2001 First time out Bat Evaluations

(04/08/01) Well, it's finally warming up around here. And that in turn allows me to get out and finally get some swings in with todays hottest line of bats. The temps were in the upper 70's. The balls were the ones I've been using for the past year. They were in the garage and a little cool, but not so cold it would have a big impact on bat performance and denting.

The bats I took with me were: Worth PST(27oz/13"barrel), Worth 3DX(27oz/13"barrel), Powerhouse Ozone2(27oz), Worth ESTL Blue(27oz/14"barrel) and the Demarini B52(28oz). This is not an official review. It was my first time out hitting this year and it was done off a tee. This helped in the consisitency. And man was I consistent ! I fully expected to hit ZERO or maybe just a few out based on the fact that it was my first time out and I have only swung on 2 other occassions in the past 2 months (that was inside using the Swing Away).

First, the overall stats show that I was in a groove and that helped in developing an initial quick opinion on these bats. The fences were around 312'. There was a cross wind of around 10-15mph blowing out to right field. I didn't hit any that way, all were left to left-center to center. I hit just one round of around 50 balls. Out of those, I hit 31 for bombs ! And no, I am not BSing you ! Why couldn't the GT HRD be today !!!!!!!
:)

With those stats you would be right in the assumption that all bats performed extremely well. The Ozone2 (2000 model) and the 27ozESTL (1999 model) were bats I have used many times before and use as a reference point. Having said that, here is a quick breakdown of an initial ranking, top to bottom.

PST is the best. No doubt. Even with the smaller barrel than the 28oz it still outperformed everything else. I had some big bombs with this bat. One, by guess, was in the 340' range. Next comes the B52. This bat was great also. It performed along the sames lines as the Ozone2 (which if you haven't swung the Ozone2 is a great bat) and ESTL. I need more hits with it to test how big the sweet spot is on it. The one that came in last on this day (I wouldn't say it was a bad bat, it just didn't measure up to the other bats I swung today) was the 3DX. I had the 27oz with the 13" barrel which could have been a factor, but I just don't feel that it had the pop the other bats had. I had no trouble hitting bombs with the other bats (any of them), but struggled a little with this one. I still hit them, but not near as often or as far. Maybe it needs a break in period, which is why I call this an INITIAL evaluation and not a bat review.

With any of these bats the motto of my site lives on.......No Fence....Too Far !!!

Be sure and post any comments on the message board.

-Jerry