2023 USSSA Composite Bat Showdown Baseball Bat Bros

What up, what up? Will here with the Baseball Bat Bros. And today folks, we're going to find out what is the best USSS composite bat of 2023. Let's get it. All right, folks, going back to last year, we did the same video for 2022 and our defending champion is the Cat 9 composite. So that kind of gives the Cat X composite the front runner status in this bunch of 10 bats. So starting it off with a bat that we know is good. It's going to be great to set a baseline with. We have the CF, formerly known as the CF Zen. We have the 2023 Meta, has that kind of green teal look to it. Different tech in this bat. We have the Quattro Pro that we never got a chance to swing from 2022. The favorite, the Cat X composite, the Bama of the group, so to speak. The 2023 ADV Hype. The 2022 Zoa, carried over to 2023. The new version of the Dirty South Swag. We have the S7 here. The new Rawlings composite that's going to replace the Quattro. Really excited about this. We have the Icon. The 2023 Axe Avenge Pro, getting a lot of love. And then the Combat B2 Ultra that's also going to represent the Easton Maxim Ultra. I believe they're the exact same bat. We have another one-piece composite here. And you can see on the barrels of all of these, very important that we get these broken in. I've got a bunch of swings on all of these so far. Some require more than others. So let's head into it, guys. We're going to have the Rapsodo here as well. So we'll have Exit Velo on field and we will crown a 2023 USASA champ. Let's get it. All right, folks. We're out here at Legends Field in Kansas City today. Home of the Kansas City Monarchs. Big field, 396 to center. 411 to one part of the gap. 350 to the other part of the gap. And then we have kind of that mini green monster left there. We've got the Rapsodo here. I'll have Exit Velo right in front of me so we can kind of test feel, sweet spot, swing weight, and performance and pop all at one time here. All right, starting with a bat that we know is very solid here. The DiMarini CF, CF Zen. You guys all know it. Hit pretty dang well already. Did that just go out of dead center? 104.5 to start the day. Oh, oh, ho, ho, ho. Yep, that's over everything. Okay, first one out of the stadium. 102.1, kind of got in on the hands a little bit, but that's way gone. Oh, baby, hoo, hoo, hoo. Oh, that's gonna be 110, gotta be. Wow, 107.4. All right, so a high of 107.4 with the CF. The feel and the sweet spot, I have a hard time imagining we're gonna find a better feel and a better sweet spot than the CF. The only downside of this bat is durability has definitely known to be an issue with the DiMarini U triple SA bats in general. At least for the first few months, you will absolutely love this bat starting out in first place. All right, moving on to the meta. All right, uh-oh. So I broke this bat in and we have a little rattle in the barrel. I don't think it's meant to do that, but I know this does have new, very unique tech. This has a gap wall technology, which is something you typically see in BB core or USA bats or even like fast pitch softball. You do not see that much in U triple SA with composite bats. So very interesting move by Louisville Slugger when you had the meta from the past couple of years, a really durable bat, a super popular bat, very light swing weight, and they changed it fairly dramatically. You'll notice the sound difference here. I've got a lot of swings to break this thing in, but it's rattling for sure. Oh, oh, yo, all right, great first hack. 102.6, I hit that pretty well. So definitely lighter than the CF, 100%. Hit that pretty well, that should go dead center there. Yeah. Oh baby, 104.3, that's like 420 feet, man. This is definitely hotter out of the wrapper than the orange and the black meta from the last couple of years. That barrel rattle bugs me though, man. That's a little frustrating. I was a little concerned, oh, sorry bro. That was 104.8. I was a little concerned about the meta when they changed the tech, but it's very hot. It is very, very hot. It's keeping up with the CF. Absolutely killed that. Dude, that's incredible, 103.8. The sweet spot is right there with the CF, and it's lighter than the CF. Max Velo was down a little bit, but that barrel rattle is like a deal breaker, guys. I hate that. It's amazing, like that was absolutely killed. Light, giant sweet spot. If you have this bat, I'm sure you'll like it, but that barrel rattle is definitely a point of concern for me. The CF's fragile, but it's holding up right now at least. All right, moving on to the Quattro from last year. I actually think this was the first drop five composite UAAA Quattro that they've had in a while, and they immediately went away from it with that new icon. When I was breaking it in, it didn't feel great, but we have the Rapsodo to be objective here. That's the highest pitched sound by far. Usually high pitch isn't a great sign, but that's good below, man. That's 105 miles an hour. The weighting's really weird. There's no weight in the barrel at all. It's very balanced, but just like the DV Core Quattro, all the weight is right here. That was really peaceful. It stings, just the feel, the barrel feel, the weighting, the taper. I don't like this bad as much as those, 102.3. Dude, that feedback sucks. I think it's really hot, but you really have to hit it out here. Like, that even kind of wrung the hands, but that ball's hammered, 105.7. Oh my gosh. It is so hot if you get it out like that, though. 107.9. I think that's our high. I feel like it's not good, though. That's the problem. I'd way rather hit with the Meta and the CF, but if you hit it right, it's fire. Oh my gosh, that's hammered. I'm just not swinging it well, so it's a weird feel. 103.8. Max Exit Velo, this was the hottest bat we've swung so far, but more importantly, the weight distribution, the handle, and the sweet spot was definitely the worst. I am a little bit conflicted between this and the Meta just because the Meta had that barrel rattle, but it felt so good. I almost put the Meta over the CF even despite that, so I'm putting the Quattro in the cellar. The reigning champ, the Marucci composite. We now have the Cat X, the Cat 10 composite. I actually think they did take a slight step down in performance from that black and red Cat 9 composite. I think they wanted a more durable bat, which is weird because I felt like that bat was already very durable, but is what it is, man. This just takes a lot longer to break in. I think the handle's stiffer and just a lot more rigid feeling, but when you barrel it up, dude, this seems to win every matchup it's in, so we'll see what we got. And it does ring you up on the hands a lot more than last year's. 103.2, okay. Oh my Lord. 108.1, that's our new high. Oh, that was just a flick, bro. 106.6 on that. That's insane. Yo! There's a lighter, 107.6, one more. Like, that's gone and that's absolutely killed, but I'm just not completely satisfied with the feel. I literally don't even think I've got a ball perfect, perfect yet, and that's 107.3. Yo, 106, that's, dude, I thought that would have been my hardest hit by far. As I'm telling you, I'm not as satisfied with this as I was with last year's bat, and maybe I'm just being spoiled. This is number one, it's stupid hot. Like, those balls off the hands, off the batter's eye, like, that's crazy. But if you have that black and red or even the red, white, and blue Cat 9 Comp, like, keep that bat. I hope they, like, re-release that somehow. So moving on, we have the new 2023 Easton ADV Hype Composite here. Similar to last year, they have that very, very thin handle and still kind of has that log feel to it. Let's see what we got. Ooh, that should go, that felt good, man. 106.4, yeah, still pretty heavy, and it's like a short barrel where you really have to catch it out front. That's 106.1, yeah, that's a ball that I wish would be barreled, and it's really not. I feel like the CF, the Meta, and the Cat X Comp all do a lot better with that ball in on the hands. That's my biggest concern with the last three Easton U-Trip bats I've swung. Yeah, on those balls out over the plate with this, I'm just lethal. God, it's heavy, it feels like a drop three, man. There we go, got the barrel out front. That's gonna be humming, dude. 109.9, that is our highest exit VLOG, it's just a club though, dude, I don't know. Yeah, yeah, that's hammering. All right, just a lot, 105.7 right there. A lot less barrel to work with. I need one swing with the CF. This is gonna be two or three. The VLOG's there, man, but that can't be everything. That's just a hard bat to swing, and it's really clunky, and it's really for that power hitter, that strong kid that's gonna get the barrel out front. You can't really get jammed well on that bat. Yeah, for sure. So the ADV Hype is gonna be third place behind the CF, 106.1, just way, way more barrel to work with on the CF. But I just know it's kind of fragile. There's a trade-off for a bat being this hot out of the wrapper. All right, folks, so we have a contender. Unfortunately, this is like the CF's big brother. This is a fragile bat. I'd put probably five swings on this bat to break it in, because I know the ZOA does not need any break-in swings whatsoever. That's off the end of the bat. You can literally hear how frickin' hot that thing is, dude. Jeez, that is literally off the end of the bat. 103, 411 feet. Kinda hooked it. Still off the end. I gotta hit one clean here. 104.3. That's gonna be going so fast. So fast. 105.5. Oh, I thought that'd be better. Ooh, that's one of my better ones. Oh, did I literally hit the same spot? That just goes to show how similar those bats are. 104.8. 107.2 with the ZOA. We're literally 0.1 miles an hour away from the CF. All right, so here's where my head's at, folks. Super similar, almost identical, right? When we first reviewed the ZOA, I had kind of hoped that DiMarini would've addressed some of the durability issues on the CF. And after one year of ZOA, that's clearly not the case. Like, I almost wanna go CF because everything else is so similar. It's like, it's so close. I'm going CF just barely. So this is gonna be number three. So now we are moving on to the Dirty South S7 Swag here. Very possibly the lightest bat I've swung so far here. I think definitely, this is up there with the Patek's composite. This is too thick. Oh, yeah! Dude, that felt really good. 103.8, Velo wasn't quite up there, but that felt awesome. Ooh, dude, easiest to control bat so far. 104.3, the Velos are down a little bit. The barrel's forgiving for a one-piece, dude. 104.9, our Velos are down. So very light, very forgiving. The closest thing we have to a pure contact hitting bat right here so far. Smash! Dude, very impressed. 106.6, man. Oh, dang it, dude. All right, so disclaimer here, folks. These bats are notoriously durable. We hit with one of these in like 35 degree weather with Adley Rutchman, and it fricking held up on us. So this is a very, very good bat. It's gonna last you a long time. Last year, I swung the Navy Blue Dirty South Swag, and I feel like I just didn't get enough swings on it. So this year, with all these bats, I put probably more swings on this Dirty South than any other bat, just so I can make sure it was broken in. You can hear it. You can hear the difference from last year. Way higher pitch. Definitely a lot more ready to go. Feels awesome. Sweet spot feels big, but that's our second durability problem so far. We have a big old crack going on, and that's not a death sentence. This bat could still honestly go for a little bit. That still has some life left in it. Obviously, it's still hitting the ball hard, but that's gonna go down there with the meta, unfortunately. This was about to be up there with the CF, man. Awesome bat. I wonder if they just made these a little hot out of the wrapper, and I didn't hear about it. That felt great, dude. All right, moving on. Very excited about this. I know nothing about this thing. In warmups, it felt pretty dang good. The new Rawlings replacement of the Quattro. We have the Icon Drop 5. So much different from the Quattro. Way different. 107.9, swing one. Yo. Dude, the grip is slick. That's a petty little thing that I could easily change with a lizard skin or something, but the grip is definitely slick. Dude, that is really, really, really hot. 107.9 again. Both of those kind of stung the hands, though. Dude, this is really, really good. 102.6 on a not very good swing. Oh, yeah. It's weird, because you feel like it flexes a bunch, but it still wrings your hands out. That's a weird combo. So hot, 107.6. This is one of the hottest bats here, but just the grip is ridiculously thin. It's kind of slippery. That's hotter than the CF and ZOA. I'm going to say that, 103.9. Dude, over everything, man. 104.8. One more. I feel like I haven't really even got one that great. Oh, dude, that's a good effort. 107.5. All right, so we're going to do a final swing off at the end. So this isn't final, but that's like every hit was like 106, 107. I'm putting that above the CF. All right, so so far, we have five bats that I feel pretty, pretty good about. The ADV, the ZOA, the CF, the Icon, and the Cat X. The meta and the swag probably felt the best besides the CF, if I'm being honest. They both just had, you know, some cosmetic durability issues there. And now we only have two left, folks. We will do a swing off at the end, but moving on to the Axe bat. I've had something to complain about about every single one of these bats so far. Maybe I'm just very picky, but let's see if the Axe bat can put it all together here. Great feel, just like no feedback. 102.5. Towards the hands, I've mentioned it before, doesn't feel amazing towards the hands on this bat. You got to hit it a little bit further out. Huh, ooh, that was it. That was a really good spot on the barrel. There we go, 106.7. I've hit with this bat quite a bit. I've tried to break this in a lot. It's all on one side of the barrel. It's been very durable for me. It doesn't feel that crazy responsive though. I just, me and the Axe handle, we got a little bit of beef. Not a lot, just a little bit. There's a, there's a good one. Oh, I feel like I'm getting a little more juice out of the other bats. 104.7, one more. That's it, as far as I can hit it. 104.4, huh? Hope for a little more out of this. They're going to come out with the flare handle as well. This doesn't feel deserving of the sixth spot, but I think that's where I'm going to put it, behind the ADV, dang. All right, so we have our top five set for a swing off and we're going to see if one last bat can make it in the Combat B2 Ultra, also representing the Easton Maxim Ultra, our second one piece here. Ooh, smacked. That felt pretty good, didn't go that far. 101. Yeah, dude, similar to the Dirty South, this has better feedback on a one piece than all the Easton and Rawlings bats. 104.7, and a huge bonus on the Combat 2 that's kind of unique to these. This one I think is really cheap. I've seen this around the 200 mark. Huh, what, it almost like sounds kind of dead, but feels great. Oh, 107.8. Dude, I can't believe how forgiving the barrel is for a one piece. And I'm worried about cracks, but it looks good. Yeah, man, it's super hot in one one little, little spot, 103.6. Yeah, I just, like I'm hitting pretty good. I'm having a hard time finding the perfect, perfect zone. Great on miss hits, it just feels like, oh, I'm getting those miss hits, man. For a cheaper bat, this is awesome. Easy to swing, nice and light, big forgiving barrel. I think definitely lends itself more towards the contact hitting side of things. I'm gonna put it in sixth, right in front of the Axbat, but behind the Eastins and DeMarinis. I feel like those are just a little bit hotter, more consistent. And that leaves us with five bats for a little swing off. We're gonna get two good G-Hack perfect, perfect barrels with each bat here. We'll go from five to one, starting with the ADV Hype. Oh, oh my gosh. If that's not 110, bro, 110.4. That was absolutely killed, bro. This sweet spot, honestly, is just kind of small. Yeah, that's 101.5, and I feel like that was a centimeter down towards the hands. It's probably a little more than that, but 110.4, bro. That's gonna be hard to beat, but we got some good bats here. The Zoa, the fragile but gas Zoa, 110. See if we can do it. End of the bat a little bit. Man, it's so hot, 106.2. The CF has a bigger sweet spot, though. Yeah, whoo, 108.6 with the Zoa. Ah, dare I say the CF has proven itself to be more durable than the Zoa. All right, we need 110. Ooh, 110.9, our hardest hit of the day. So far, oh my gosh, what is that? 107.7, one more with the Zoa. I feel like my best hit was too high in the air. I wanna flatten it out a little. Like that, like that, bro. 111.2, oh my gosh. I am big on getting a durable bat, but these swing better than the hype. Better sweet spots than the hype, lighter than the hype, better feel than the hype. This has an asterisk beside it because of durability. I'm gonna put these above this just because these swung better, much better hitting experience, but I still think we have our two hottest bats yet to come. All right, the Icon, 111.2 is our new high to beat. Dog, 107.8, one more. My biggest beef with this bat is that's about the worst taper you could ever ask for. Seems like an easy fix, but that's what they decided to go with. The grip is slick. Come in, 110.2, one more, dude. Yo, come on. Yes, I finally hit that fricking thing. 107.6, so 110.1, I'm right up there with these three. If it wasn't for the grip and the knob, this would be the easy number one. Maybe the Cad-X makes it not even close, let's see. Dude, that's like bringing me up on the hands at 111.7. Ooh, backside, juice, 109.5 to right center. One more, I think this is running away with it, bro. Oh, that's lame. And it's gone. I think 110.3 on a high-launch angle ball. I like the Cat-9 Composite better. I think it's a no-doubter, folks. One to celebrate. That is gonna be our new high, I believe. Well, that does it, folks, 113, winner. We had a runaway winner today for the second year in a row, the Marucci Composite U triple SA bat is your undisputed champion. Honestly, I think it was pretty clear today. This was one of the lightest bats here. The exit velos were through the sky, man. And most importantly, folks, there are a lot of slings on this bat. Even after I got done, those shaggers literally put another 100 slings on this thing, and there is no sign of wear. The Cat Composites have shown to be very, very durable, and because of that, I am very proud to name this the best U triple SA bat of 2023, the Cat-X Composite.