2022 Anderson Rocketech
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- Jan 27, 2020
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Use code olive20 on their website . Your welcome
- May 28, 2019
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amazing! but i don't need another bat.... lol
Any reviews?
- Jan 27, 2020
- 107
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PRODUCT REVIEW:
2022 ANDERSON ROCKETECH CARBON
Allrightythen.......First some apologies for being late with this, mostly due to some problems this morning when we were doing swing tests alongside the Meta and the 2022 Ghost. About halfway thru, the Ghost snapped in half (shocker, eh?) so we had to sub in a Ghost Advanced for part of this.
Lemme start by saying we have a new exit velo champion, and it ain't even close. Honestly, until just a couple months ago, I never heard of Anderson bats, outside of folks in the adult slow-pitch world who used them and liked them. Started hearing a little buzz on them from some folks in here, and asked a few questions from some of the folks who have used them and who had nothing but good things to say about them. Anyway, the price was right on these, and they have a 30 day return policy, so I figured what the hell, might as well take the plunge and see what the buzz was all about.
Having just finished testing the Meta, I was kinda primed to be disappointed, but the results were anything but disappointing. I will say though, that when I brought the girls out to begin trying it out, I had to listen to a bunch of griping, such as "It's ugly". "Does it come in any other colors." etc, etc........And yeah, while it's not all that aesthetically pleasing to some, it became pretty obvious that the folks at Anderson put a helluva lot more into what's inside this bat then they did on the outside.
Went thru the usual preliminaries, about 500 swings off a tee, front toss, and side toss to break it in somewhat, but even during this period you could see that this might be something special. ALL the girls loved the feel of it and remarked that it's one of the best balanced bats they've swung. A lot of comments along the lines of "You can hardly feel the impact and the ball just flies." Yeah, whatever Anderson does in terms of vibration dampening, they REALLY got this right. Even hits off the end of the bat or towards the handle just felt like butter, and the ball just flew.
The bat we tested was a 34/24, which was selected as this is what my daughter uses, and what most of the girls we had swinging it typically use. Our motley crew consisted of one 14U girl, who is not a big power hitter, but hits line drives for a high average, two 16U girls who both hit for good, but not great power, one 18U girl (my kid) who hits for big power, one girl who just finished high school and is on her way to a D-1 (Pac 12) school on a softball scholarship, and finally one girl who is a sophomore in a D-1 program.
As I said before, we've got a new exit velo champ here. The moment I brought out the radar gun, I started seeing numbers I've never seen before. While the 2022 Ghost and the Meta gave us high readings between 73 and 75 with our better hitters, the Anderson gave us consistent readings between 75 and 78, with more than a few that cracked the 80 mark from the older girls with the faster swings. My daughter, who never cranked one with an exit velo higher than 76 in her life, even had a couple that broke the 80 mark, with a high of 81. Yes, these 80+ readings are probably not what anyone is going to see on any sort of consistent basis, but kinda nice to know that this bat has that in it.
Once everyone had about 30 cuts with this bat, we went on to alternate swings with the Ghost (Advanced since the new one broke), the Meta, and the Anderson. What we did was alternate between the bats, one swing with each, until everyone had completed a cycle of 12 swings with each. We threw out the high and low (and anything that was obviously mis-hit), and here's what we got on average of the other 10 swings. First number is the Ghost, 2nd is the Meta, and 3rd is the Anderson.
14U Girl 64, 64, 67
16U Girl #1 69, 67, 71
16U Girl #2 67, 69, 71
18 U Girl 71, 73, 76
D-1 #1 73, 73, 77
D-1 #2 74, 73, 78
After wrapping up the first day with this, and being a combination of shocked/pleased by the results, a few of us decided to deviate from the original plan, and headed over to a field to see what this sucker would do out there. Not going to kid you, this shirt got pretty fun when we watched the ball flying. Our 14U girl, who had never hit an over-the-fence home run in her life, cranked at least a half dozen over the fence with room to spare with the Anderson, and had a couple with the Meta as well. Dunno why, but was a little surprised to not see her do the same with the Ghost, in that her exit velo numbers with it were the same as with the Meta, but oh well.......Also, this girl typically uses a 33/23, so it took a bit of an adjustment for her to get used to this bigger bat. She's pretty strong, so it wasn't a huge stretch for her.
Needless to say, the older girls just cranked ball after ball over the fence. One of the odd things that the two college girls had to say was that while the ball went further, they noticed they weren't hitting it as high as usual. Don't know if this is a product of the bat itself, something they might have been doing with their swings, or the fact that my pitching kinda sucks.....I also dunno if this is a good or a bad thing actually. I bring this up only because they both commented on it.
A funny moment occurred when one of the college girls cranked a couple that banged off the baseball fence at 310, and then turned to me and asked "Are you sure this bat is legal?".......All I know is that it has all the required stamps on it, so yeah.....my guess is that it's legal......lol.
I didn't have a slapper available to me to help with the testing, so sorry, but that is going to be a bit of a blank spot in this review for at least a while. Once I can find someone to help with this, I'll attempt to fill in this gap.
While this bat doesn't have the rocket sound of the new Ghost, I think most will find the sound you get out of it to be satisfying. Again, there were comments that while the sound was great, and the result was great, you didn't necessarily feel like you hammered one, even when you obviously did........And yet again, I dunno if this is a good or a bad thing. Guess it would depend on the individual interpretation.
As you might guess, overall EVERYBODY loved this bat, probably the only gripes were as to its looks and the fact that the tactile feedback you get from it is a little wonky. Even when you crush the ball, you really can't tell until you look at the ball flight. I guess this is the trade-off from eliminating all the vibrations, but I think most can live with this if you get anywhere near the results we got.
I'm still a little bit befuddled as to how this bat has flown under the radar. Yes, this 2022 model just came out, and we've never seen or tried any of their previous models, but it would sure seem to me that this is a bat that serious players would take notice of. I have NO idea if this is any sort of revolutionary change from their prior models, or if they just haven't gotten these into enough hands for the word to get out on them. We just completed a whole big series of major events PGF, TCS Nationals, etc, etc, and I cannot recall seeing a single Anderson bat being used in any one of them.......and trust me, with this color scheme, it would probably be memorable to anyone seeing it.
Oh, and here is a HUGE selling point on these. The list on them is only something like $369, but there are a number of dealers out there who can get them for you at somewhere around $300 out the door......which is a significant savings over the Ghosts and the Meta. Seriously, when you put all these bats on a price/performance curve, the Anderson is a clear winner. They have a standard 1 year replacement warranty on them and a 30 day return policy if you don't like them for any reason.
No, I can't say that your results will replicate mine, but at the same time I'd be pretty shocked if you hated it either. Considering the price and the return policy, they are most definitely worth kicking the tires on.
*As always.........Your results may vary.
- Jan 27, 2020
- 107
- 18
Copied not my review
Wow, that's a compelling review. Do you have any knowledge of the person who posted it?
