Miken maketh the man?

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trippy1313

Starting Player
Probably a stupid post, go ahead an flame me if so. Not necessarily a Miken question.

Played ball Thursday against two related family teams we played a few weeks ago. First time both teams were barely hitting the ball out of the infield. This week every player on both teams were ripping the ball to and over the fence almost every at bat.

Normally I always say it's not the bat it's the player, but both these teams most players are probably barely pushing 5'6" 150lbs. I've never seen anything like it. It was an amazing improvement from only a few weeks ago.

A couple of the guys on our team were questioning the brand new looking bat they ALL were using as it looked brand new, they wondered if it was a senior bat or something.

I got to see it, has the USSSA stamp, its a bright orange Miken, looks like either the 2018 DC41 or the the 2017 SSUSA Freak Platinum. But again, I saw the thumbprint stamp on the bat, so it couldn't be the Senior bat, unless they sell thumbprint stamps somewhere?

What's the deal? Miraculous improvement? New Mikens super hot out of the wrapper? Possible rolled/shaved bats?

These were both pretty rookie teams that were apparent to not know the game well, but I was amazed to see a couple teams of little Jose Altuve's (they were Pac Islanders though) cranking the ball every at bat after only a few weeks and only adding a new bat to the mix.

Not complaining cause we lost. Actually we played pretty good for a change and went 1-1. Just dumbfounded by how they were hitting.
 
ShortYellowBus

ShortYellowBus

Well-Known Member
Yes. At the Rec level, they make a huge difference. The bats matter. A lot. Especially with non linear ASA bats.

$100 bats are beater bats, and they perform accordingly.

I get 40-60 feet more distance from a 2018 DC41 when comparing to a 2016 DC41.

It’s a sport where the equipment change/upgrade can be the difference between a 1-9 losing team to suddenly winning all ten games next season.

Shaving and rolling a 2018 bat is pointless. Softball is past that.
 
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trippy1313

Starting Player
ShortYellowBus said:
Shaving and rolling a 2018 bat is pointless. Softball is past that.
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This was another thing I wondered, if shaving and rolling was still a thing people were doing, and actually seeing improvement from it.

I would never do it as I prefer a bat with performance that still had durability. I want a bat to last multiple seasons. Gaining 30ft and losing a bat after a season just isn't worth it.

Our newest bat on the team is the 2015 Izzy Psycho supermax. Is that 2018 Dc41 much better?
 
D

Dars

Addicted to Softballfans
trippy1313 said:
This was another thing I wondered, if shaving and rolling was still a thing people were doing, and actually seeing improvement from it.

I would never do it as I prefer a bat with performance that still had durability. I want a bat to last multiple seasons. Gaining 30ft and losing a bat after a season just isn't worth it.

Our newest bat on the team is the 2015 Izzy Psycho supermax. Is that 2018 Dc41 much better?
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Were they swinging garbage aluminum bats the previous games? If they were, that is where the difference comes from in their hitting.
 
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trippy1313

Starting Player
Dars said:
Were they swinging garbage aluminum bats the previous games? If they were, that is where the difference comes from in their hitting.
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No, regular composite bats, they had one guy on the second team that used a different bat and hitting midfield shots couldn't tell what it was but not aluminum. Everyone else was hitting line drives to the fence. Might have to see if the team wants to go in on a new bat. Haha.
 
ShortYellowBus

ShortYellowBus

Well-Known Member
trippy1313 said:
No, regular composite bats, they had one guy on the second team that used a different bat and hitting midfield shots couldn't tell what it was but not aluminum. Everyone else was hitting line drives to the fence. Might have to see if the team wants to go in on a new bat. Haha.
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Get everyone to pitch in $25 and get a couple new bats.

There’s a lot of good deals here, you might be able to pick up three.
 
Normy

Normy

Well-Known Member
trippy1313 said:
Hahaha, thanks Joker, I knew I could count on you for the least insightful comment. Wouldn't be the same without it.
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Lol, you invited the flaming with open arms.

Miken only maketh the man to a certain extent. I agree with the above comments but some games the whole team is firing on all cylinders while other games it's hard getting out of park. Maybe getting a really nice bat was the confidence booster they needed. Who knows.
 
dunkky

dunkky

Well-Known Member
this is miracle. two weeks ago, they were barely hitting over the infielders which i do see most of the time from 150 pounders in our league with hottest bat. Now they are smacking over the fence. sounds to me that's a way more than bat. only way for this to make a sense to me is that, all those 150 pounders are powerful and skilled to begin with but just played dumb for some reason two weeks ago, but revealed their true identity now. I don't know man, this whole thing doesn't make sense. If they hit a lot of deep fly balls in first game, but now launching over the fence, then yeah, i would very much agree with Captain, the bat would have made the difference.

another possible theory, steroid? turn 150 pounders into avengers? :)
 
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trippy1313

Starting Player
Normy said:
Lol, you invited the flaming with open arms.

Miken only maketh the man to a certain extent. I agree with the above comments but some games the whole team is firing on all cylinders while other games it's hard getting out of park. Maybe getting a really nice bat was the confidence booster they needed. Who knows.
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Oh I know I invited it. Haha. Totally fine, bring it on.

Good points though as well.
 
BigWhiffa

BigWhiffa

Underwear Researcher
when i played church i had a good buddy coach one of the other teams in the league. he was frustrated that they weren't winning more because he felt the guys were solid enough to be competitive but they were near winless for 2 seasons.

when he finally asked what i thought, it told him he was using junk bats. i told him he had a few guys that could probably rip the ball pretty good but you guys are pinging it up with junk walmart eastons or like used older 80's worths. your ground balls are slow, your fly balls are short.

so we had a bye the next week and i gave him my EST XL to use with the team and they beat both teams. didn't kill them but beat them. so they pooled $ together and bought a combat DB if i remember. and were a different team since then. they beat us in the playoffs that year to go to the championship game.

totally changed the team.
 
Country469

Country469

Well-Known Member
New bats are hot. Not that much better than the last 2-3 years but a bit. HUGE SWEET SPOTS tho. a 150 lb person hitting a softball 300 feet is nothing to brag about anymore. Maybe they just needed a few games, or practiced too?
 
jbo911

jbo911

Super Moderator
Staff member
Country469 said:
New bats are hot. Not that much better than the last 2-3 years but a bit. HUGE SWEET SPOTS tho. a 150 lb person hitting a softball 300 feet is nothing to brag about anymore. Maybe they just needed a few games, or practiced too?
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If they were all swinging one piece psychos that hadn't been fully broken in a DC 41 would probably add 100 feet to their best shots and there'd be a lot more of them.
 
MarlSrSoftball

MarlSrSoftball

Into Semi-Retirement Still activebut not League
ShortYellowBus said:
Yes. At the Rec level, they make a huge difference. The bats matter. A lot. Especially with non linear ASA bats.

$100 bats are beater bats, and they perform accordingly.

I get 40-60 feet more distance from a 2018 DC41 when comparing to a 2016 DC41.

It’s a sport where the equipment change/upgrade can be the difference between a 1-9 losing team to suddenly winning all ten games next season.

Shaving and rolling a 2018 bat is pointless. Softball is past that.
Click to expand...
Totally agree. I don't get 40-60' more with my DC41 but get a good 15-25' over my Worth HD52
 
BigWhiffa

BigWhiffa

Underwear Researcher
Country469 said:
New bats are hot. Not that much better than the last 2-3 years but a bit. HUGE SWEET SPOTS tho. a 150 lb person hitting a softball 300 feet is nothing to brag about anymore. Maybe they just needed a few games, or practiced too?
Click to expand...

i see guys all the time still swinging freak 98's or recoils (other brands too but we are talking miken here i guess) and it just sounds like they are hitting balled up socks with a 2x4 and the ball just dies. i see a few freak dst or dc41s (i play asa mostly) but when i see old miken, i see oooooold miken.
 
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trippy1313

Starting Player
Joker said:
just another guy crying cause they lost
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We won one and lost one thanks. We're used to losing, it happens a lot, but not seeing tiny guys hit line drives to the middle of the fence. Read the first post. Troll.

Edit: My apologies Joker. I said to bring it on. You did. Keep at it.
 
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trippy1313

Starting Player
Country469 said:
New bats are hot. Not that much better than the last 2-3 years but a bit. HUGE SWEET SPOTS tho. a 150 lb person hitting a softball 300 feet is nothing to brag about anymore. Maybe they just needed a few games, or practiced too?
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Could also be practice, their fielding still was terrible but the looked like they hit the ball the other was a lot more than I recall as well.
 
jbo911

jbo911

Super Moderator
Staff member
trippy1313 said:
Could also be practice, their fielding still was terrible but the looked like they hit the ball the other was a lot more than I recall as well.
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At that level going to the batting cages a few times will make a huge difference.
 
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