
6. Resell: We count the secondary market of a used value of the bat as 10% of the overall score. We think the demand for the bat in the secondary market (eBay and SidelineSwap) are a good indicator of how well the bat is perceived to perform. It also shows a more excellent value for the owner as their bat retains more value and no longer becomes valuable to them.
7. Rating: This is the player rating and represents 25% of the overall score. These are gathered from our hitters and reviews we find online and those we have contact with from other reputable sources.
8. EV: Exit Velocity is the rankings we create in our exit speed velocity tests every year on bats. This score represents 25% of the overall score.
9. Relevance: Relevance measures how applicable and available a bat is for consumers. The broader range of sizes and the more appropriate the swing weight for the masses then, the higher the score. This metric accounts for 20% of the overall score.