2021 rawlings mantra?

[CoreSoftball20]

PGuru...Those bats prob had 10K BP hits on them before the games...haha. And we all know about exaggerations...2 becomes 4, then becomes all of them

 

[Long Baller]

DD's H.S coach bought a 33/23 Mantra as a team bat, so she demoed it for 8, game situation at-bats this weekend. The weather was 55-60 degrees with wind and overcast, so not ideal conditions for an in-depth evaluation. However, the 8 at-bats were enough to formulate some good takeaways about the bat.

Bleacher perspective: The ball seemed to come off the bat pretty hot. She had a ground-rule double to left field and had a fly ball out at the warning track in right field, so the bat gave power to both sides. She also had a couple of line drives that were pretty well smoked. Would either of the deep fly balls been out if she was swinging her Blue Ghost? I have no idea. I will say that the ball did not sound really hot coming off of the bat. It sounded kind of like a Demarini pop, with a bit of aluminum "ting" overlay.

Player perspective: DD says the bat seems hot, but would not commit to saying it was any hotter than her "all-time favorite" Blue Ghost. She did say that she doesn't feel like she is giving anything up by using the Mantra. As far as "swing weight/feel", she said that it feels between an LXT and her Advanced, but closer to the Advanced. She also said that she could grab the Mantra to swing and not feel like there would need to be a big adjustment to make, and DD is a lot more sensitive than others to this sort of thing. Interestingly, she said that even the balls she barreled up gave some feedback to her hands. She hasn't said anything about feedback or sting to her hands since the aluminum bat days in 10U.

This bat was straight from the wrapper. It would be interesting to see if it "heats up" with some more swings on it. If it does, then this will be one hot bat for sure.

 

[CoreSoftball20]

I would also be curious to see how long the bat lasts being used a team bat

 

[Long Baller]

I would also be curious to see how long the bat lasts being used a team bat

There is actually a funny caveat to that story. DD has been hitting exceptionally well lately, so I asked her after the game why the heck she switched bats. She said that she felt sorry for the coach because he spent his own money on that bat to do something nice for the team, and he seemed sad that nobody was using it. She only used it to make him feel better. Fast forward to last night, and she hit a home run with the Mantra. Wouldn't you know it, others on the team are now using that bat.

So now I may need to buy a Mantra.

 

[CoreSoftball20]

Thats def not a new phenomenon...its always the bat...you didnt know that?