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Because this is my first ever post in this blog, let me give you a little background on me. I've played way too much baseball in my life. Growing up I played 100+ games a summer, went to multiple AAU and USSSA World Series', and won a baseball state championship in high school. After a humbling year of college football I decided to play baseball for the next 4 years in college at a small school in Kansas City. My point, I have some experience. I now oversee all the buying of the products on our site and my goal is to pass on some of my knowledge to you so that you can make the best, most informed decision when buying a bat. Recently, I took a few hacks with the Mattingly Ripped and the Mattingly Demon BBCOR bats. I have to disclose that I never even considered swinging a Mattingly bat in all my years of baseball but now I feel it my job to know what I'm buying. I was pleasantly surprised by the feel of these bats. Anyone who has swung a BBCOR and a BESR bat knows there is an obvious difference in the feel, sound, and performance, so if I were still playing I’d be looking for something that felt and performed as similar to a BESR bat as I could find; even if it meant going with a brand I wouldn’t normally consider. The Demon had a very balanced feel, decent pop, and best of all no sting in the hands. That is one thing I’ve found with BBCOR bats is that many of them sting your hands because most of them are just “dumbed down” BESR bats. Similarly, the Ripped was balanced and felt good on contact. The big difference is that the Ripped has the patented V-Grip that Mattingly has made famous. The V-Grip promotes correct mechanics, but more importantly it feels good. It just feels right and in a world where the barrels of the bats all have to meet the same specs it could be a revolutionary handle technology that sets these bats apart. All-in-all if you’re unhappy with the performance of your BBCOR bat or looking for an advantage in an unexpected place I’d say this bat is worth a shot. And for under $200 what more could you ask for? |
