TRUE Baseball Bats Reviewed

By Bat Digest | Last Updated November 17, 2022

We write this review after several hundred swings on the T1 and T2 bats of TRUE Baseball Bats fame and talking to well-known vendors who sell TRUE. We measured exit speeds, swing weights, and gathered player feedback from their top-end balanced T1 and end-loaded T2 hybrids for both USSSA and USA. We’ve never seen a bat company come to market as prepared as TRUE Baseball. These bats are ready to compete in a very competitive market. Their half-inch sizes make them unique, and TRUE Baseball Bat’s message is clear: using the right size bat in youth baseball is all the difference.

Price Check

2020 T1 Video

2020 T1 Video

2020 T1 Models

Our hitters like the half-inch sizing options. Considering they had never heard of TRUE Baseball, they were surprised how the bats often graded out as well as more well-known bats. Although a few bucks more than the bat we though it the most like (the DeMarini Voodoo balanced), the T1 and T2 held their own. The half-inch sizes could make all the difference for the right hitter looking for a hybrid bat with a dialed-in swing weight in the USSSA and USA drop 10, 8, and 5 space.

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General Recomendations

At its core, the T1 and T2 bats are hybrid bats (composite handle and aluminum barrels) with good sized barrels and legitimate exit speeds. But in our never-ending quest to separate fact from fiction, we urge you to keep reading.

The significant advantage of TRUE Baseball bats is their ability to cover nearly every aspect of the swing weight chart. The T1 is the balanced version of the bat, and the T2 the more end-loaded version. Both T1 and T2 lines come in a drop 10, 8, and 5 as well as half-inch sizes on a sizeable range of bat lengths.

The DeMarini USSSA Voodoo Balanced, for example, comes in only nine different sizing options across its drop 10 and drop 5 USSSA options (it doesn’t have a drop 8). The T1 USSSA comes in twenty-four! The USSSA T2 adds another nineteen. (Those numbers might not be precisely accurate, but our point stands because we lost count at some point).

The USA versions have the same disparity. You can find only 8 different sizes in the USA Voodoo but something like 672 (or something like that) in the T1 and T2.

If a dialed-in swing weight in the Hybrid youth bat space is your cup of tea, then the TRUE baseball bats are worth a close look.

Just so we are clear, the TRUE Baseball line of T1 and T2 bats are not offering swing weights that are not available in other USSSA bats. See, for example, the range of USSSA swing weights provided in and around the 31/21. (We show a couple of the TRUE bats on this list. But, with their numerous sizing options, you can basically dial in a TRUE T1 or T2 to match any swing weight of any bat on this list).

What TRUE baseball bats are doing is offering their bat in more swing weights than any particular model—and it isn’t even close.

Model Recommendations

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Construction

TRUE baseball bats come in hybrid versions called a T1 and T2 as well as a single piece versions called the T-Star and T-Double-Star. The T1 swings lighter than the T2 as does the T-Star swing lighter than the T-Double Star.

Hybrid bats (like the T1 and T2) come with composite handles and an aluminum barrel. The single-piece T-Star and T-Double-Star are single piece aluminum bats.

Most who prefer aluminum barrel bats (like all TRUE bats) prefer their durability and hot out of the wrapper nature. Aluminum barrels often swing a bit heavier than similarly sized composite bats and their barrel profiles are usually smaller. However, they are also less expensive to make and, in most cases, buy.

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.