The Baseball Bat Bros

This is still Will & Cam's favorite BBCOR and probably the single most well-rounded BBCOR in the game right now. The Voodoo One has registered some of our highest exit velocities ever, and it's one of the easiest swinging bats out there - a combo that is extremely hard to come by in the BBCOR space.

Unfortunately though we're hearing that the 2022 Voodoo One has been running into some durability issues with its knob and end cap (DeMarini has let us know that they're actively working on a new endcap for the newer batches of the 2022 Voodoo).

Pros: excellent power for its swing weight / easy to control / great feel for a 1-pc

Cons: always sold out / smaller sweet spot / durability issues (knob & end cap)

Exit velo ranking: #1 (103.8 mph)

After months of searching, we finally found the "budget Voodoo One". This is easily the next closest thing we've found to the Voodoo One and at the moment it is cheaper and more durable.

The Missile 2 is one of the lightest BBCORs we've ever swung, and put up the 2nd-highest exit velo reading in Bat Bro history. We're stoked to see an affordable, high-performing, light-swinging bat!

Pros: excellent power for its swing weight / very easy to control / durable

Cons: smaller sweet spot / rarely in-stock

Exit velo ranking: #2 (103.3 mph)

JT's favorite BBCOR! The Goods is probably the single most-loved bat in the game. One of the best sweet spots in BBCOR and the ball absolutely jumps off of this bat. The Goods is definitely more on the endloaded side, but still relatively manageable to swing.

However, some durability issues have been popping up with The Goods and its connector piece.

Pros: huge sweet spot / great feel / tons of pop

Cons: expensive / heavy / durability issues (telescoping handle)

Exit velo ranking: #6 (102.1 mph)

You can think of the Select Pwr as a lighter-swinging "The Goods" with a tiny bit less barrel and a tiny bit less power. The Select Pwr has an incredibly comfortable feel on contact and you'll immediately notice the unique sound of the Select Pwr (sounds somewhere between composite and alloy).

Pros: impressive power for its swing weight / great feel / cool sound / good for any type of hitter

Cons: a bit endloaded / slightly lower exit velos than The Goods & Gunner

Exit velo ranking: #7 (101.0 mph)

Probably the most-improved bat in BBCOR right now and one of the biggest sleepers of 2022. Last year's Warstic Gunner was on of the heaviest bats in BBCOR, with a very small sweet spot. But they fixed both of those problems this year.

With a lighter swing weight and a more forgiving barrel than its previous versions, the 2022 Gunner is the next best pure 'power' bat after The Goods right now.

Pros: great on mis-hits / easy on the hands / very thin grip / high exit velos

Cons: a bit endloaded, occasional barrel rattle (doesn't affect performance)

Exit velo ranking: #4 (102.8 mph)

The best composite BBCOR we've swung since the Blue Meta! The ADV hype reminded us a lot of the XL1 and S1 from back in the day with a very forgiving barrel, a great sound, a manageable swing weight, and impressive exit velocities for a 2-pc composite BBCOR bat.

This is Cam's current gamer in college.

Pros: pretty good at everything / forgiving barrel / hot out of the wrapper

Cons: too expensive / not as durable as alloy / lower exit velos than the other top-5 bats

Ladies and gents; one of the best contact hitting bats of the year is a one-piece alloy!! The Vandal does an excellent job at combining a somewhat forgiving sweet spot with a very light swing weight - while retaining more power than a lot of composites. For those of you who don’t know, the Vandal is essentially a Marucci Cat9, but the last 10% of the bat is composite which makes it swing much, much lighter.

This is an excellent bat for moving up to BBCOR for the first time.

Pros: light / durable / easy on the hands / impressive sweet spot for its swing weight

Cons: not super powerful, not super impressive on mis-hits

Trace's favorite BBCOR! Also know as the "Budget Goods", the Nuke is legitimately one of the top power-hitting BBCOR bats, but also cheaper and more durable than a lot of the others. This bat was super fun to swing as it performs incredibly on mishit balls or off-balance swings, and it put up the highest exit velo we've ever seen on our channel. Also one of our favorite grip/knob/taper feels.

This is a very endloaded bat though so make sure you're very comfortable with an endloaded drop-3 swing weight before you decide to go with the Nuke.

Pros: cheap / durable / great power / excellent on mis-hits

Cons: heavy / occasional hand sting

Exit velo ranking: #3 (103.1 mph)

The Nox is yet another excellent slightly-endloaded 2-piece hybrid BBCOR bat. However, this is going to swing a little bit lighter than a bat like The Goods or Gunner, making the Nox perfect for players that consider themselves a power-leaning ‘versatile’ hitter. Very similar to the Select Pwr.

Pros: solid sweet spot, good power, durable, and a tad lighter than most other "power" bats.

Cons: a little bit harsher on the hands than the Goods or Select Pwr, & an occasional barrel rattle (doesn't affect performance)

Paul's favorite BBCOR and our favorite Axe Bat BBCOR so far! This essentially felt like "The Goods" with an Axe handle - but it's lighter and has a softer-feeling barrel. The sweet spot was massive, the swing weight was very manageable, but the exit velocities weren't quite there to put this bat above some of the other 2-pc hybrids.

Pros: huge sweet spot, easy to find barrel, light for a 2-pc hybrid

Cons: lower average exit velo numbers than most other 2-pc hybrids, and it's quite spendy.

You may have had to double-take at the price tag on this one - but the 2nd generation of the Stringking Metal BBCOR bats are LEGIT!!

The Metal 2 performs very similar to a bat like the Victus Nox or L.S. Select Pwr: you're likely to see a little bit hotter exit velos with the Stringking Metal 2, but you'll also experience a little bit more sting on the hands with the Metal 2 when compared to a 2-piece hybrid bat like the Nox or Select Pwr.

Pros: great sweet spot for a 1-piece, super affordable and durable, manageable swign weight, & high exit velocity

Cons: will ring up the hands a bit more than bats like the Goods/Select/Nox.

Exit velo ranking: #5 (102.7 mph)

They offer this bat in 2 versions: the Metal 2 ($160) and the Metal 2 Pro ($200) but we honestly have not been able to figure out any difference between those two bats...so we'd suggest just going for the cheaper one if you can.

Ladies and gents, this is the hottest bat in all of baseball.

The swing weight is very manageable, the sweet spot is unrivaled, and it has an electric feel and sound.

The Cat9 Comp -5 is our all time exit velo record-holder at 109.4 mph (Hittrax).

This bat is also available as the regular Cat 9 Composite as well as the "Cat 9 Composite PASTIME" (same bat with a different paint-job).

Durability has been great on our -5 Cat Comp, but you can expect the -8 and -10 to be a little bit more fragile.

While we think the Cat9 Composite is the hottest bat in USSSA, the Louisville Slugger Meta offers a bit more durability as well as a lighter swing weight - while still maintaining a huge sweet spot.

We'll also add that the -8 and -10 versions of the Meta are absolutely electric - they seem a bit hotter out of the wrapper when compared to the -5 Meta we swung.

With durability being a constant problem in the composite travel-ball space, we wouldn't be surprised if the Meta was one of the most popular USSSA bats in 2022.

The glorified "CF". The new USSSA Zoa is essentially a lighter, stiffer, and better-sounding version of the CF. It's also hotter out of the wrapper.

While we didn't love the $500 BBCOR version of the Zoa, the USSSA version is LEGIT. One of the best sweet spots in the game, and very impressive exit velos. Similar to the CF though, it sounds like this bat will be a tad fragile in the -8 and -10 space. We've actually never encountered durability problems with a DeMarini in -5, but those issues will come up much more frequently with the thinner barrel walls of the -8's and -10's. The high price-tag and early durability reports are what bumped this bat down to the #3 spot.

The durability is pretty good in -5, but we've heard that it's a bit suspect in -8 and -10.

The Cat9 Connect is the most popular USSSA alloy bat out there right now - and for good reason: the barrel is very hot, it's durable, it sounds and feels fantastic, and the sweet spot is huge for an alloy bat.

If we were playing travel ball, we'd probably be walking around with a Cat9 Comp and a Cat9 Connect in the bag (warm weather/cold weather).

A fantastic budget alternative to the Cat9 Connect or Cat9 Composite! And oddly enough, we even preferred the USSSA Cat8 over the USSSA Cat9.

Solid durability, excellent barrel forgiveness, easy to swing, affordable, and very impressive power for a 1-pc USSSA alloy bat.

If you're looking for an alloy USSSA with the most sheer power, The Goods is gonna be your best bet. While it's a bit more endloaded and has a slightly smaller sweet spot than the Cat9 Connect, The Goods registered our highest exit velo ever with an aluminum-barreled bat (104.8 mph).