Over the years, we’ve tracked the bat usage of NCAA baseball and fastpitch teams. Our results are below.
Sponsorship Bat Deals
Many college-level programs have agreements with major sports brands for access to equipment. Usually, the players are not required to swing and use a specific brand, but they are highly encouraged by getting free gear and access to the manufacturer’s lineup. As such, you’ll see many colleges swinging the same brand.
In short, please take these outcomes with a grain of salt. These are often as much marketing plays by manufacturers as they are a commentary on the bat’s effectiveness.
What We Cover
NCAA Baseball Bats
There are many ways to slice and dice the data of the CWS baseball bat usage. Ultimately, it’s probably best for us to give access to the data and do with it what you will. If you use the data, please reference and link to this page. We will give you our hot takes on the data below, but there are many ways to look at it.
2023 NCAA Bat Usage By Model
One way to consider bat usage is to see the model most often used among the 144 at-bats of the 16 teams that made the super regionals. Of course, this suffers from sponsorship bias as many of these schools are required to hit with certain brands. In any case, the bat usage is as follows.
2022 DeMarini The Goods (14)
2023 Slugger Select PWR (10)
2023 Easton Black Magic (9)
2021 Easton B5 (8)
2022 Slugger Select PWR (8)
2023 Marucci Cat X Connect (7)
2023 Slugger Atlas (7)
2024 DeMarini Voodoo One (7)
2022 DeMarini The Goods One (7)
Does this make The Goods the best BBCOR bat? Not categorically, but it certainly doesn’t mean nothing (sic).
NCAA Bat Usage By Brand
You can also see the market share. But, take extreme caution here. Most teams are sponsored, so this is more a comment on marketing than on player preferences.
DeMarini – 45 (31.25%)
Louisville Slugger – 42 (29.17%)
Easton – 37 (25.69%)
Marucci – 10 (6.94%)
Rawlings – 9 (6.25%)
Wood/TAT2 – 1 (0.69%)
Championship Game Matchup
We also tracked the championship game. These bats were a bit different than these folks used in the Super Regionals, but about the same. In any case, it’s fun to see the bat’s that made the big dance.
The Marucci CAT X Connect is the bat that is almost 100% of the LSU lineup. Jordan Thompson swings the 2018 Posey28 Pro Metal (a metal bat that looks like wood).
Florida, a DeMarini school, has some weird symmetry with the first five hitters with The Goods and the final three with a single-piece alloy.
2023 Oregon Ducks
We’ve tracked NCAA bat usage for a long time and have never seen a wood bat used in the Super Regionals. But Rikuu Nishida used one in his first at-bat versus Oral Roberts. Note: That was not the color he used— he used a green/black one, but the idea is the same. It’s a clear disadvantage to using a wood bat as swing weight and barrel size will never be able to match what you can do in alloy and composite, hence the reason no one else does it. But mad respect for Rikuu for getting it done.
Bennett Thompson, C, R, 2022, DeMarini, The Goods One
Gavin Grant, 2B, R, 2022, DeMarini, The Goods
2023 South Carolina Gamecocks
South Carolina appears to be one of the few teams that does not have a bat sponsorship. It is fun, therefore, to see what bats they choose. There’s a good selection here, and the Voodoo One in 2024 is an interesting find, too. That means they at least have access to DeMarini, although the rest of the team isn’t ‘required’ to swing them. Who knows. In any case, we love the Maxum on this list too.
Michael Braswell, 2B, R, 2024, DeMarini, Voodoo One
Dylan Brewer, LF, L, 2024, DeMarini, Voodoo One
Will Tippett, CF, S, 2024, DeMarini, Voodoo One
2023 Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles
Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles appear to be an Easton school. Dustin Dickerson also has one of the oldest bats in the 2023 Super Regionals: the 2014 Easton XL1. The other notable expectations are the Maxum and the Fuze 360. Both are great bats, with some play from the middle of the lineup.
Matthew Etzel – 2023 Easton Black Magic
Dustin Dickerson – 2014 Eatson XL3
Slade Wilks – 2022 Easton B5
Christopher Sargent – 2023 Easton Black Magic
Tate Parker – 2020 Easton Fuze Hybrid 360
Danny Lynch – 2022 Easton Maxum
Nick Monistere – 2023 Easton Black Magic
Carson Paetow – 2023 Easton Black Magic
Rodrigo Montenegro – 2023 Easton Black Magic
2023 Indiana State Sycamores
Indiana State, one of the few non-P5 teams to make the super regionals for 2023, has a great assortment of DeMarini’s with a couple of Sluggers in the mix. In terms of color appeal, the graphic looks great. Seeing a few of the older (2020) The Goods in there at 1, 3, and 6 is fun, too.
Randal Diaz – SS – R – 2020 – DeMarini The Goods
Josue Urdaneta – 2B – S – 2021 – DeMarini The Goods One
Luis Hernandez – DH – R – 2020 – DeMarini The Goods
Adam Pottinger – LF – L – 2021 – DeMarini The Goods
Keegan Watson – RF – R – 2022 – DeMarini The Goods
Mike Sears – 3B – R – 2020 – DeMarini The Goods
Miguel Rivera – 1B – L – 2021 – Louisville Slugger Solo
Grant Magill – C – R – 2022 – DeMarini The Goods
Seth Gergely – CF – L – 2023 – Louisville Slugger Select PWR
2023 TCU Horn Frogs
Always exciting to see what TCU is swinging ad they are a marquee team for the biggest brand in the business (TCU). If anyone will get some early bat access, it is these guys (especially considering Vanderbilt is out). In any case, it’s fun to see the 2024 DeMarini Voodoo One rear its head. TCU has a real chance to go deep.
Elijan Nunez, CF, L, 2024, DeMarini, Voodoo One
Karson Bowen, C, R, 2021, DeMarini, Voodoo One
Brayden Taylor, 3B, L, 2022, DeMarini, The Goods One
Cole Fontenelle, 1B, S, 2022, DeMarini, The Goods
Tre Richardson, 2B, R, 2024, DeMarini, Voodoo One
Kurtis Byrne, DH, R, 2022, DeMarini, The Goods One
Anthony Silva, SS, R, 2024, DeMarini, Voodoo One
Luke Boyers, LF, S, 2022, DeMarini, The Goods One
Austin Davis, RF, R, 2023, DeMarini, Voodoo One
2023 Virginia Cavaliers
Virginia is a Rawlings school, if you couldn’t tell. We always like to see bat companies drop in some new sticks for their elite players to use. Here you can see Ehtan O’Donnell with the new Clout AI in BBCOr and Henry Godbout with the new Mach AI. We haven’t seen these in any stores, so we believe these to be in the pre-release stage. Although we don’t know, our guess is that the Clout replaces the Velo in our minds while the Mach AI replaces the 5150. But, we won’ know more until Rawlings releases more information.
Griff O’Ferrall, SS, R, 2023, Rawlings, 5150
Ethan O’Donnell, CF, L, 2023, Rawlings, Clout AI
Jake Gelof, 3B, R, 2018, Rawlings, Quatro
Kyle Teel, C, L, 2023, Rawlings, 5150
Ethan Anderson, 1B, B, 2023, Rawlings, 5150
Casey Saucke, RF, R, 2023, Rawlings, 5150
Anthony Stephan, DH, L, 2023, Rawlings, 5150
Henry Godbout, 2B, R, 2023, Rawlings, Mach AI
Colin Tuft, LF, R, 2021, Rawlings, 5150
2023 Duke Blue Devils
Duke looks to have some liberty on what bat they use, most using a Wilson umbrella-type bat (DeMarini/Slugger). But the Marucci CAT X looks great in that almost all-Wilson line up.
Alex Mooney (SS, R, 2023, DeMarini Voodoo One)
Andrew Fischer (3B, L, 2023, DeMarini Voodoo One)
Jay Beshears (2B, R, 2022, DeMarini The Goods)
Alex Stone (C, R, 2022, DeMarini The Goods)
MJ Metz (DH, R, 2023, Louisville Slugger Atlas)
Giovanni Digiacomo (CF, L, 2023, DeMarini Voodoo One)
Tyler Albright (LF, R, 2023, DeMarini Voodoo One)
Luke Storm (1B, S, 2023, Louisville Slugger Atlas)
Damon Lux (RF, R, 2023, Marucci CAT X)
2023 Texas A&M Bats
Every once in a while you’ll come across a team like this where every bat is the same. It’s like they know something the rest of us don’t…
Hunter Haas, SS, R, 2022 – DeMarini The Goods
Jack Moss, 1B, L, 2022 – DeMarini The Goods
Trevor Werner, 3B, R, 2022 – DeMarini The Goods
Jace Laviolette, RF, L, 2022 – DeMarini The Goods
Jordan Thompson, CF, R, 2022 – DeMarini The Goods
Ryan Targac, LF, S, 2022 – DeMarini The Goods
Austin Bost, 2B, R, 2022 – DeMarini The Goods
Brett Minnich, DH, L, 2022 – DeMarini The Goods
Max Kaufer, C, R, 2022 – DeMarini The Goods
2023 Stanford Bats
The 2023 Stanford Cardinals baseball team has a strong lineup of players, each with their preferred bat. Below is a list of the players and their preferred bat usage for the season:
Stanford Lineup
Eddie Park, LF, L, 2023 – Louisville Slugger Atlas
Tommy Troy, 3B, R, 2021 – Louisville Slugger Omaha
Carter Graham, 1B, R, 2020 – Louisville Slugger Omaha
Louisville Slugger is a popular choice among the team, with the Omaha and Atlas models used the most frequently.
2023 Arkansas Bats
Arkansans, apparently, can use any bat brand. So, it’s fun to look. Two hybrids (the Marucci CAT X Connect and the Select PWR) and seven single-piece alloys exist in the lineup. Of note, the least popular single piece (according to the internet), The Solo from Slugger, is the most popular among one of the best teams in the business. Things that make you go hmmm…
Arkansas Lineup
Kendall Diggs RF R 2022 DeMarini Voodoo One
Jace Bohrofen CF L 2023 Marucci CAT X
B. McLaughlin DH L 2022 Louisville Slugger Solo
Brady Slavens 1B L 2022 Louisville Slugger Solo
C. Cali 3B 2023 Louisville Slugger Select PWR
Mason Neville LF 2023 Marucci CAT X Connect
P. Holt 2B 2022 Louisville Slugger Solo
Parker Rowland C L 2023 DeMarini Voodoo One
John Bolton SS R 2023 DeMarini Voodoo One
2023 Wake Forest Bats
Slugger dominates the lineup of Wake Forest. That is likely due to a contract, although the bats are plenty good. Lots of 2023 Select PWRs as well as some throwback 517 Omahas.
Wake Forest Lineup
Wake Forest, Tommy Hawke, CF, L, 2017, Louisivlle Slugger, Omaha 517
Wake Forest, Lucas Costello, LF, R, 2023, Louisivlle Slugger, Select PWR
The CAT X Connect is a heavy swinging bat made for big hitters, so it’s no surprise these bats are all over the place in the #1 ranked Tiger’s offense. The CAT X is a light-swinging bat, so it’s a bit surprising that Paxton Kling likes it so, but he’s a great hitter, so don’t fix what is not broken.
We don’t see our favorite bat in the lineup (the 2023 Marucci CAT X Composite). That’s because bigger hitters don’t like the light swing and smooth smash of the Composite. However, younger hitters in BBCOR do.
2023 Tennessee Vols
Maui Ahuna – 2022 Louisville Slugger Select PWR
Christian Moore – 2022 Louisville Slugger Select PWR
The Tennessee Vols for 2023 is a Slugger school. As expected, the swing heavier alloy barrel bats. Most (7/9) prefer a two-piece hybrid with an endload in the Select PWR series. Surprisingly, the big hitter Zen Denton uses a lighter swinging single-piece alloy (as does the 9-hole hitter).