Bat Reviews – Continued

As promised the Bat Reviews continue.

2018 – Twisted Mistress – Another Demarini bat, right?  Not so fast my friend another 2-piece bat designed using Demarini’s Advanced Performance Composite (APC) barrel.  It also comes with the ZnX Alloy Handle.  This bat tested at 375 in the plastic…but don’t let that number fool you.  This 12″ barrel doesn’t take much to shake loose.  Since it tested so high I decided to start with the Tatoo NX3 Spinner .40/325 Classic Ms.  One round…One ROUND and she was ready…  The ply (composite layers) technology that Demarini uses is quite impressive.  The bat got hot F-A-S-T.   You’d think a bat that tests at 375 would be stiff…and it was…for about 10 hits.  Then it started to heat up.  By the end of the round (108 balls later) it was testing at 270.  I switched to the NX3 .52/300 spinners for the next two rounds.  The sweet spot was a bit further up the barrel from what I expected but overall it was a good experience.  This bat does have bigger sweet spot than the New Breed for sure..but that could also be the nature of the end load.  If you hit it…it will go..if you miss it..head to the dug out.

Final thought :  This bat also has that distinctive Demarini  feel to it. Unlike the New Breed however, this bat “felt” better.  The end load felt better (and from what I’ve been told that New Breed was supposed to be more of mid-load than end load anyway) and your hands come through the zone quicker with this one.  Mine hit 250 by the end of the 3rd round, and I suspect will continue to drop with more BP.   The unique thing about this bat is that you can go on the Demarini website and customize it. http://www.demarini.com/custom/slowpitch/model pick your paint color and finish, handle color, grip tape and even the end cap and knob design.

2018 – Juggy (DB44) – This update from last years Juggy is worth the wait.  Demarini again used there ply technology to produce a bat that tested at 400 in the plastic, yet immediately felt like it was hot.  I also hit the Tattoo NX3 Spinner .40/325 balls to get this bat broken in.  The surprise to me was that it felt hot even after testing it at 400.  At the end of the round this bat still tested high (320) but didn’t “feel” like it was at 320.  The ball was jumping off the bat.  So I continue to hit the .40/325 for another round.  The result was another drop in compression, though not as significant as the first round to test at 280.  However, the bat was really starting to feel good.  At this point I switched to the .52/300 for a round.  To my surprise the balls continued to come off just as hard as the .40/325.  Final test put the at at 265 (ish).

This bat also felt “whippy”.  For those of you that have swung a Juggy you’ll know what I mean.  With a composite handle the “whip” from this bat is insane. The sweet spot on this bat took some time to find, because you had to get the feel for where the bat head was.  Also a 12″ barrel construction this bat uses what Demarini calls a “Stacked Double Wall Construction”, and like last years model, is one of the BEST bats to use in the heat.  Being from Texas, it gets HOT down here and with the DB44 performance doesn’t fall off in the heat.   This bat is not for the faint of heart.  Takes some work to get used to it.  The whip puts the bat head back behind your hands in many cases.  It’s a massive risk/reward scenario.  Master it and you can blast the ball at will, but until you do, you’ll feel off while hitting it.

Final thought :  This 12″ barrel does not feel like the other Demarinis. Unlike the New Breed or Twisted Mistress this bat has a completely unique “Juggy” feel to it. Overall my impression of this bat was one that if you master it (as Dale has) you will be surprised at how much control and velocity you can achieve with it.  It is NOT a bat to use at game time if you haven’t hit it before, and it’s not one for beginners.  This bat will take some work, but in the end it’ll be well worth it.

2018 – Miken Psycho (Brandon Dillon)  – Another Long Barrel Bat.  This one is listed as a 14″ barrel.  On the tester this bat starts out at 270.  The first thing I noticed was that this bat didn’t feel like a typical long barrel with a mid load feel.  The 26.5 I got my hands on felt a bit weighty in the end.   If your accustom to a 27 then you may want to pick up the 26.5 instead of the 27.5 given the way this bats end load felt.  With it’s lower tester rating I only hit a few of the Tattoo NX3 .40/325 before switching to the .52/300s.

This bat is MADE for the new players.  They can grab this bat and hit shots right out of the plastic.  It’s a great all purpose bat.  Now let me clarify, when I say made for the new players I don’t mean ONLY new players.  I mean that it’s ease of use makes it ideal for a new player just coming up OR a pro who’s been at it for years.  The bat I tested did have a small problem with the paint cracks at the bottom of the barrel, which is no doubt a result of the whip produced by barrel with the heavy end load.  Miken says the Max Load is .5 oz but this particular one felt heavier than that.  This 26.5 swung like a 27 (to me).

Final thought : Good all purpose bat.  The heavy end load makes it ideal for guys with less power to generate more hand speed and hit harder/deeper shots.  With the big barrel you have a massive sweet spot and it’s much easier to hit the ball harder.  If i have a knock on this bat it at times did feel “stiff” because the long barrel didn’t seem to lend itself to having such a heavy end load.

Still to Come… the Jeff Hall Z1000 and the Worth Legit (Dedonatis), and the Easton OA Connell