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22202
263 Posts |
 Posted - 10/07/2010 : 11:09:52
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| Am I making a mistake buying a 2011 Easton Rival 27 17 for my son? I'm seeing a lot of people on here talking composite bats, Easton customer service problems etc. I thought a read somewhere also that composite bats were beginning to be banned? Is this true? |
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prestont
197 Posts |
Posted - 10/07/2010 : 13:10:42
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Not at all.
My son is a couple years older, but we picked up an Easton Rival this fall. Its got just as much pop as Prodigy but understand its more durable (from folks who used the bat last year). We went with the Easton Rival because Prodigy's will dent, just a matter of when. We got ours for $130, so really can't complain compared to the prices of other hot bats.
My son really likes the bat. He's hit extremely well with it this fall. As it turns out most of his teammates started using his bat - so much so that the team went out and purchased a Easton Rival 'team' bat our kids to use.
However, best recommendation is make sure your son likes the bat, and is comfortable swinging it. Many of the nwgabaseball sponsors, plus other local baseball retailers, have swing radar and demo bats so that your son can swing diff bats to find the one (length/weight) that he likes best - with the fastest bat swing.
Best of luck - but so far I'd say the Rival is a winner based on the way its performed this fall. |
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in_the_know
985 Posts |
Posted - 10/07/2010 : 13:29:08
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Here's a copy of an earlier post on the topic of wood bats that addresses your question about composite bats:
BBCOR (batted ball coeffecient of restitution) is replacing the BESR (Bat Exit Speed Ration) as the standard for regulating non-wood bats. BESR basically measure the exit speed of a batted ball. The challenge with BESR was that by changing the bat length for the same materials, you effectively changed the BESR, thereby making it difficult for manufacturers to maintain consistency across bat models. By changing to BBCOR, which basically measures the "bounce" or "trampoline" effect of a bat, the length, etc, becomes irrevelant.
The new BBCOR upper limits are based by taking the best case wood bat BBCOR (ie, the known highest rated wood bats measured over time) and increasing the limit by a miniscule amount above that level for all non-wood bats. This ensures that any wood bat will fall within the BBCOR limits. This effectively will make all non-wood bats perform nearly identical to the best wood bats available and still provide the benefit of durability and consistency of length to weight drops.
Colleges must use BBCOR labeled bats beginning with the upcoming season. High schools adopt the BBCOR for composite bats for the 2010-2011 season and metal bats the following year.
Here's some links to the NFHS site detailing the guidelines. The second link details the date that BBCOR goes into effect for metal bats and also outlaws immediately any composite bat unless it meets the new BBCOR rule currently. The last link show which composite bats meet the current guidelines for College.
http://www.nfhs.org/content.aspx?id=2772
http://www.nfhs.org/Workarea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=4096
http://www.nfhs.org/content.aspx?id=4155&terms=baseball
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Steel-Will
278 Posts |
Posted - 10/09/2010 : 15:48:58
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My then 8, now 9yr old son spent two hours swinging bats one even at Better Baseball. Here are the results.
• Prodigy 27 / 17 (2 ¾) = 67mph
• Combat B3 29 / 19 (2 ¼ ) = 65mph
• Rival 27 / 17 (2 ¾) = 63mph
• 2009 EASTON SYNERGY IMX 28 / 18 (2 ¾) = 63mph
• Prodigy 28 / 18 (2 ¾) = 61mph
• 2011 Easton Speed 27 / 17 (2 ¾) = 57mph
• 2011 Easton Speed 28 / 18 (2 ¾) = 54mph
• Prodigy 29 / 19 (2 ¾) = 58mph
Those are the ones I remember. Disappointingly, the Easton Speed bats were NOT very speedy in their swing speed!
Surprising 29 / 19 Combat B3 small-barrel was almost as fast as the 27 / 17 big-barrel Prodigy.
Swinging the bats side-by-side really gave the impression the Prodigy has paper thing walls! No wonder it has so much POP.
The bat speed with the Prodigy was remarkable but I never purchased one because of the inevitable denting.
Another surprise was that the 27 / 17 Rival was actually heavier than the 27 / 17 Prodigy; it was more like the 28 / 18 prodigy.
What did I purchase that day? I had every intention of purchasing the Combat B3 but my son DID NOT like the feel of the Combat B3 handle. Also, factoring in the fact that the Combat B3 GEAR would be out soon influenced my decision. My son also liked very much the feel of the Rival handle. Since my goal was to increase his bat speed , we didn’t get the 28 / 18 Rival but ended up with the 27 / 17.
The Rival has proven to be a very good bat and very good for the money as it's the same price as the Prodigy.
But I’ll let you know my son rarely uses the Rival! Other kids on the team use it. I’ve seen some massive 200 foot shots from 8yr olds with the Rival.
My son loves the balance and his timing with a Prodigy 27 / 17 for really fast pitchers; 28 / 18 for medium pitchers and 29 / 19 for slower pitchers.
Lastly, you should know that the Rival dented within 2 months of purchase! We used it quite a bit in batting practice but it still seems more durable than a Prodigy.
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Wilson
11 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2010 : 17:10:38
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| I'm in the market search for a new bat also, where can i purchase the rival bat@ a reasonable price? |
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22202
263 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2010 : 08:36:43
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| depends on what size you are looking for. NOBODY has a 27 in stock. I was at A Team sports in Cumming this week and they have the 29 in stock. |
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nastycurve
244 Posts |
Posted - 10/20/2010 : 02:21:38
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| check on ebay. a lot of times you can get bats brand new in the wrapper from reputable dealers with a warranty for half price or less. |
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