Bat "forgivingness"

[Westwind]

The flex link is definitely still in the running for DD. She hit with a RT in the cage last week, not bad at all.

She will play HS ball this spring with the likelihood of cold weather. I think alloy wins that head to head comparison although our good friends 11 year old dd just used an older Miken composite for a year of 300 plus machine balls a week in all kinds of conditions and it was bulletproof... An 11 year old doesn't swing as hard as a 15 year old but still, it was her practice/game bat and saw very hard use.

 

[MsDinosaur]

Msdinosaur and crystlemc- Thanks for the info, I'm curious what bat your dd was using before.

Thanks again!

DD had an Easton Stealth Speed SSR3B. It's a pretty good bat, but it weighed 1.7 ounces over sticker weight and felt pretty end-loaded. The 454 is only .4 ounces over sticker, more balanced and she enjoys swinging it more.

 

[Westwind]

That Easton is a great bat!

That says alot about the 454.

 

[MsDinosaur]

That Easton is a great bat!

That says alot about the 454.

I agree! I was afraid DD would be unhappy at having to switch away from her Easton, but luckily my concerns were unfounded. The 454 is a great bat.

 

[Westwind]

Ok, dd has had Freak NXT for a little more than a week, hit about 400 balls with it. She told me she thinks the NXT has a bigger sweet spot and she thought it got noticeably hotter around 300 hits. My plan was for her to get through last weekends tournament and then she would switch from a 32/22 cf5 to the new 33/23. Last weekend got rained out and rescheduled for today, she played 4 games today. We went ahead and used the bigger NXT.

Is the miken more forgiving? I think so. Her first at bat was a high pop up behind 3rd. Caught. Then it got better, two hard hit singles up the middle on the ground, two base hit bunts, a double into the right field gap and a triple into the left field gap, both nice hard liners.

With the cf5 she hit hard in practice but in games she seemed to have too many weak pop ups and weak grounders. Didn't have that with the miken today, I think her first at bat pop up today was related to adjusting to the new bat. Even that pop up was hit "better" than the cf5 pop ups if that makes sense.

I will admit that this bat might not be more forgiving, maybe it just fits her better. While she only weighs 105 pounds she seemed to over swing the 22 oz bat in games. Maybe the inch longer, ounce heavier bat will work better for her. I am tempted to look for a -9 NXT for spring....

Just so I don't sound like I'm trying to sell NXT's, a girl who knocked the cover off the ball all day was using a 33/23 Cf5. It obviously works for her.

 

[29dad]

Looks like there is an NXT Freak and an NXT Freak Gold. Gold is $100 more expensive. Anyone know the difference between the two bats?

 

[redhotcoach]

I have come to the uneducated opionion that the difference in the white and gold freaks, and the red super freak are the paint jobs. Call Miken, the answers they gave me were: "well that one is exclusive." "Well it's newer" "a different technology". Never a straight answer.

 

[iMlearning]

Looks like there is an NXT Freak and an NXT Freak Gold. Gold is $100 more expensive. Anyone know the difference between the two bats?

Same bat, but gold prices are high these days

They are the same for sure.

 

[29dad]

Wish they would sell softball equipment like they sell golf equipment. I mean i can go to Golf Galaxy and demo any driver I want to try. But DD has no opportunity to demo any new bats. It's all word of mouth. Every single player on her team uses a Xeno so she has no opportunity to give another bat a shot. The team gets a great deal on Xenos so we'll probably stick with that. Would love to give the NXT is shot, but it's too much money to take that risk.

 

[29dad]

And then on line the only review of the NXT was this:

Pros: The design of the bat was graphical...The bat was designed as needed...
Cons: Within six weeks, the bat snapped in half with only approximately 60 hits out of it.

Figures. Might as well stick with the Xeno.