https://www.batdigest.com/blog...all-bat-performance/
Conclusions
The charts above tell a pretty straightforward story even if most don’t want to hear it.
1. The greatest predictor of exit speeds? The kid hitting.
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I am humbled to discover that there is a web site called "Bat Digest" that I knew nothing about.
I can't really make an argument either way when it comes to pop, but some bats just feel better to the player. My son hates the Voodoo and loves The Goods. He was never a fan of the Meta but used it because I bought it for him thinking it might help him as a 115lb freshman a couple years ago. It was a 32" and realistically should have been a 31". He actually prefers wood over metal but I'd prefer to not have to risk breaking wood bats during the HS season.
If bats were that different all the top teams would be using the same bat. They don’t. They work the best deal. The short term contradiction to this comment is a several years ago some P6’s (Big East was a P conference) used the Nike bat. The bat sucked. They broke the contract.
just my intuition, but i think it's not so much how hot a particular model is but more how much of the bat is hot. i'm sure if you bought a forty buck walmart special, and hit one at the absolute sweet spot, it would perform similarly to a 500 buck bat that you hit on the perfect spot. what happens a half inch, or an inch or two inches away from that perfect spot, though?
The knob is an issue for me. I switched my kid early to axe handle. With the proxr handles the selection has gotten better and a littler cheaper
Prior to BBCOR certain bats got much hotter with use. They were designed that way and that's why the BBCOR standard became a thing, kids were getting hurt. In the BBCOR era I'm with @RJM, teams would all be using the same bat if there were an advantage. I think it's a confidence thing, whatever feels right to the kid, is the the right bat.
I miss the kid hitting, he was a Marucci Black fan. It's funny, most PO's that hit well in HS still think they can swing it at any level (some actually can), but if you don't have elite contrast recognition, it's unlikely. He got an AB near the end of juco (reached on error), to say it was ugly would be kind. If he gets a chance to hit at his current level I may not watch...
Here's a sophomore dinger image, to purge his last baseball at bat from my mind... lol!
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The article in the OP is a big nothing burger that supports what all baseball people know - there is an insignificant difference in the performance of upper level models of bats. It’s the Indian, not the arrow, that produces results. Always has been and always will be. I occasionally see a team (usually HS but sometimes college) where most hitters use the same bat and in those instances it’s almost always a bat that has been doctored. It’s so obvious whenever each hitter hands the same bat to the next hitter that I don’t know how they get away with it. If I can see it I would think that the umpires would too. But I seldom see anything done about it.
When I saw a team all using the same bat in travel I requested the umpire check the bat. However, in all the times I made the request only once was the bat tossed. The team was warming the bat (illegal) in the corner I’d the dugout between innings.
@adbono posted:The article in the OP is a big nothing burger that supports what all baseball people know - there is an insignificant difference in the performance of upper level models of bats. It’s the Indian, not the arrow, that produces results. Always has been and always will be. I occasionally see a team (usually HS but sometimes college) where most hitters use the same bat and in those instances it’s almost always a bat that has been doctored. It’s so obvious whenever each hitter hands the same bat to the next hitter that I don’t know how they get away with it. If I can see it I would think that the umpires would too. But I seldom see anything done about it.
In college they compression test the bats prior to the start of the series...they would be taking a big chance trying to slip a hot bat in....
@fly996 posted:In college they compression test the bats prior to the start of the series...they would be taking a big chance trying to slip a hot bat in....
I’m aware of that. I still see it anyway.
My son has the green easton bbcor. Played 2 weekends in weather approximately 35 degrees. Before last series the bat failed pre game bat test. Coach said they put a ring around the end and it slid down? Long story a bit shorter the coach thinks the cold weather effected the cap which was now a slight oval shape as opposed to circle, probablyfrom a hard hit on the barrel. $400 down the tubes