Opinions on three different bats.

[ANNASDAD]

Hey guys, my 12yo DD plays 12U travel and will be playing middle school ball this coming February. Just weighed and
measured her tonight. 56" tall and 95lbs. She has been using a Miken Icon -12 for over a year and this little bat is
still really hot but looks like a war club instead of a bat. Rough looking ! I've read here that a lot of you guys and
gals (Amy) say to use nothing lighter than a -10 or it can mess with swing mechanics.
The 3 bats in question (or in the running) are the Anderson Rocketflex 30/20. The 2014 Xeno in 30/20 and a
Demarini CF6 -11 in 31/20. I'm really leaning toward the Rocketflex but I'm sure any of these 3 would be great
and an upgrade over what she is using right now. Her Miken is a 30/18 and she hits really well with it but I feel
she is ready to move to a heavier bat. She is short but very strong and has the fastest bat speed on her team but
I'm sure that's because she is swinging a -12. Thanks everyone, would like to hear your thoughts on these 3 bats.
The Miken has been great, don't know why I'm not considering one ? I know these which one to buy threads can
get really old so I promise this will be my last one......
Thanks.

 

[RubberBiscuit]

Go with the one she feels the best with - confidence is everything

 

[maksoftball]

It really depends on your DD. She needs to get a feel for each; but my gut says that if she was swinging the really light Miken, she will like the Demarini. We have never used this bat, but from what I have read, the Demarini is a really good bat. Hopefully, someone on team will have one of these bats that she can swing just to get a feel for it before you shell out the $200-300. Good luck.

 

[James Smith]

DD has used a 30/20 Xeon for the last couple years and she liked it a lot. She just got a 32/22 CF6 to use for next year, she has not used it in a game yet but it seems “light”. She has never tried a Rocketflex.

For your DD I am leaning towards the CF6 too.

Hopefully she can test driver them before you buy.

(In a month or so she will fall in love with any of the 3, they are all good bats)

(My 12yo DD is taller then yours. I do not get to say that very often. It seems like she is smaller then poster's 8yos. DD plays MS too and is allowed to wear her own pants because the Team pants do not fit her.)

 

[ANNASDAD]

Thanks for the replies everyone. James, yeah my DD is really short, but as I said really strong for her size. She is the A pitcher on her travel team and went 7 and 2 last year in MS as a 6th grader. We live just outside Charlotte, NC and this is just flat out Xeno country !
I had never even seen an Anderson bat until this past weekend, a team had several girls with them. 2 Rocketechs and 1 Rocketflex. Their head coach let me hold the RF and he swears they are the best bat on the market ! It was a pretty cool industrial looking bat. There is not one Demarini on OUR team, mostly Miken, TPS, and Easton so no way to try a Demarini or Anderson first.
I don't know why I don't want to buy a Xeno, I know they're good bats. I just keep leaning toward the other two. BTW the CF6 was
my first choice last week but may have changed my mind after holding the RF and doing a weeks worth of research on them !
I'd appreciate any more insight on these bats. Going to be a pretty expensive Christmas, a bat and probably a Vinci from Casedawg.
Thanks again.

 

[Little Angels Softball]

I am a bit contrary here as I have personally seen and heard top Pac-12 head coaches recommend drop -12 and drop -11 bats to youngsters repeatedly. I am not sure how the tale was created but how someone can think that there is an issue with a 10-year-old swinging a drop -11 bat when many of our finest, fully-grown women professional softball players in their mid to late 20s swing drop -10s is beyond me. If the head coaches at several Pac-12 schools and others say it is OK for girls at their clinics to use drop -11 and drop -12 bats and recommend them, I am OK with it, too. Kids simply aren't as strong as adults!

I have always liked the DeMarini CF series in drop -11 for all girls hitting leather balls in competition who have yet to have a good dose of adult hormones running through their veins. It has great pop and a super-balanced feel that youngsters seem to almost universally swing well. I have been around this bat constantly since the first iteration of it came out, and I absolutely cannot tell the difference in pop between it and drop -10 composite bats of equal value. About 1/3 of my first-year 12U team uses this bat and that little team knocks the snot out of the ball.

 

[Little Angels Softball]

One other thing: going from a drop -12 anything to a RockeTech will require a rather serious adjustment period. Not only is it a drop -9 in classification, that bat is a heavy drop -9 and may actually end up weighing closer to what other companies' drop -8 would. Essentially, she'll be going up at least four ounces with the same length bat, and five or more with a longer bat. That is huge.

 

[humpty]

The -11 cf5 is a rocket launcher but it will break if you use it for bp a lot. And it swings the lightest of the 3

 

[ANNASDAD]

One other thing: going from a drop -12 anything to a RockeTech will require a rather serious adjustment period. Not only is it a drop -9 in classification, that bat is a heavy drop -9 and may actually end up weighing closer to what other companies' drop -8 would. Essentially, she'll be going up at least four ounces with the same length bat, and five or more with a longer bat. That is huge.

Thanks Little Angels, I was actually looking at the -10 Rocketflex. But still a little worried as that bat is a little end loaded. Not as end
loaded as the Rocketech. Is anyone selling the 2014 CF6 for less than $299 ?

 

[Greenmonsters]

Thanks for the replies everyone. James, yeah my DD is really short, but as I said really strong for her size. She is the A pitcher on her travel team and went 7 and 2 last year in MS as a 6th grader. We live just outside Charlotte, NC and this is just flat out Xeno country !
I had never even seen an Anderson bat until this past weekend, a team had several girls with them. 2 Rocketechs and 1 Rocketflex. Their head coach let me hold the RF and he swears they are the best bat on the market ! It was a pretty cool industrial looking bat. There is not one Demarini on OUR team, mostly Miken, TPS, and Easton so no way to try a Demarini or Anderson first.
I don't know why I don't want to buy a Xeno, I know they're good bats. I just keep leaning toward the other two. BTW the CF6 was
my first choice last week but may have changed my mind after holding the RF and doing a weeks worth of research on them !
I'd appreciate any more insight on these bats. Going to be a pretty expensive Christmas, a bat and probably a Vinci from Casedawg.
Thanks again.

DD has a bag full of Andersons and put away her Nanotek and Rocketechs once the the Rocketflex was released last year. She has to swing team bats in college, but hasn't found anything she likes better than her RF. Both the RT and RF are endloaded which will feel very different for someone used to a balanced bat - there's no real middle ground, some love the endload and some hate it. Find an authorized Anderson dealer and use their proof at the plate program - if she doesn't like the endload of the RF, go to the Nanotek, which is balanced and has a larger sweet spot.