Closeout Bat ?

giovannig

giovannig

New Member
Hello all!

OK, so I know that the clincher questions have been beat to death. But as a noob, looking to understand where I might have gone wrong on a purchase.

Completely new to the world of rec slow-pitch softball in NYC..the “Clincher leagues”. Hadn’t played baseball in over 10 years. Like most excited rookies, ran out and got the most expensive bat I could find, that was on sale. Turned out to be the Miken Freak MaxLoad ASA 2018.

Out of the wrapper, there was rattling in the barrel (red flag?) . And after 4 weeks of use, I’ve hit a couple of bombs with it, but the bat exposes my timing and squaring weakness, because most balls just sound very VERY dead off it. Even off a tee using lots of forward momentum.

My questions are, did I get a defective bat?
Are 2-piece bats all else equal inferior for mush balls?
And lastly, are closeout bats too good to be true? Because if its on sale, good chance its not a “hot” bat that peeps on here would be looking into?
 
M

mvfjet

Part Time Player
From my limited experience with Clinchers, they won't give you a legit crack sound off the bat.
 
TWmccoy

TWmccoy

3DX Connoisseur
Put it this way.... you could swing that Freak for the rest of your life against those balls and not break it. Some Mikens do develop a rattle early on. Unless you've hit a bunch of hard balls also, I wouldn't worry about the bat's durability.
 
blakcherry329

blakcherry329

Well-Known Member
Protectyaneck said:
The ASA Mikens since 2017 all develop a rattle fairly quickly. Doesn't affect performance.

NYC Clincher leagues...in my opinion/experience if you're looking to go for distance, swing the heaviest, hardest METAL bat your body can handle.
Click to expand...
Maybe a DoubleWall or Steel, but Composites are still better, imo. In my modified leagues, nobody swings metal. There's no sanctions, really. Just has to be ASA stamped. Senior bats are ok, too. So take it fwiw. I swing my OG Ultra II 29oz. ;) and 29.5oz Blackout(yellow and black). Lots of Dudleys, Eastons, and Z2K and Z3K but no metals
Two-piece or one, doesn't matter. Your bat is fine.
Closeout bats are just older NIW bats, just as good as any bat. Stores just markdown bats to make room in inventory. I haven't heard of too many bats being DIW (Defective In Wrapper:)) so I think you just need to get used to hitting Clinchers

Clinchers are going to sound way different than 52/300s or any other "regular" softballs. If you haven't already, hit a couple yellow balls just so you have a frame of reference.
 
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