Bat Blog – Bat Digest

We tracked bat usage and the at-bat results of more than 30 NCAA baseball teams at the start of the 2021 season. Our hope was to find themes in the dataset that lent commentary on BBCOR bats. Data Highlights The industry lacks competition. 90% of NCAA baseball is ruled by Wilson and Rawlings. The re …

A few years back, I read The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. The book tells the story of, among other things, the 1893 World’s Fair. One exhibit at the 1893 Fair (as far as I can remember from the book) used tobacco smoke for its supposed medicinal purposes. This exhibit, in particular, inve …

We’ve reviewed bats here since 2014 and we’ve seen a lot of innovation (and reprinting) in the bat space. From spinning handles, soft barrels, and bats filled with helium—all have tried to convince parents that their player’s bats are worth the premium. Another significant innovation in the last s …

One question or complaint we hear a lot is about bat rattle. That is, when you shake the bat, it sounds like there is a small piece of plastic or metal shaking around in the bat’s barrel, and, as such, it sounds like a rattle. The vast majority of the time, the bat is fine. A small piece of glue (us …

If you talk to any bat manufacturer, one of the biggest shifts in youth baseball bats has been the increase of drop 8 bat purchases over the last few years. The growth in popularity of drop 8s has made many choose between a drop 8 vs. drop 10. Quick Takes on the Drop 8 vs Drop 10 dilemma. If you can …

Have you checked this bat out? I believe it’s only offered at Justbats.com. It seems to be very well-liked. I would like to hear how it compares to the Maxxum 360 BBCOR. Thanks, Anna (This is adapted from our Advice section). Anna, Yes. We have seen it and hit it. The story is long. But, in short, J …

When Wilson bought Slugger a few years back it made it on our most important bat developments of the decade. Not 11 months into the new decade, who would have thought the industry already accomplished something that will be easy to make the most important things in this decade: Rawlings buying Easto …

Very few “deal days” are actual “deal days.” (ahem, Harbor Freight). If every day is a deal, how can any particular day be a deal? We digress. Wilson’s Glove day is a beautiful exception. It’s deal-day on, you guessed it, gloves. They run it one time a year on what sometimes feels like a random day …

Dear Bat Guy, Soon to be 9-year-old son will play 9U in USSSA. He will be going up in size from a Cat 8 27” to a 28”. Trying to decide on the new Cat 9 that’s soon to come out or a DSB SWAG. How do they compare? He likes the balanced feel of his Cat 8. 4’5 “ 70 lbs. Thank you. ~Alex This is adapted …

We spent weeks scouring eBay, Sidelineswap and used good forums trying to track down every BBCOR DeMarini Voodoo ever made. They went back to 2011. Eventually, we were successful. (Although the 2019 Voodoo Insane in a 32″ eludes us still). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F53P7TI_flI Contents MethodG …

Baseball is back. It seems like a year ago that the 33” 2020 Meta was banned, causing players and parents all over the U.S. to lose their minds. I mean, if a kid doesn’t have a bat that has been on the market for all of 5 seconds, how will they possibly survive? As soon as the NCAA and NFHS ban took …

We followed the picks (and highlights) of every 2020 MLB first-round draft pick. We are interested in what bats these players swung in College (or high school). We’ve put here everything we could find on the 1st MLB Bat Picks. The better a player gets, the less the bat makes the difference. That isn …

My 10u son plays LL, so he has to use a USA bat. He is currently using a 2019 Rawlings Threat. He swings the bat very quickly. Two years ago, he used another Rawlings bat, which he was able to swing, but it was very end-loaded. He prefers the balanced bats, but I noticed he swings the truly weighted …

I received our refund from Wilson and looking at getting a replacement for the banned Meta Prime. We are limited to Wilson products. My son has swung the Demarini Voodoo and prefers something balanced. I’m just not sure that’s the right one for him. We have $550 to spend and want to get the best Wil …

Here’s a question we got from a reader I’m looking for a good first BBCOR for a 5’ 10’ 155 lb 8th grader. Because of cold weather in Ohio, He has swung mainly hybrids in the past and a few one-piece aluminum. He swung a 31/26 USA last year. He tends not to like the one-pieces because of vibration. T …

 Dear Bat Guy, Looking to buy one bat only, broke it down between usssa cf (black and gold) and the Rawlings Quatro Pro (cherry bomb) recommend one to me please so I can stop trying to find videos of them against each other. Joey This is adapted from our advice section. Joey, Ha. We feel your pain. …

Dear Bat Guy, My son, age 9, is currently swinging the 2019 Slugger Prime -10 (*28/18). He is roughly 50″ tall and only weighs 52 lbs. At times, the bat seems too heavy for him, so would you recommend a drop 11 bat in 28″. I was looking at the Easton ADV 360 drop 11 USA, which has glowing reviews bu …

Dear Bat Guy, I am a professional coach and looking to bat fitting with some players. How can I go about this and what does the MOI have to do with it? Scott This is adapted from our advice section. Scott, MOI stands the mass moment of inertia. In baseball and softball bats, Mass moment of inertia i …

Here’s what you need to know about the new NOSCAE Catcher’s Gear requirement for high school and college ball. For 2020 high school baseball requires a NOCSAE certified chest protector. The NCAA pushed their requirement out to 2021. The rules are NOT in place for youth (non-high school). Most chest …

We’ve been writing about baseball and fastpitch bats for a long time. Since everyone else seemed to be writing about the decade in review, we thought we could look through old emails, traffic reports, and links to see what were the most significant things in the last decade about bats. Not surprisin …

Are you looking for the best gift for baseball players? Good. You’ve come to the right place. Gifts for Baseball Players We’ve spent the whole year reviewing, playing with, and using baseball and fastpitch gear. Below are our top 11 go-to’s. These are the things we could not live without. 1. Basebal …

Updated: November 30, 2020 12:40 pm Black Friday/Cyber Monday Bat Deals are LIVE for 2020! We track them all here. 10 12 13 Most Popular Black Friday/Cyber Monday Baseball Links 2020 Ranked by Popularity All Bat Digest’s Exit Speed Measurements from 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 for $25. Amazon’s Baseb …

Dear Bat Guy, I’m a big fan of your videos. My son is turning 11 in February. He swings a -10 Posey Marucci USSSA bat in club ball. He’s starting little league in a month and have no clue what USA bat to get. What’s the best one for him? He’s about 5ft and very thin. He has a very fundamental balanc …

Dear Bat Guy, Our summer league gives the option of USA Bat or BBCOR. If weight is not the deciding factor. Is there a difference in ball speed between the two in general? ~Tim (This is adapted from our advice section). Tim, This is a fun question so thanks for that. We’re going to break your questi …

Dear Bat Guy, Having a difficult time deciding whether to purchase a new 2020 USA Bat or stick with the 2019 Solo we already have. Player is 10, 4’5” 65 lbs. Have been looking at a two piece composite for this year, have hit Easton, Prime, Quatro. Don’t want to make the wrong decision like I did las …

By Jon Zayle and Brian Duryea What are BESR Bats? BESR was the baseball bat certification requirement for NCAA and high school baseball play between 1998 and 2011. Short History – BESR was implemented in 1998 to address non-wood bat performance. Through the early 2000’s under the BESR standard, bat …

By Jon Zayle [Jon Zayle is a baseball dad from New Jersey who owns way too many bats. He declares himself a bat expert, similar to the way Michael Scott declared bankruptcy. He is currently working with Dr. Peter Venkman to create a device that will trap all travel baseball drama.] The fact that I’m …

The great irony of making a field and bat standard that allows less home runs is that it over values the kids who can hit home runs. Instead of creating value in small ball, it gives the teams who can hit it out of the park more value than they should. For example, Japan, Caracao and South Korea hit …

Want to hit more home runs next season? We spent hours looking through scientific journals (it is the offseason, after all). What did we find? 5 Ways to Hit More Home Runs What Pitch to Hit Batter’s Box Warm-Up How To Take BP Rotational Strength Skip Forearms Quick Highlights Hit the curveball Scien …

We looked through every 2020 Prime Day Deal in the baseball and fastpitch space to find the deals we like. There appears to be a serious push on game quality baseballs. If you want to pursue the 92 pages of baseball deals yourself, see here. If you want to see the 10 pages of fastpitch deals, see he …

Little League Age Chart for 2020 (and 2019) follows. These cut-off age rules affect players born in August of 2002. Those born before are no longer eligible for “Little League” as they are too old. Not all little leagues follow the same age rules as Little League. (Notice the capitalization). Little …

If you want even more updates, check out our twitter feed. Updated 6/27/ 11:15am MST Well, we made it back from the 2019 CWS. The Vandy boys pulled it off (again). It was a fun run. Here’s our video of the Wilson shop called the Baseball Experience. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPmUQtMapv0 Update …

Looking for a HitTrax Batting Cage near you? We spent time in the Dick’s Sporting Goods (Henderson, Nevada location) with their HitTrax setup to do some bat fitting and a home run derby. Here’s what we learned. https://youtu.be/kjozKDGWGq0 4 Things to Notice for Bat Fitting in a HitTrax Cage We’ve h …

For the 2020 season NCAA baseball (not High School Baseball) is implementing a couple bat rule changes. They include details on the White Bat Ban as well as compression testing before each game. Compression Testing Before Each Series Compression testing is standard college fastpitch bat procedure st …

We’ve spent more time buying used baseball bats than anyone. Really. Over the last five years, we’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars on hundreds of different bats from no less than two dozen different sites and companies. Where do we buy our used bats? Well, that depends. Where do we (BatDigest.c …

We’ve seen more than 1,000 bats come and go. After heavy work with the bats, we usually ignore considerable ball marks and ball scuffs. But, now and again, we want to remove ball marks and clean the bat. How do we clean our bats? Two tricks we show below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVltMZ3z1cw …

Hi, this would be for USSSA 12U Majors. He is 57 inches tall and weighs 135lbs, muscular build.My son currently is swinging a 31-8 Easton Beast X or Ghost X but also has been swinging a Phoenix Bats DR271 -5 wood bat in the offseason. Considering looking at a -5 metal/composite bat to swing. I have …

Looking to buy your first serious baseball or softball bat? You’ve come to the right place. (Take our what bat you should get quiz) Over the years, we’ve bought hundreds of bats. We’ve also coached several into their first serious bat buy and recommended bats to millions more. Here is our beginner’s …

My [son] plays USA ball in the spring and USSSA in the fall. He is 8 years old, 4′-4″ and 60 pounds. He has played every year since 4, started taking hitting lessons 1 year ago and is a solid contact hitter put with good pop, hits to the fence…in the park hrs every season. He used a Rawlings 5150 …

We bought a new -3 (drop 3 BBCOR) two piece bat. Will it hurt the bat using it in a batting cage with rubber balls? ~JR (This is adapted from our advice section) We avoid hitting dimple balls with high end composite bats. Rubber balls don’t compress the same as baseballs (nor do they weight the same …

USA vs USSSA Bats (This is an article taken from our advice section). My son will be playing for the local 9U travel team (Stow, Ohio). He is 4’6” and approximately 85 lbs. He has been playing baseball for three years and is a solid hitter, not power, but lots of doubles, few singles, and one triple …

My sons last year of little league was last year and he’s moving to a junior high league that requires USA bats. He swung a 31 inch drop 10 Easton beast hybrid and 31 inch drop 8 Rawlings machine last year. He has been playing for 4 years making the all star team each year. He has used both composit …

Thinking of buying a bat in September or October? 10/10 Only: DeMarini is doing an 50% sale. 10/10 Only: Louisville Slugger Doing a 50% Sale. Probably not. But that is just the point. It is officially the the BEST time to buy baseball and softball bats. Here’s why. Vendors and Manufacturers flush in …

The finals of the LLWS are this weekend. The USA and International Championships are on Saturday. The finals are on Sunday. All via ABC. If you are just catching up, here are 7 things we’ve noticed after watching all 28 games leading up to this point. Consider this your primer on the 2018 Little Lea …

Here are the illegal DeMarini CF Zens: 2017 Green/White Drop 8 2 5/8 USSSA 2017 Blue/White Drop 10 2 3/4 USSSA 2017 Custom and Zero Dark Designs in the Above Sizing Here are the legal CF Zens: 2017 Green/White Drop 10 2 5/8 USSSA 2017 Green/White Drop 5 USSSA All Other Years and Model CF Zens See th …

Thinking of attending the Cooperstown All Star Village and want to know what to expect? You’ve come to the right place! One of our readers spent a week at the tournament and put together the most important Copperstown All-Star Village tips. These are 8 essential ‘need to knows’ before you go. Cooper …

Designing the best team trading pin for your Cooperstown trip is no small task. It requires planning, organization and finding the right fit to represent your team. Below you will find: 5 quick and easy steps to walk you through the process of creating a dream pin for your Cooperstown experience. 9 …

We measured the exit speeds of a BBCOR composite bat pre and post rolling. We found rolling did increase the bat’s average exit velocity but not by much. In our focused test (one bat, one hitter, 20 measured exit speeds) we found an increase of 1 mile per hour and just over 5 feet of distance. This …

We watched just about every 2018 College World Series plate appearance. This includes all the games up to the finals (to be played this week between Arkansas and Oregon State) and amounts to 980 documented plate appearances. We marked what BBCOR bat they were using and a number of other metrics abou …

We’ve been asked more than a few times to compare the exit speeds of USA Bats and wood bats. We took up the challenge. Three different hitters of differing ability took over 300 swings with two competing bats. We measured the exit speeds on our Rapsodo device. Then, we compared to the 2019 Techzilla …