DeMarini Slapper bat

So, my 10yo daughter busted her 30/20 Marucci tonight.

Being Christmas time and all, extra funds are pretty slim. eBay has a plethora of DeMarini 31/21 "Slapper" bats out there for less than $150 though. Would that be a bad choice for her?

She is NOT a slapper fwtw. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Dave

Sure Dave, those are just fine for 10u. The 14" barrel widens the contact sweet spot & at that age there should be very little difference in performance. You'll get a closeout from a prior year with different graphics.

Enjoy the Holidays!

I would have no issue with a kid swinging it regardless of being a slapper or not. My DD switched over last year after cracking a drop -11. You could not get her to use another bat now. The sweet spot is larger because of the extended barrel and the weight is shifted towards the handle which makes it swing "lighter" than it is for control in the short game which could also help younger hitters if they can handle a 31-21 bat. My DD is about 50/50 short game versus full swing and it performs great regardless of how she uses it.

Mine actually started swinging more because of the pop the bat had. I would compare it to the -11's without the durability issues. I have a feeling it will be the bat that helps her put her first one out this year. She rattled the fence several times during school ball and travel with full swings and power slaps last spring/summer. She has grown 4 inches and put on about 10lbs of muscle since last year so my fingers are crossed for her.

2 of my players have a slapper.... good bat. big sweet spot. evenly balanced
theyre not selling because the name implies that its only for short gamers... not true.

coach james said:

2 of my players have a slapper.... good bat. big sweet spot. evenly balanced
theyre not selling because the name implies that its only for short gamers... not true.

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I would definitely not call them "evenly balanced". Side-by-side with a balanced CF-series, the weight shift towards the handle is pretty evident.

Eric F said:

I would definitely not call them "evenly balanced". Side-by-side with a balanced CF-series, the weight shift towards the handle is pretty evident.

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I agree you can definitely feel the difference. I honestly believe Demarini could scrap the -11 due to the durability issues and expand the slapper line to include shorter/lighter models directed at the -11 crowd.

Rambler34 said:

I agree you can definitely feel the difference. I honestly believe Demarini could scrap the -11 due to the durability issues and expand the slapper line to include shorter/lighter models directed at the -11 crowd.

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I've seen quite a few girls have very good success with -11 CF-series bats on my DD's TB team (10U - 12U), and some of them prefer the feeling of the -11 vs. the Slapper. No broken ones yet. Part of it might be that we don't put -11s in the hands of our biggest hitters.

Eric F said:

I would definitely not call them "evenly balanced". Side-by-side with a balanced CF-series, the weight shift towards the handle is pretty evident.

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Good point, you're right... I was trying to imply that it wasn't end loaded

Eric F said:

I've seen quite a few girls have very good success with -11 CF-series bats on my DD's TB team (10U - 12U), and some of them prefer the feeling of the -11 vs. the Slapper. No broken ones yet. Part of it might be that we don't put -11s in the hands of our biggest hitters.

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I wish we had that luck. My DD was probably 5' 100lbs when she broke her last -11. I bought it in April and it cracked the first practice back after nationals. It was the third one we had gone through. The slapper replaced the -11 in September of 2015 and is still holding up. I can't imagine how many swings it has on it right now.

Good info on the Slapper in this thread. By reading this I think I was just talked myself in to buying DD one for Christmas lol. Her at bats are divided pretty evenly between bunts, slaps, and swings. Now that they are down to $150 pretty much everywhere I think it's worth a try. I wonder how the pop and feel compares to her LXT.