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By Bat Digest | Last Updated November 17, 2022
The 2023 Rawlings ICON is a BBCOR, USSSA, and USA baseball bat that replaces the Rawlings Quatro Pro as the top-of-the-line offering from Rawlings. It is a two-piece composite with a massive barrel, generally lighter swing, and a flexible connection piece.
Hitters who like a lot of plate coverage per swing weight might like the Rawlings ICON. The bat has a massive barrel and a light swing. The bat feels stiffer than the Quatro across all its versions, and we think that is an improvement. If you want the ‘best’ Rawlings offers in the baseball space, then this is the bat for you.
We think the USSSA drop 10 is the best of the bunch (although the USA drop 10 is also getting great reviews). If you want a light swing and a huge barrel, then the BBCOR might work well for you too. As you get to heavier weights in the USSSA version of the 2023 Rawlings ICON, we think most hitters will rather prefer the CF or CAT X Composite, but the ICON could work.
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Big barrels on flexible-feeling two-piece composite bats are plentiful. Look closely at a bat like Marucci’s CAT X Composite in USSSA or Louisville Slugger’s META in BBCOR for a similar bat to the 2023 Rawlings Icon.
This is the first year of the release of the Rawlings ICON. However, it seems evident that this is the replacement bat for the Rawlings Quatro Pro.
The 2023 Rawlings ICON uses an ‘In/Tense Carbon Composite’ for the barrel. This seamless barrel construction (think Combat Maxum) gives an absolutely massive barrel. The connection piece is stiffer than the Quatro, which we believe many will like. The bat swings light with a lot of its weight towards the hands.
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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