The singlewall market just got better

wikked21

Member
Interesting...

I have played in 2 local town singlewall leagues for 22 years - see lots of different bats come and go. In the not so strict league we can, and everyone uses, Raw / White Steels. I'm a long time Anderson guy and have a couple of Nano's but if I'm being unbiased they don't compare, in my opinion, to the Steels. Best singlewalls made.

The strict league is a different story. And as EastBay has mentioned in other threads the move to 52s has really helped prolong the life of the better, but fragile, singlewalls. We used to go through many UW's in a season and I wouldn't even consider hitting my Redline Sunbelt until late May. Other top bats were the SuperCells <especially the counter weight Rose and Rickard models>, Ritch's and other Powerdomes, and the Grovers. We are allowed to use the LS C555 and Air Attacks which are pseudo multi walls with bladders - those work well and dent less with the 52s.

The durability issues led me to the Andersons a long time ago and I love my Pyro's, especially the blue-ish / black & red model <forgot the year>. Durable, hits great, and I agree with ya LSX - the ping on some bats is obnoxious. Should be a trivial thing but the crack / thud on the Pyro's sounds better.

So I like the sound on these, they seem to hit pretty well <of course everything LSX swings does...lol>, and I'll be curious how it does vs some of the better singlewalls out there. Nothing against the Worth <I know it's new> and the Flex <which I've seen in league and are not really impressive - or even real Andersons>.

Good luck with these and I'll follow this story. Do yourself a favor though and be sure to put the word 'singlewall' on the bat graphics so idiot league directors can figure it out and not be confused.
 

east bay j

The Polish Hammer
I got the bat in yesterday. Live BP session set for this weekend. Throwing into the mix a 28oz Anderson Nanotek, 28 oz Demarini White Steel, 27 oz Anderson Flex, 28oz Demarini Ultimate Weapon & 27 oz Easton L9.0 (could not find a newer Salvo Scandium but they are pretty comparable). Main factors I will be looking at include:
1-max distance
2-average distance
3-how fast the hit balls travel out of the infield
4-sweetspot
5-feel

I will keep ya all posted
EBJ
 

TomicSquad13

Addicted to Softballfans
Hey J not sure how many swings you're planning on putting on the bat but could you let us know how the durability is? Biggest issue I've had is when a bat is preforming well its usually a dented mess or cracked before the season is up. We use 44/375s so that may be part of the problem.

Thanks in advance.
 

The BP Hero

Addicted to Softballfans
I got the bat in yesterday. Live BP session set for this weekend. Throwing into the mix a 28oz Anderson Nanotek, 28 oz Demarini White Steel, 27 oz Anderson Flex, 28oz Demarini Ultimate Weapon & 27 oz Easton L9.0 (could not find a newer Salvo Scandium but they are pretty comparable). Main factors I will be looking at include:
1-max distance
2-average distance
3-how fast the hit balls travel out of the infield
4-sweetspot
5-feel

I will keep ya all posted
EBJ

Definitely interested in what you think of them. Can't wait!
 

east bay j

The Polish Hammer
Hey J not sure how many swings you're planning on putting on the bat but could you let us know how the durability is? Biggest issue I've had is when a bat is preforming well its usually a dented mess or cracked before the season is up. We use 44/375s so that may be part of the problem.

Thanks in advance.

Only planning on putting about 50 swings or so on the Prototype so I am not going to get any real sense of durability but if there is something to report I will.

You are pretty much screwed using 44/375's with singlewall metal bats, no matter what bat you choose.
EBJ
 

smarkley3

Certified Trap Hoe
Only planning on putting about 50 swings or so on the Prototype so I am not going to get any real sense of durability but if there is something to report I will.

You are pretty much screwed using 44/375's with singlewall metal bats, no matter what bat you choose.
EBJ

I ave a few old tanks that were made for rocks
 

TomicSquad13

Addicted to Softballfans
Tomic, I might have another sample appropriate for 44-375 use

I could put some hacks on the one built for the harder balls. I hit into a net using a soft toss machine at least twice a week.

I wouldn't be able to give you details on distance (its tough for me to get an open field around here) but I can give you input on feel, sound and durability. My BP balls are Lexxums and SB12s.

Personally I don't think it would be a bad idea to have and LC model and one built for the 44/375. That way you're maximizing performance.
 

east bay j

The Polish Hammer
I ave a few old tanks that were made for rocks

From a durability standpoint my Rip It REAP5 has, by far, outlasted all of my other singlewalls. I primarily use that for my Utrip league (40/370s) and in cold temps. It's probably got 500+ swings and still going, no dents.

Performance wise, however, it probably ranks in the 4-5 spot behind the Nanotek/Flextechs, Steels, Salvo Scandium etc..
 

smarkley3

Certified Trap Hoe
I have found the Flextechs to be very durable and a decent single wall. Waiting to hear your thoughts, even more excited to hit it!
 

east bay j

The Polish Hammer
I will have something out shortly. Finished testing Sunday, compiled data Monday & just letting all the bat testers go over results and approve. Hoping to post something by Wednesday. We used a GoPro for the entire session but that is going to take more time to post and the video is more like a week out.

I will let ya all know we had 7 hitters ranging in age from 24-48, all pretty much Rec Players who play in multiple leagues per year. Bats used were:

Evil Singlewall Prototype 27oz (scale weight 26.7oz)
Anderson OG Nanotek (one-piece) 28oz (scale weight 28.2oz)
Anderson Flex 27oz (scale weight 27.2oz)
Demarini White Steel (maroon barrel) 28oz (scale weight 28.2oz)
Demarini Raw Steel (white barrel) 28oz (scale weight NA)
Demarini Ultimate Weapon 26oz (scale weight 26.5oz)
Easton L9.0 (basically same as the Salvo Scandium) 27oz (scale weight 27.2oz)
 
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east bay j

The Polish Hammer
i want video or it didnt happen SMOKE

Haha-You had a chance to participate firsthand & could of seen it all but you couldn't get your butt over to Oakland for a few hours on Sunday

One of the testers had a GoPro that videotaped the the whole session (or at least the 1st hour) from behind the backstop. I am still trying to get it to take a look. I have no clue how to use it or edit but am going to give it my best shot. Ya all are going to have to give me another week before that comes out.
 

smoke

50AAA USA National Champs
got the Anderson today and what a log, cant believe how endloaded it is.Thanks again for the deal and good luck with the editing.
SMOKE
 

east bay j

The Polish Hammer
OK Folks, here it is:

Background
The seven bats used in the comparison (Evil Prototype 26.7 oz, Anderson OG Nanotek 28.2 oz, Demarini Ultimate Weapon 26.5 oz, Easton L9.0 27.2 oz, Anderson Flex 27.2 oz, Demarini White Steel 28.2 oz, Demarini Raw Steel 28 oz) were tested by 7 rec league players ranging in age from 23 to 48, mix of power, line drive, singles hitters. Results were based in live bp pitching with Evil BP52's (all new). Fairly nice day in Oakland with temps in the low 70's, little wind and humidity. Cones were placed at the 250 & 300 foot marks (measured with a 300 ft retractable tape measure). Each tester took 5-10 swings per bat (bats chosen at random) 2 rounds of bp each.

Distance
The farthest shots hit were with the Nanotek and White Steel 320+ ft. (Same batter who regularly swings both these bats). Evil, Flex, L9.0, & Raw Steel were hit about the same @ 300 ft. UW brought up the rear @ 265 ft. To be fair - Nanotek & White Steel were the bats most commonly used in league by these batters. The UW & Raw Steel were pretty wavy with some dents (no one would offer up a good one to use). Evil, Flex & L9.0 had really never been swung by any of the batters prior to this comparison. Taking the average of the best 4 hits from each batter the average distance looked something like this:
Nanotek 263 ft, White Steel 262 ft, Evil 258 ft, Raw Steel 258 ft, L9.0 254 ft, Flex 253 ft, UW 251 ft

Exit Speed (Pop) out of the infield
Each batter ranked the pop of each bat using a 1-10 scale, with 10 being the best rating. While this is a somewhat subjective measure it was fairly easy to see the screaming line drives. The average of each of the batters rankings was:
Evil (8.4), Nano (8.2), White Steel (7.8), Raw Steel (7.8), L9.0 (6.9), UW (6.3), Flex (6.2)

Feel
Each batter ranked the feel of each bat using a 1-10 scale, with 10 being the best rating. Feel was based on the comfort of the swing, weighting, ease of swinging thru the zone. Again, a very subjective measure. The average of each of the batters rankings was:
Nano-balanced (8.5), White Steel-endloaded (8.5), Evil-slight endload (8.3), Raw Steel-endloaded (7.8), L9.0-endloaded (7.6), UW-balanced (6.8), Flex-very balanced (6.7)

Sweet Spot
Each batter ranked the feel of each bat using a 1-10 scale, with 10 being the best rating. The parameters used to measure this were forgiveness of miss-hits, perceived sweet spot area on the barrel. The average of each of the batters rankings was:
White Steel (8.4), Raw Steel (8.3), Nano (8.2), Evil (8.0), L9.0 (7.4), UW (7.2), Flex (7.0)

Durability
To be determined (TBD) for the Evil but I can say we put about 70-100 live hits on it with no denting or waves & I'm guessing there were another 50-100 tee shot hits between me & LSX. Flex is also TBD as it really only came out this past year--the one we used had about 50 hits prior to this test plus another 50-70 with no signs of waving or dents. The Nanotek we used had at least 300 hits and was still in great shape, I would rank this an 8/10. L9.0 had about 150 hits and was getting pretty wavy maybe a 4/10. UW, well ya all know about this bat 2/10. White Steel was a bit wavy with 250 hits but still very hit-able. Raw Steel had well over 750 hits and was pretty beat-up. I have little experience with these last two bats so not sure where to rank them on the durability scale.

Cost
Based on my research I came up with the following:
Evil (TBD), UW ($60-$100), L9.0/Salvo ($150-$200), Flex ($170-$200), Nano ($125-$175-*$300), White Steel ($175+-*$199), Raw Steel ($175+-*$199)
* = Manufacturers original list price

My final thoughts:
It really does come down to one's swing preference; balance or end loaded, light vs heavy, power vs line drives. and comfort. What suites one person may not suite another. At the end of the day this was just how 7 rec leagues players swinging 7 different bats. For me personally:
Evil Prototype - This was my favorite bat. I loved the end loaded feel, it weighed in at 26.7 oz but felt way heavier. Absolute laser line drives for a singlewall. I pretty much was used to it after my 1st round of tee hitting.
Nanotek - Hard to beat this one. Unfortunately as equally hard to find. It took me at least 10-15 at bats to get used to its swing but once I did I loved it.
Flex - Kind of a sleeper. Distance wise it was in the ballpark but a bit too balanced for my liking. 27 oz felt more like 24-25 oz. I think if I was swinging a 30 oz Flex it would of done a lot better. That metal ting, as LSX pointed out is somewhat annoying.
L9.0 - Also a bit of a sleeper. These are progressively end-loaded (26 oz has 1 oz end load, 27 has 2 oz end load, etc). also somewhat tingy.
Steels - I liked the Steels but can't use them in the one-piece singlewall leagues I play in (and they are getting harder to find). I didn't hit these as well but I think I just need some more swings on them.
UW - Not the best bat out there but it may be the best bang for the dollar.

There it is. Much thanks to Bobby for letting me swing the prototype, LSX for shipping the Prototype & Flex to me, Steve for the Flex, Darius for the White Steel, Dan for the L9.0, David for the UW, Derek for the Raw Steel, and all the testers.
 

Bobby Buggs

SBF Site Sponsor
Nice job J, of course I want to see the Evil be #1 in all categories but I'm glad to see it was able to hang with some of the top single walls out today
 

east bay j

The Polish Hammer
Bobby,
Given only a handful of people in the world have swung your prototype, and it is weighted a bit different than most of the other singlewalls out there, it kicked ass. Like I said the 1st 10-15 times I used the Nanotek I hated it it took a couple seasons before I figured it out. I was hitting the Evil pretty solid after my 2nd round of tee shots. The guy who mashed the farthest shots uses both a White Steel & Nano on a regular basis, and those were the 1st 10 swings he ever took with the Evil. Give him a couple more rounds of pb & it would of been there.

I also got to say even though the Flex ranked on the low side the weighting on the bat was too light for most of the hitters in this comparison. It really did feel like swinging a 24-25 oz bat. I think a 30 oz would of performed a lot better, especially if you like balanced bats
 

rmarsh

Addicted to Softballfans
Hey Bobby,
Can you give some info on this bat? One piece single-wall metal? standard weights? approximate availability? price range?

thanks
 
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