Does Worth Make the Best Softball Bats?
Written: Apr 15 '00
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Pros: Great performance and durability - the best softball bat for the money.
Cons: Other teams are allowed to buy them, too.
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| seedspeed's Full Review: Worth Supercell EST |
Let's talk softball bats, shall we? It's gotten so that the weekend warrior who plays in a recreational league once or twice a week has found him or herself forced to cough up $200 and more to buy a new hot bat just to stay competitive with all the other players who've coughed up $200, because other players before THEM coughed up... I think you know what I'm saying.
Well, I'm one of those poor recreational league suckers. I realized the time had come to purchase a doublewall bat during a best-of-three softball championship in which our team (poor single-wall, bats-made-out-of-recycled-Mountain-Dew-cans goofballs that we were) were trounced in the most humiliating fashion possible by a team that had invested heavily in the new doublewall technology. They hit so many homeruns that I STILL have the crick in my neck from watching the balls rocket over the fence.
So I decided to invest in a bat that my whole team could use. But I wanted to be smart about it - a real change for me. See, I'm a typical guy-shopper. That means I know what I want, I walk in the store, I find it, I buy it, I leave. No muss, no fuss, so what if it's not exactly what I wanted. At least I got the heck out of the store! But since I was used to spending about $25 on a bat - tops! - the idea that I'd be shelling out over $200 made me decide to do a little research.
Okay, I did a LOT of research. Keeping in mind that this was a couple years ago, some of the things I'm going to say are a little dated. But stick with me, there's a point. The first thing I learned was that Demarini was considered the Cadillac of bats. Which was appropriate, because they cost about as much as a Cadillac. You'd pay a little more, but everyone who used them boasted about how the ball flew off the bats - Barney Fife could hit some major dongs with these suckers. The Demarinis were also praised for their enormous sweet spots, which means that a ball hit off the handle or doinked off the end would still have a heckuva lot of zip. So, I should buy a Demarini, right? Well... not so fast.
The second thing I learned during my research was that Demarini bats had a dark side. A dark side called 'durability problems.' Now, those of us who bought our bats from K-Mart never worried about durability before. In the old days, bats were made out of aluminum so thick that the only way to dent it was to repeatedly smack it against a dugout wall in frustration. Not that it didn't happen occasionally... But these new bats' improved 'trampoline effect' was a direct byproduct of thinning the walls, allowing them to give ever so slightly, thereby propelling the ball further when the wall bounced back into shape. Unfortunately, sometimes the walls don't bounce back into shape, and that's when bats dent, ripple, or develop flat spots. And the Demarinis were notorious for denting. The consensus seemed to be that you could get about 200 swings out of a Demarini before it'd suffer damage. Considering that, at the time, Demarini bats were priced around $300, that figured out to $1.50 a swing. Now, I don't know about you, but if I have to pay a buck-and-a-half for every ground-out or pop-up, I'm going to be pretty upset, no matter how many homers I manage to jack.
I also learned that bat manufacturers, aware of the durability problems, were offering warranties. Now, you could usually determine the durability of a company's bats by the length of their warranty. The longer the warranty, the more confidence they had in the durability of their product. At the time, Demarini carried a one-month warranty. In other words, their confidence was underwhelming. So I did more research.
I researched Louisville Slugger, Rawlings, Easton, Grover, and any other company that was involved in making these new high-tech bats. And then I found Worth. They'd just released their line of doublewalls, the EST's. 'EST' stands for 'Exterior Shell Technology,' which basically means that the second wall that's inside most of these bats? It's on the outside of the Worth. What else did I learn? I learned that the EST's were 'cryogized,' which is a process in which the bat is slowly brought to a temperature colder than a polar bear's behind, which (in theory anyway - there are those who claim this is all a bunch of hooey) makes the molecules in the aluminum line up in tighter formation, thereby strengthening the alloy. Which is a long-winded way of saying the bat was more durable. And what ELSE did I learn? I learned that Worth offered a ONE-YEAR warranty on their bats.
I also learned that the EST's had a downside. Because Worth placed that second wall on the outside of the bat rather than the inside, apparently that cursed the EST's with a smaller sweet-spot than some other bats - most notably the Demarinis.
So I weighed all my options and decided that I'd go to a local sporting goods store and give the Worth a feel (never, ever, EVER buy a bat without making sure it's comfortable for you). I grabbed a black, 26 oz. (I'm not that big a guy, okay?) EST, and I've got to tell you, I've never felt a bat so balanced, so comfortable, so downright sweet. So I plunked down my $200 bucks and bought the sucker.
That was 3 years ago. That same black EST is still in my bag, still has plenty of pop, and only has one very minor flat spot. Meanwhile I've seen guys go through Demarini bats like there's no tomorrow. Heck, I've seen Demarinis that I can't believe were EVER round. And still my Worth keeps plugging along.
The REALLY impressive part? This isn't a bat that I hogged, only using myself. It was our team bat. EVERYONE used it. For three years and still counting. Makes that $1.50 per swing price tag on the Demarini look a little steep, doesn't it?
Now I know that the technology has continued to advance in the years since I bought the black EST. For instance, Demarini have attempted to solve their durability problems, and now back up their bats with a full one-year warranty. And new alloys are being concocted all the time, which allow those thin aluminum walls to be stronger than ever. In fact, I even broke down and bought one of those new bats...
... a gold Worth EST5. And though I've only been using it for half a season, so far it looks like a worthy (no pun intended) successor to the original black model.
It's been my experience - and the experience of my teammates, many of whom have since purchased Worth doublewalls of their own - that the Worth bats can't be beat for price, performance or durability. In an era where we're forced to pay $200 simply to stay competitive in a game of recreational softball, buying a Worth bat will guarantee you get your money's worth (again - no pun intended).
And oh yeah, about that smaller sweet-spot? I'd played softball for 18 years before I bought the Worth, and had never hit a home run. The first season I bought the Worth, I cranked seven. You get no complaints from me...
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
seedspeed
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Location: Oceanside, CA
Reviews written: 3
Trusted by: 3 members
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