The Baseball Bat Bros

This is Will & Cam's favorite BBCOR and probably the single most well-rounded BBCOR in the game right now. The Voodoo One has registered 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.

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)

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)

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)

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

If the Nuke 2 and Missile 2 had a baby, if would be the new Stinger Guardian. This is essentially a Stinger Nuke that is easier to swing. Still really impressive on mis-hits, still very powerful, and still has the same thin tapered handle/knob.

Pros: cheap, durable, powerful, good on mis-hits.

Cons: stings the hands a little more than a 2-pc hybrid.

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 going to be a popular power-hitting alternative to "The Goods".

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)

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. 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: a bit more rigid on the hands compared to a 2-piece / not quite as powerful as the Voodoo One & Missile 2

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.

At only $160, the Metal 2 is probably the single best bang for your buck in BBCOR right now.

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.

For under $200, the Marucci Cat6 performs as good if not better than the more expensive 7/8/9 versions of the Marucci Cat BBCOR.

The Cat6 swings very similar to the Stringking Metal 2, but it's a little bit more forgiving on the hands.

At only $130, the Marucci F5 is really the only "balanced-swinging" BBCOR under ~$250.

While the F5 has a less forgiving sweet spot than the Stringking and Cat6, it is easier to swing and can produce just as much exit velo.

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.