NCAA Baseball Bats

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.

2023 LSU BBCOR Bats

LSU is a Marucci School. Their lineup looks like this:

1. Gavin Dugas – 2023 Marucci CATX Connect
2. Tre’ Morgan – 2023 Marucci CATX Connect
3. Dylan Crews – 2023 Marucci CATX Connect
4. Tommy White – 2023 Marucci CATX Connect
5. Cade Beloso – 2023 Marucci CATX Connect
6. Jordan Thompson – 2023 Victus Nox
7. Brady Neal – 2023 Marucci CATX Connect
8. Paxton Kling – 2023 Marucci CATX
9. Brayden Jobert – 2023 Marucci CATX Connect

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

1. 1. Maui Ahuna – 2022 Louisville Slugger Select PWR
   2. Christian Moore – 2022 Louisville Slugger Select PWR
   3. Blake Burke – 2021 Louisville Slugger Select PWR
   4. Zane Denton – 2023 Louisville Slugger Atlas
   5. Jared Dickey – 2021 Louisville Slugger Select PWR
   6. Griffin Merritt – 2021 Louisville Slugger Select PWR
   7. Dylan Dreiling – 2022 Louisville Slugger Select PWR
   8. Kavares Tears – 2022 Louisville Slugger Select PWR
   9. Charlie Taylor – 2023 Louisville Slugger Atlas

   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).