2012 Demarini CF5

[starsnuffer]

One year of travel ball is all you should expect out of a bat. Your kid is going to either grow, get stronger, or both, so the bat that is good for her now won't be in a year, despite any bat wear. It's a bat, not an investment.

-W

 

[COACH SLIM]

Good advice.I tell people that all of the time and I still see 9&10 year old girls swinging 32 inch composites. My daughter blows fastballs right by those girls who can hardly get the bat off there shoulder. By the time they can swing them effectively they are thrashed. I expect a year and dont mind if other teamates use their bats. This is the first 2 piece bat that I have purchased so I was just a little concerned.

 

[starsnuffer]

The only thing I'd worry about is repeated dropping on the endcap. Some dugouts have metal rings or tubes designed to hold the bats. Kids will drop them in the hole and they'll fall a few feet before landing endfirst on cement. This destroys Xeno's in a hurry, but CF5's hold up a bit better. Some coaches put something under the tubes like a folded towel. You can't really teach your kid to do it properly, because it's usually a random kid in the dugout putting the bat away after she hits those doubles

-W

 

[COACH SLIM]

Thanx for the advice starsnuffer!

 

[rachelsdad]

I think the bat going dead is a symptom of the Post-ABI construction. Most of the pre-ABI bats required 500+ hits just to break them in and them continued to get hotter all the way up to catastrophic failure. That's why I prefer to buy older Eastons in great shape.

 

[Westwind]

Rubber Biscuit-

I read your post the other day. You aren't going to believe this but just last night during a hitting session DD bat went stunningly and suddenly dead. Good one minute dead the next. It's a CF4 Insane.

I have my receipt, dated 06/11/11.

She was pretty happy with it. To be fair to Demarini, we hit a lot of balls. No abuse, but a lot of balls. We don't use it if it is below 60 degrees, very few machine balls etc. etc.

Sent in a warranty request, we'll see...

DD is a former Rockettech metalhead. Her younger sister is still using her old 2007 RT. ww

So the life cycle of the CF4 from my perspective, with a DD that plays HS and top TB:

1. First month break in before big bat pop occurs
2. Months 2-6 are the big pop months and are in warmer weather
3. In months 3-6 you see the outer paint chip and delaminate
4. Month 6-8 daddy starts to think "hmm, ya know DD hasn't really rocked one in a while....." (the start of the pop decay)
5. Months 8-12 are indoors and can't really tell the pop.
6. Month 13 daddy gets nervous about bat condition and gets a "backup"
7. Month 14 in HS it is apparent the bat is dead (warranty gone)

Anyone else see this too?

Precautions we took were no batting cages with it and we also kept it warm with pyroflite when below 50 or so.

 

[RubberBiscuit]

Sorry to hear Westwind - Hope ya get good support from the big "D".

Also - I agree with the couple other threads here that each year in a growing DD's career probably needs a freshly sized bat (for the A levels of course), but my concern is that I saw the big D bats have a year life cycle "end-to-end" and some I know some good span of that year the bat was not performing.

I am haunted by this event => my DD, in the first HS game of the year last year, at contact appearing to have jacked one off the best pitcher in our strong confrence, in a closely fought pitchers battle, only to find the ball being caught at the warning track.

Now I have been around bat sports all my life, playing baseball thru into my 30's, and that hit DD had should have been ~40 feet longer without question......knowing how strong a big D can be in its prime.

Do you guys want this kind of bad memory too?

Ya know I wonder if some big D bats at some critical half-life point continue to break-in while the other half break-down.....?

 

[Westwind]

Well- Got a return authorization number and an e-mail that indicates they will test the bat. When I filled out the on line form, "bat lost it's pop" wasn't one of my choices. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

 

[COACH SLIM]

westwind...keep us posted. thanks!

 

[Westwind]

Demarini failed to warranty the bat.

"It is performing as designed" was the exact lawyerspeak.

Despite the fact that when she felt the bat go flat, she walked over and picked up an identical CF5 and it felt normal like her old bat. (Takes lessons at a Demarini Factory Demo House.) Yet there is supposedly nothing wrong with her old bat.

I guess since pop isn't warranted and it is "performing as designed" I guess I should just cut a 32" piece of closet rod and let her use that. Her $35 machine ball practice bat, (Easton), has more pop with the Demarini. The blue Catalyst, (Louisville), that I bought used off Craigslist has more pop. Seems like a $300 bat should perform better than a broom stick to me.

I am going to replace the Demarini with a Louisville Xeno. Pretty certain I would have bought her about four more Demarini's in the next four years, maybe more. Daughter is disappointed, she loved the bat.

My other daughter is 9. She will be moving up to a 31 next year, was going to have her try the end loaded Insane. Not happening now. She will be a metalhead Anderson Rockettech girl for many years and many bats to come.

I know it's sour grapes but no more $300 bats from Demarini for us. It should not lose its pop after 7 months unless you are abusing it. After hearing all the horror stories that Demarini made right I really thought they would do the right thing. ww.