What are your players swinging?

Kind of an update. Son swung the 23 VooDoo and the Atlas last night during practice BP. It was a small sample size of about 10 swings each. He wanted to try something a little lighter then his Nox.

This was off a machine on the field. Machine was set at about 75 around 55ft from the hitter.

Out of the 2 there was only 5ft distance difference (Atlas). So not much of a distance to make a real impact.

His comments on feel. He said the Voodoo felt lighter and was easier to control in the zone and hit better off the end. The Atlas felt a little better with balls hit more towards the hands.

He said, if he had to choose between the two, he would go with the VooDoo.

Tonight he will try hitting with the CatX and his Nox if he gets the chance.

If this helps, he is a 5'11 165 contact hitter that hits warning track/wall balls when he elevates the ball on his HS field (320 in the corners).

First time not use wood for my kid. he is swinging the 33.5 inch dovetail tremor bbcor this season. He digs the pro xr knob better than the axe handle. His 34 in axe is his back up. His team also uses the goods and he is enjoying the pop off that bat. 

Mine used the end loaded yellow and black Rawlings Quatro....loved the bat, had great pop, but zero durability....junior and senior year went to a black and red Easton, forgot what its called.   (Many players used it)....in college he's using the Green Easton (the one that is a clone of the classic green Easton)...I see lots of players using The Goods and the Marucci CAT at the college level.

@TxballDad posted:

he is a 5'11 165 contact hitter

My son is currently the same and also loves the VooDoo. He has a 32" and I have been wondering if he may need the 33" soon...kid is clearly still growing...

Atlas.  He likes it.

And it has begun……. Inevitability

Great thread. Helpful b/c experiences from HS players at all stages and points of development is helpful, potentially cost saving, and FUN. Goes that extra step beyond what the batbros do. Will can prob swing ANY bat and hit "nukes". Not all our boys will get to 6" or 200# +, esp as freshmen.

Kiddo is 5'10" and 140. Good contact hitter, starting to drive the ball to warning track for more power. Exit velocity mid 80s

He swings a Stinger Missile 2 32". It is (stupid) LIGHT and whippy. Nice taper to knob. ***TRULY MEASURES AS 32"*** (More on this below)

Pros. As above, & It IS HOT and has proven to be durable, and is relatively inexpensive.

CONS: Smallish barrel with MICROSCOPIC "sweet spot". WELL DESERVED "Stinger" name in that it STINGS both hands BADLY on anything BUT the microscopic sweet spot. Son has been gaming this bat for past 9mo, as it's HOT even on mishits, but it's seemingly too punishing on the hands for anything more than 3 rounds of BP, which is a limiting factor. It seems to be very similar to the new BONESABER at a better price point. Subjectivity matters here though. The Missile sounds oddly like a wood bat. Sometimes it sounds "dead". Some like this, some don't. Like others, waiting to see what the consensus is on the new Bonesaber HYBRID, as theoretically it should be less punishing to the hands.

To re-echo others comments on the '20/'21 Voodoo One, son's other fav bat. No stinging issues. GREAT bat.

Pros: Hot, whippy, light, & easy on hands. Truly a great overall bat. He has two '21s, a "32" and "33". The 32" has seen ALOT of use with no issues. The knob and end cap are both still there. He also obviously isn't and wasn't a hulk using it either. But a few teammates of similar size HAVE broken the newer Voodoo Ones (knob).

The BIGGER issue here for us that I've never seen mentioned is that it measures as a 32" all the way to the END of the TALL endcap. The end cap protrudes seemingly at least 0.5" (no havent measured it exactly but it's noticeable). If you measure it to the end of the *alloy* it's more like a 31.5". For a given size (you think you're getting), balls seemingly can get hit off the endcap more often, which in turn may cause more endcap issues. If you go up a size to compensate, bat doesn't feel as light. Hence, going back to the Stinger Missile. Kiddo will likely swing the '21 "33" Voodoo this season, but again, it's more like a 32.5", which is the perfect length for him now. Otherwise, unless it breaks prematurely, NO CONS, other than cost I guess.

Son demo'd the Atlas, but it didn't feel as whippy, and seemingly affected his swing and quality of contact. To him, it was weighted oddly. The Atlas has a large knob with little taper to it from the handle. Wondering if adding a taper or taking the rubber taper off the 32" Voodoo One or Missile will remedy the bat's feel. The cost and overwhelmingly positive feedback merit trying to find  a way to make this bat work. I don't like absolutes, but we've had many Louisville bats over the years, and they were all seemingly GREAT. Lots of pop and durability.

Had bad experience with knob breaking off Cat 8 USSSA back in the day at the 13 month mark, so not a fan of Marucci even tho Cat X looks nice. Totally undertsand vitriol toward Demarini these days. We just got lucky with the '21s

Just our .02. Hope this helps someone...

Adbono;

Wood?

Bob

@Consultant posted:

Adbono;

Wood?

Bob

When I get lucky.

@adbono posted:

When I get lucky.

Hahahaha!

A get Roman ad will soon be popping up on this site.

Victus dp13 34.5/32 (An ax handle)

@PTWood posted:

Victus dp13 34.5/32 (An ax handle)

He is a baaaadddd man...  I think I could get that around at about 20 mph.

@Dadbelly2023 posted:

Personally I think all HS and College games should be mandatory wood bats.

It's definitely time for this.

D1 schools won't willingly give up their bat sponsorships, but for other levels they really have no excuse with the current relative pricing and durability for quality wood and non-wood bats. And if the other levels went to wood that would significantly devalue the D1 bat sponsorships, since the whole idea is to get players who will never play D1 to buy bats at full retail price based on what they see D1 players swinging.

PT;

I have a old D. Strawberry wood bat 35" 34 ounce.

Bob

@Consultant that's cool! Sometimes he gets Strawberry comps but it happens less now that he's filled out a little bit.

So, from everything I've learned over the years, and I could be wrong.

1. All top made bbcor bats are essentially similar performance as far as how far you hit the ball

2. The difference comes in your ability to find barrels based on the right size bat and it's swing weight

3. discomfort on mishits is when you don't find barrel, my suggestion, learn to find more barrels

4. sweet spot is not where the bat performs the hottest, but where you don't get rung up,   the hottest spot just happens to be in the sweet spot.  I believe that hottest spot is all the same size on every bat of same size.

5. You can tell how big the sweet spot is on a 1-piece and wood bat without ever hitting it.

6. batbros is a guilty pleasure of mine, but I will tell you that, and I don't think it's on purpose, they tend to hype up a bat then later grow cold on it (durability not withstanding). It's like a kid with a new toy.  You'll see them hit two balls, both go just as far but they'll tell you one bat is hotter than the other (usually in separate video's you can see this).  My explanation, it's really about how the bat feels to you.  you like how it feels and omg it's the hottest bat with the greatest pop.  (two piece composit on composit are a different animal in bbcor)

7. Heavier the bat, the father the ball goes, if you can swing it.

My son likes the way the voodoo felt, but durability is not good, even with the 2023 model.  He went with the Cat X and said it feels very similar and the durability is supposed to be very good.  He is a freshman in college.

I gotta say I am on the Bat Bros bandwagon.  The nuke treated us really well, son had confidence in it.  Couldnt bring myself to drop 300+  on a bat with durability issues, so when they ended up giving such high ratings to the Atlas, we got one.  My son loves it, another guy he trains with swung it, and he said it seemed to be just as hot as his 2017 Rawlings 5150 - which is pretty darn hot.  Atlas just doesnt swing as light.  Like other folks said, its all about their confidence in the bat, so much of it is mental.  Higher confidence level translates to more willingness to really swing hard.  He is actually really wanting to try the String King metal, so if anyone has any first hand experience with that, would love to hear it.

@CMaley

My son likely not nearly as strong or heavy as your son. Our experience with the SK "2" does NOT correlate with the batbros experience. We had opporutnity to demo the 32" and (sorry all, just trying to be helpful) did NOT find exit velocity to be anything to write home about. Velos from Voodoo and Stinger Missile were all markedly (& consistently) higher (5+ mph, pocket radar). It felt like they may have rebranded the SK "1" as a "2", or you need to be stronger, and/or need the longer 33" to get more trampoline effect to achieve similar experience. All the other assessments about the bat, however, in our experience were spot on. Again, sorry. I can envision all the eye rolling or throwing up a little in your mouth. If your son swings the Atlas well, I'd wager you've already got (one of, if not the) best "bang for your buck" BBCOR bat for your situation. Hope this helps.