Best BBCOR?

Thanks for the response.

To keep it simple. If everything is the same. Same bat speed, same pitch, you hit both balls on the sweet spot, which bat would give you more exit velocity/distance? 34/31 BBCOR or 35/32 Baum? Any idea if there is any difference? Does the increase in weight make up for the materials used?

quote:

Originally posted by Doughnutman:
Thanks for the response.

To keep it simple. If everything is the same. Same bat speed, same pitch, you hit both balls on the sweet spot, which bat would give you more exit velocity/distance? 34/31 BBCOR or 35/32 Baum? Any idea if there is any difference? Does the increase in weight make up for the materials used?

Without a doubt the heavier of the two. Its pretty simple to plug numbers into the formula and come up with that. But, the real question becomes, can the batter get the heavier bat started and to the proper place the same way. That’s where it gets tricky. If it wasn’t, every MLB player would be swinging a 42” log, soaked in a rain barrel. But, the opposite is true for the vast majority of players.

Each player has to figure out how to match his style with a bat. If a guy has a very short swing and wants to be able to wait as long as possible before he has to start his swing, he either better be superman, or be using the lightest bat he can get his hands on.

Now it becomes a matter of how much more energy a 35”/32oz bat will transfer into a baseball than a 34”/31 oz bat/. I really don’t know. It might be that the longer heavier bat will add 10%, which would mean a 300’ drive would go 330’. But if I remember all the papers on such things, even the hottest of the hot bats didn’t offer that kind of improvement over “normal” bats.

Its all very complicated, and I suspect why most players just say they go by feel. They don’t want to have to go back and retake Physics for Dummies in order to choose a bat.

quote:

Originally posted by Doughnutman:
Thanks for the response.

To keep it simple. If everything is the same. Same bat speed, same pitch, you hit both balls on the sweet spot, which bat would give you more exit velocity/distance? 34/31 BBCOR or 35/32 Baum? Any idea if there is any difference? Does the increase in weight make up for the materials used?

JMO, If he is a good hitter, don't over think it. He will hit with both. But 35 inch is rather large if he is facing quality pitching. Unless his first name is Paul and last name Bunyan.

Or Ryan Braun. I think he swings a 36" but it is significantly cupped. Wonder what the specs are...

Couple of comments.

1. Double check the NFHS/NCAA bat site for approved bats. The 34" Baum AAA was approved when I looked, but I did not see the 35" approved.

2. A 35" bat will have a greater Moment of Inertia so it will take more energy to swing it at the same rotational speed as an equivalent 34" bat. So you can’t accurately determine the distance a ball goes based on this assumption. For the two situations that you asked about, a baseball hitting a bat on the sweet spot for two equivalent bats swung at the same rotational velocity one being 34” and the other 35” the ball will go farther on the 35” bat because it will have a greater linear velocity at the point on the sweet spot.

Just a comment however, I have never seen a HS player swing a 35" bat, so he must be a beast to be swinging one. Last year my son was 6'4" and was the only player swinging a 34" on his team.

3. The Baum's are great bats and my son used one nearly every day in BP for 4 years and his handle finally cracked due to fatigue. I got him a new one last month and will be quite happy if it lasts him another 4 years.

4. I believe that the benefit of the metal bats may be that they will hit the ball harder when it is hit off the handle or not on the sweet spot. IE they probably have a larger effective hitting area. That said I saw a number of players swinging wood last year in California.

In the end picking a bat is very personal, if a player thinks a bat has more pop then he will probably hit the ball farther with it.

Well I got home to find the kid's new BBCOR Plasma sitting on the front porch. So he nags me to go hit. By then it was dark so we went to a local place with a indoor cage....

All I have to say about this bat is...don't buy it. It's absolute garbage. That way I can buy a couple more to stick in the garage until Rawlings figured out they screwed up.

This thing has pop. I've seen both new and last year VooDoo BBCOR, 5150, Marucci, Exo, Z1000...the kid has swung all those. He absolutely loves this bat. First swing he asked me if I was sure it was BBCOR.

I'm seriously going to order another. When other people figure out you can get a BBCOR with good pop for less than $100 shipped....well they might jack up the price.

I would worry more about how the bat feels to the player. As others have stated, its more about how the player feels with a particular bat in his hands.

If a PLAYER has pop, he has pop regardless of what bat he is using.

quote:

Originally posted by floridafan:
Or Ryan Braun. I think he swings a 36" but it is significantly cupped. Wonder what the specs are...

Ryan Braun uses a 35/33.5 Sam Bat made specifically for him, not a 36.

Thanks! I knew it was a SamBat. So it is just an ounce and a half drop? It sure is cupped pretty deeply.

FYI,
Josh Hamilton uses a Louisville Slugger M-powered 34.5 33oz Ash C353.

Mike Napoli uses a Chandler bat now owned by Rx Sports

Hamilton used a Rx Sport Acer/x bat back in 2009 for awhile before switching to the LS he now uses.

I just took a quick look out on the NFHS web site at the list of approved BBCOR bats.
LS has a new model listed but I find nothing on the web about it. Louisville Slugger Exogrid 2 CBE128.
By the numbering it looks like it is a 2012 model (not to be confused with the BB12EX2 2012 model). I wonder if they will release it just before the 2012 season starts.

quote:

Does the increase in weight make up for the materials used?

Anyone have any idea?

"Just a comment however, I have never seen a HS player swing a 35" bat, so he must be a beast to be swinging one. Last year my son was 6'4" and was the only player swinging a 34" on his team."

Must be different philosophies. Most kids on my son's team use 34/31. And we see the usual pitching for class 1A in AZ. Most kids are throwing mid 80's with occaisional 90's. Once or twice a year you get an upper 70's lefty junk baller.

Have to agree with BOF on this one. I don’t make it a point to go see what bats ALL the players use, but I do know that its much more likely a starter will use a 33 than anything longer.

Must be a Cali kind of thing. In AZ we see a ton of 34's. We are beasts in the desert!!

quote:

Originally posted by ctandc:
Well I got home to find the kid's new BBCOR Plasma sitting on the front porch. So he nags me to go hit. By then it was dark so we went to a local place with a indoor cage....

All I have to say about this bat is...don't buy it. It's absolute garbage. That way I can buy a couple more to stick in the garage until Rawlings figured out they screwed up.

This thing has pop. I've seen both new and last year VooDoo BBCOR, 5150, Marucci, Exo, Z1000...the kid has swung all those. He absolutely loves this bat. First swing he asked me if I was sure it was BBCOR.

I'm seriously going to order another. When other people figure out you can get a BBCOR with good pop for less than $100 shipped....well they might jack up the price.

You could tell the plasma was that good in an indoor facility?

quote:

Originally posted by Ninthmanout:
I just took a quick look out on the NFHS web site at the list of approved BBCOR bats.
LS has a new model listed but I find nothing on the web about it. Louisville Slugger Exogrid 2 CBE128.
By the numbering it looks like it is a 2012 model (not to be confused with the BB12EX2 2012 model). I wonder if they will release it just before the 2012 season starts.

It's in the new baseball express book.

quote:

Originally posted by warningtrack:
You could tell the plasma was that good in an indoor facility?

In my opinion? Yes.

In the opinion of my kid, the hitter, who has hit with most of all the other BBCOR bats, yes he felt a difference...and that's what matters.

Before a game recently I took a few good hitters aside, and hit with them in the cage, and brought with us a BBCOR DeMarini Voodoo, Marucci Cat-5, Rawlings 5150, Easton Surge, and a Rawlings Plasma... Each player got about 10 swings with each... They all liked the Plasma the best... Unscientific and a small sample, but it was cool to see their reactions...

My son (age 14) has hit 350-360+/- ft. homers with it... So it can be done with BBCOR!

Just ordered the Plasma. Will let you guys know how it works. Son saw the demo video and he wanted it. He likes the one piece construction and he really likes the ping it makes as compared to the thud the other BBCOR's make and the cool graphics.

quote:

Originally posted by Doughnutman:
Just ordered the Plasma. Will let you guys know how it works. Son saw the demo video and he wanted it. He likes the one piece construction and he really likes the ping it makes as compared to the thud the other BBCOR's make and the cool graphics.

You won't regret it.

Gonna try the Marucci "Black" the pre-order offer is enough to make my son interested. He has always preferred a balanced bat. As a junior, he's going to step up to a 34" he's 6'3", 200 lbs. with quick hands. I'll let you know what he thinks.

Son just tried out the Plasma in the cages. One of his teamates used it too. They loved it. Hands down more pop than the 5150. More pop than anything else he has swung. Thanks for the info. He really loves it.

Doughnutman - please give me some feedback once he uses it on the field.

No problem. First game use will be in HS scrimmage on 11/12. Then we will see.

Marucci Cat 5 has been great. They have a new black model for 2012 that's $100 more, but since we will probably need diff size in 2 yrs we went with 2011 white model at $200.

http://www.justbats.com/bat-re...pproved%20for~bbcor/

Here's a good review site of BBCOR bats. Lots of similar sites out there. But found this one more thorough & has the prices listed too.

Getting ready to buy our first bbcor. Son has hit and really likes the Rawlings 5150. Some kids from the older teams in his club use it and like it. Was getting ready to buy one and I see Rawlings has two new 5150's. One called the Velo for $250 and one called the Machine for $300. Has anyone used these yet? Wondering if they are worth the extra $50 or $100 over the regular bbcor 5150. Thanks

quote:

Originally posted by nolan ryan:
Getting ready to buy our first bbcor. Son has hit and really likes the Rawlings 5150. Some kids from the older teams in his club use it and like it. Was getting ready to buy one and I see Rawlings has two new 5150's. One called the Velo for $250 and one called the Machine for $300. Has anyone used these yet? Wondering if they are worth the extra $50 or $100 over the regular bbcor 5150. Thanks

Those bats seem to be composite and metal. Not 1 piece metal like the normal 5150.

A local D1 coach told me his players like the new Machine from Rawlings. He told me it was very close to a wood feel.

Interesting my son used a cf5 yesterday. He said he did not like it at all. The bat was too balanced, all the weight was in the handle. He's been using wood for the last 5 months and wants a bbcor that is a little more top heavy like his wood.

We will start the search now.......

Rawlings Machine BBCOR (-3) Adult Baseball Bat

Has anyone tried out this bat? There weren't any reviews posted yet on the site. Thanks!

quote:

Originally posted by warningtrack:
A local D1 coach told me his players like the new Machine from Rawlings. He told me it was very close to a wood feel.

Interesting my son used a cf5 yesterday. He said he did not like it at all. The bat was too balanced, all the weight was in the handle. He's been using wood for the last 5 months and wants a bbcor that is a little more top heavy like his wood.

We will start the search now.......

It's a very personal thing for each hitter in my opinion. My son has never liked any composite bat, even BESR bats. His highly scientific opinion is that they don't "Feel right".

quote:

It's a very personal thing for each hitter in my opinion. My son has never liked any composite bat, even BESR bats. His highly scientific opinion is that they don't "Feel right".

Amen brother; that's it in a nutshell.

We received an Omaha BBCOR as a warranty replacement. Still had the "ping" sound so a lot of players and coaches didn't think it was BBCOR. Son liked it, had good pop and was fairly balanced. Then we were at the Rawlings Outlet store and picked up the 5150 to feel it out. Son loved the better balanced feel. Ended up selling the Omaha and bought a 5150 and a couple of good wood bats. Can't get my son to stop swinging the wood and now he wants to use it in the upcoming season. I can't argue because he is getting as good, if not better, distance with the wood. Just comes down to the replacement factor. But for BBCOR he really likes the 5150

Quick update on the Plasma. It is by far the loudest bat ever. Son was in the cage and he switched back to wood because his ears were ringing. Scrimmage on Saturday so we will see how it works.

quote:

Originally posted by Doughnutman:
Quick update on the Plasma. It is by far the loudest bat ever. Son was in the cage and he switched back to wood because his ears were ringing. Scrimmage on Saturday so we will see how it works.

There might be something wrong with it, because we've got 3 of them on our team and they sound like most BBCOR bats - almost muffled...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axsfh3AKTn8

OK, this is weird... I went out and watched the justbats.com video, and their model sound much higher-pitched...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkidsHP0488

For a live performance, take that sound times about 100. It is insanely loud. Son swings reeeeely hard so that might help with the noise level.

My observations on the Plasma. If you miss the sweet spot it works like a wood bat but with good velocity. However, hit it right and it is better than any wood. Son was at ASU's prospect camp this weekend, I think it used to be called the Select 60 under the prior regime. He faced some very good pitching. He hit two square and it really flew. He hit one over the second basemans head by about 3 feet and the kid didn't have time to jump. It was 10 feet past him by the time he was airbourne. I have never seen that kind of hit with wood. I have no doubt it will send a few over the fence in HS this year. Good bat.

A 2012 Marucci Black will be under the tree for my son's 2012 Soph baseball season.





http://compositebats.com/2012-...ck-bbcor-bat-review/

http://maruccisports.com/video...ience-of-bbcor-bats/

http://maruccisports.com/video...e-new-marucci-black/

Hard to believe a $100 bat (Plasma) is the best of them. Seems like it would throw the market for bats into a tizzy. Will have a look.