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Post by Craig Cumberland on Jan 6, 2006 19:38:19 GMT -8
Just saw a few days ago that Louisville is now offering their Catalyst in youth sizes... If this bat performs the way the adult slow pitch softball bats do LL home-runs will lose their novelty (not that they haven't already at Soderquist but more importantly pitchers would be at greater risk of injury. These bats, at least in slow pitch, greatly out-perform aluminum. This will be the first composite bat of it's type at the youth (- 10 and - 13) level. When the first Miken Ultra came out it revolutionized the bat industry; first at the Men's slow/fast pitch level, then womens fast pitch. The next generation of bats was tempered down some, but they are still hotter than aluminum. It will be interesting to see how hot the LL models are. True, they've passed the tests - but these bats become even hotter after the break-in period. Anyone have experience with the youth models? As far as I know the Catalyst is the only one of it's type (so far). Miken sold a - 3 model last year for adult/high school. Anyone know how they performed?
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Post by Mark on Jan 6, 2006 19:48:32 GMT -8
the laqst bat i bought was the TPX Armor (-3/HS/BESR) its a great bat, but i think parents and kids get taken in by the hype too much.
i mean some of these bats are so good they are actually making poor hitters into decent hitters and decent hitters into great hitters.
yu can hit a ball off the very end or in on the hands with these bats now days and its still a HR at the LL level, probly a double at the HS level, when in reality they should be weak outs.
me personally i make the kids use wood bats during all practices (hit one off the end or handle and see how far it will go) LOL.
overall practicing with wood makes them better hitters, forces them to use the barrell of the bat instead of getting cheap hits.
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Post by Chris on Jan 6, 2006 19:48:59 GMT -8
Doesn't much matter really. Ryan can hit a ball out of Soderquist with a 4 foot length of garden hose. They can make them but I wonder if LL will approve them. Probably will though if Louisville continues to pay them the big $$
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Post by Craig Cumberland on Jan 6, 2006 20:24:55 GMT -8
I agree, most of it is hype - I just hope these don't perform like the adult softball version. They add another 50 feet to the ball in softball. I also agree about kids not learning to hit... for may going oppo (by design) is a lost art.
You're right, Keaton has alot of power. He oughts put up some big numbers this year!
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Post by Chris on Jan 6, 2006 20:54:31 GMT -8
LOL - he does indeed but I was referring to your eldest i remember that show he put on at the Ranger practice.
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Post by Chris on Jan 10, 2006 18:21:46 GMT -8
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Post by Craig Cumberland on Jan 11, 2006 20:58:30 GMT -8
The Synergy was banned two in fast pitch, or at least they tried to... a lawsuit by Easton followed. Not sure if the bats are still allowed - but the reason they were outlawed is b/c they were so hot. Pitchers and third basegirls were getting hurt. Looks like the Catalyst is too. Too bad - if kids get cheap home runs and average hitters start knoking them out with regularity they'll never really learn how to hit.
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Post by Tony Murphy on Jan 12, 2006 10:42:27 GMT -8
Craig there were a few teams in Arizona that had kids using the catalyst bat and I could not tell much difference than the stealth bat even though it does have an akward sound to it as like a wooden bat but I am sure bigger kids and stronger kids would have a different performance level but I do not think it will perform as powerful as the softball version. I have spoken to a few teams that have the Miken bat and they would prefer the stealth bat over it also. But everybody is different and what works for one player may not work for the other. Let's ban all of the high performance bats and go back to the Louisville Slugger bats like we used when we all played little league and see who the real natural baseball players are. Just a joke not a perfect world as we all know.
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Post by Chris on Jan 12, 2006 22:32:44 GMT -8
I got an idea Craig. Why don't you buy one for Jens & we'll try it for the season and see if it helps his average. Drop it off any time K?!
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Post by Byrd on Jan 13, 2006 19:03:33 GMT -8
Tony I agree with your comment...just think back in the day when we all used good old wood. Heck most of the bats we used had nails in em and wrapped in electrical tape to get maximum life out of em....lol...times have changed and some changes are not always for the better. Guess that depends how you look at it or if your the guys swinging the bat or pitching the ball.
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Post by Chris on Jan 13, 2006 20:22:06 GMT -8
Dude - You're wayyyyyyy older that Tony, Craig & me. I never used a bat with nails it it. Garvey's had numbers were at least as impressive as Sutters. Gossage? oh plzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
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Post by Craig Cumberland on Jan 13, 2006 21:41:15 GMT -8
I would Chris but the damn things are yellow - not a good look for your Giants unis...
Thanks for the feedback Tony, puts my mind at ease. 46 feet is a little too close if these were the same caliber of rocket launchers that the slow pitch oftball bats are. A buddy says the fastpitch softball version his daughter uses doesn't seem to be any better than the other bats out there.
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Post by Chris on Jan 13, 2006 22:00:55 GMT -8
lol - ur quick bro...
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Post by Chris on Jan 13, 2006 22:01:44 GMT -8
Will u be at registration tomorrow?
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Post by Craig Cumberland on Jan 14, 2006 13:19:41 GMT -8
Sorry I didn't see this til now. Good talking to yo this morning. Keep me posted about Monday.
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