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With all the bats available, I’m curious what is the most popular bat type on your teams?  Also, what was your general bat progression through the HS years?  I realize that bay type or brand is a personal choice, but just curious.  Mine swung end loaded bats through youth but moved to a more balanced bat when he went to BBCOR.  

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2024 has always swung a balanced bat for BBCOR.  Did move up to a '33 this year after swinging a '32 for the past two years.  He swears it is not too big (he is not big) and seems to be hitting the ball the same.  He has good oppo power and I thought perhaps the '32 might help him start a little more pull power, but I think oppo is simply his swing approach.  The'33 is DeMarini Voodoo - had to personalize as there are 4-5 other kids swinging the exact same bat.

He enjoys the summer wood bat experience and has not talked about mving to a '33.  If his current '32 ever bites the dust, I will be interested in whether he does move up or stick with the '32 for this summer.

Voodoo 1 Demarini  - one piece bat.  My unofficial survey of travel, high school, and many college games is it may be the most popular bat.  Outstanding weight distribution enabling bat speed.  They had a defect with the knobs coming off which happened to my grandsons bat last summer.  They replaced it on warranty.  I believe they have solved that problem on this year’s model (gold color) versus prior years red color.  Demarini also makes a bat called the Goods which is an end loaded bat.  Probably can hit the ball a bit farther with this bat but it is too much to swing for younger players.  I would only recommend this bat for the strongest of high school and college players.  Bat bro’s on YouTube is a good place to see performance of many of these bats.

Be careful with the Demarini Voodoo One. They have a known issue with the knobs breaking off, it's still an issue with the new 23' version. Just happened to my 2024 son last week, knob cracked clean off during a routine BP swing in the cage. No warranty, he inherited the bat from his buddy who was made a PO. It was over a year old despite not being used much.

He's now back to using The Goods 2-piece.

Summer travel:

Tucci 271 Maple Pro Limited

High School (bbcor):

2018 Axe Hyperwhip (inherited)

2021 StringKing Metal

2020 Rawlings 5150 (inherited)

Hasn't made a game bat choice on the bbcor aluminum yet.  Says they all hit the same. Partial to the Axe handle, but not a must.  Grew out of Voodoo One he had used, wont' let me buy a new bat for him, says what he's inherited is enough, and I quote, "It's the hitter, not the bat, Dad".   He's my budget kid, never wants anything new, or if he needs something, he rummages through the bargain bin.

PS. the Tucci is because I won't skimp on Wood and I'm sad they sold out to a big company to expand, I wonder if they'll hand pick their billets anymore when you order pro stock online (if they ever get back online), so sad.  The Voodoo was demo day bargain, bought before it was a popular bat and went up in price by $150; a 2020 I think, the year before the cap and knob issues started, it made it through 2 seasons.

947 - if the bat you mention is over a year old, I don’t see how it could be a ‘23 version.  I don’t believe the Voodoo Golds came out until late last summer or early fall.

It's not a 23' Voodoo One, but those are reported to still have the same knob issue. The red version & the newer gold version are the exact same bat with different paint jobs.

@947 posted:

It's not a 23' Voodoo One, but those are reported to still have the same knob issue. The red version & the newer gold version are the exact same bat with different paint jobs.

It is more than that.  I googled Voodoo One Gold Bat knob issue and a good blog post came up explaining the issue clearly:

https://betterbaseball.com/blog/voodoo-one-durability

Beyond that, when my grandson got his replacement bat last summer, the end cap was different and the knob did seem to be reinforced over the old version of the bat.  They sent us back a red bat but I believe they gave us the new 23 version as a replacement.  Then in the fall, a parent called Demarini, and they told them they were aware of the two issues (end cap, and knob), and they would be fixed in the '23 gold version.  Thus, they went ahead and bought the gold version last fall.  As a point of reference, with respect to my grandson's replacement bat, I am sure he has hit several thousand baseball's by now and the end cap is still intact.  On the original bat, the end cap began to chip off almost immediately.

Here's the thing.  That bat is an excellent performance bat.  Assuming someone buys one and the knob comes off, a replacement can be had with Demarini.  Yes, there are some shipping costs and it takes about 10 days for the new one to get back to you.   

@TexasLefty posted:

I use to watch them regularly.  Good stuff for sure.  They have a website that has a regularly updated list.  Was looking at that when I decided to ask here.  They have a LS on top now.

Good tip.  https://baseballbatbros.com/

Didn't realize they had a website.  The top four bats listed are Louisville Slugger, CATX, The Goods, and Voodoo One.  It's like splitting hairs picking between them.  The main negative they had on Voodoo was the durability issue.  See my comments above regarding that.

First, I want to be clear I’m not mocking the original post. It is interesting to see player’s bat preference. But, don’t get caught up in it. I shake my head when I hear a kid had problems in a game because he didn’t have his bat.

I was playing college ball when metal bats became available. They were terrible. Players didn’t have individual bats. Players used whatever wood bats were in the bat bag. Someone else broke the bat you liked? Tough luck until it’s replaced.

When I was younger in pick up games we used whatever bat we had that wasn’t broken. Sometimes they had nails and tape holding them together until the next time someone’s dad got them to the local mom and pop sporting goods store. If the bat was too big and too heavy … not uncommon if you were the little kid good enough to play with the bigger kids … you choked up as much as necessary. I didn’t develop bat drag sometimes using a bat that was too heavy. I got stronger and quicker.

In middle school and high school my son used EXOgrids. He liked them because they seemed to have the same balance as the LS Model 243 wood bats he used in the summer. If there was a bat he really didn’t like it was DeMarinis.

Then, he got to college ball. Guess what is the most used bat in college ball. A player can’t use something other than what is provided. There are big money endorsement deals on the table at major universities. My son started using DeMarini bats and never gave it another thought.

Personally I think all HS and College games should be mandatory wood bats.  That out of the way...

We are complete ebay bat monkeys!  An embarrassing number of BBCOR bats bc it's a little fun honestly.  2023 swung a Demarini Voodoo one last year. (Has a spare because, as noted, they are total eggs.)  2025 has a bunch which, as a primary pitcher, he swings with completely random and streaky effectiveness. 

Bigger question is the correct bat size.  2023 has 32's; he's 5ft 9, been messing around with a 33in this winter.  Personally I think he barrels more balls with the 32 but he feels like he "needs" to swing a 33 given his supposed skill level.   I do think the EV is higher with the 33.

I’ll add that my 2026 swung a 32 bbcor voodoo in the spring and summer and moved to a 33 voodoo bbcor this fall.  He loves the bat.  Swing mechanics for another thread, but I’ll share that he was not hitting very well in the spring and summer.  Simplifying this, but hhis hitting coach had him just relax and it has already made a huge difference.  

I’m in the camp that you should be able to get similar results from similar bars regardless of price.  But it’s like Christmas for me too multiple times per year to buy some gear for him.  He never asks, but I do love it.  He’s the shrewd one, which will be good in the long run for him 😁

@JucoDad posted:

Marucci Black 34" - Oh wait, that was in 2014...

I wasn't happy about the cost of equipment, but I miss checking out bats and gloves from the youth through HS stages.  

whadup whadup.  That's what I'm saying.  There's a lot of fun in talking gear with the sons.  The pitcher talks about the different leathers in gloves.  So I read up on japanese kip a bit.  But I like talking bats more. 

 

So just when I thought my 2023 was set on using his LS Select PWR from last season, he comes home with a Warstic Bonesaber. Apparently Warstic sent the high school team a handful of bats to demo and coach told him to take this one home to use when we go hit in the evenings. So he was using both last night during BP. He has never been a fan of one piece bats (he hated the Voodoo One). I think he still goes back to the Select PWR which he had good success with last season.

I don't mean to deviate from the "bats" part of this thread, but..... Son(16year old), does BP against a machine throwing 80+, several times each week. Miss hits, sting like crazy, but he doesn't complain. Still, i'm wondering if there is any equipment out there that's recommended to reduce sting? Thumb Guard? Driveline "soft" machine pitch balls?  Double wrapping bats?

Any suggestions?

I don't mean to deviate from the "bats" part of this thread, but..... Son(16year old), does BP against a machine throwing 80+, several times each week. Miss hits, sting like crazy, but he doesn't complain. Still, i'm wondering if there is any equipment out there that's recommended to reduce sting? Thumb Guard? Driveline "soft" machine pitch balls?  Double wrapping bats?

Any suggestions?

Don’t get fisted.

I don't mean to deviate from the "bats" part of this thread, but..... Son(16year old), does BP against a machine throwing 80+, several times each week. Miss hits, sting like crazy, but he doesn't complain. Still, i'm wondering if there is any equipment out there that's recommended to reduce sting? Thumb Guard? Driveline "soft" machine pitch balls?  Double wrapping bats?

Any suggestions?

yellow dimples or real balls?  If dimples, I'd just swing the crappiest bat I had.   

Real balls: two piece composite bats will absorb the best.  Then the alloy barrel/composite handle ones.  Marucci's knob dampening system is tits.  Maybe try popping on one of those rubber knob covers from little league days.

I don't think I'd double wrap a bat; too much squishiness messes up barrel accuracy.   

I've always wondering why an engineer hasn't designed some sort of piezoelectric dampening system like what some skis and snowboards have. 

Hey Arcy, can I get a Bonesaber report from your son later.  I'm loving torturing adbono by prolonging this thread btw.

My 24' has a Bonesaber he used freshman year, and now my 26' is trying it out. It has great pop, and the tapered knob helps it whip through the zone. The sweet spot is pretty small compared to the more popular 1-piece alloys. They just came out with a 2-piece version, which is supposed to have a better sweet spot, have not seen one yet. Baseball Bat Bros have multiple Bonesaber vids out there.

I don't mean to deviate from the "bats" part of this thread, but..... Son(16year old), does BP against a machine throwing 80+, several times each week. Miss hits, sting like crazy, but he doesn't complain. Still, i'm wondering if there is any equipment out there that's recommended to reduce sting? Thumb Guard? Driveline "soft" machine pitch balls?  Double wrapping bats?

Any suggestions?

Driveline Baseball Smash Factor Balls. I've been feeding these to my son over the last few weeks...hands don't get beat up nearly as much compared to regular balls.

Kid was been through some bats. But, all bats considered, the one he kept going back to and had a lot of success with was the 2018 Louisville Slugger Solo 618. Can't use it anymore because he's in college and it's white. Don't know why they have now discontinued the Solo? But, FWIW, there seems to be some buzz on the 23 Atlas.

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).

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.

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...

Last edited by GratefulNTXlurker

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.

Last edited by auberon

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.

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.

Last edited by GratefulNTXlurker

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