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By Bat Digest | Last Updated June 14, 2022
We hit the 2019 Mizuno Carbon 1 over 300 times with 3 different hitters. (This was the drop 10, not the drop 13).
The bat felt stiff at impact, which is how they designed it, had a good barrel, and had a swing weight right in the middle of the 2019 fastpitch bats. For a double barreled bat in the single piece space we were highly impressed. In fact, our hitters preferred this bat over bats that priced out $100 more.
The Carbon 1 from Mizuno is made for the hitter who needs a light swing but is also willing to deal with the hand sting that comes from stiff bats. Stiffer bats will transfer more power to the ball—but the trade off is that mishits hurt more on the hands.
As such, we recommend the drop 10 Carbon 1 to serious players that are small but swing for serious power at the plate. If you are a hitter that gets everything out of your swing then the Carbon 1 should be a real nice fit.
Do note, though, it might not feel as good as other bats on the market. But, no doubt, it will destroy a well hit ball better than anything else you can find.
The drop 13 version of the bat is for very young hitters. These younger than 10 year olds should appreciate the super light balance of the bat. But, if they are playing serious fast pitch, then the stiff bat won’t be a welcome sign come a mishit and a pitcher with any degree of speed. If you can afford a drop 12 LXT then we’d likely lean that way. Unless, of course, you really want the lightest swing you can find on a composite barrel. Then, the Power Carbon in a drop 13 will make sense.
| 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 3 |
| MOI | Tech | Drb | Flx | Prof | ReSl | PlaRa | ExVe | Relv | Dmnd |
|---|
A single piece composite bat in the fastpitch space? Uh, almost never heard of it. Most companies stick to the two piece design. In terms of swing weight and stiffness at impact we think Louisville Slugger’s XENO is a reasonable comparison.
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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