Various Aluminum Alloys?

[colesdad2]

Can we get a discussion going on pros, cons, history of various alloys? I've reviewed the 9/21/09 thread by Union-LL-AA-dad, which quotes a 4/09 source. I am wondering if any of the members here have updated info/opinions/sources.

I'm posting this in the youth forum because it gets the most traffic and (I believe) the topic is generic, but I personally am most interested in HS bats right now.

[Hookem74]

You might be better off asking about a particular bat. There are too many different alloys produced over the last 10 yrs.

my experience........
For alloys I still favor the older models (L.S. TPX Scandiums XS & c555s, Demarini-F2 & F3, Easton SC500s, Worth c555s,Anderson Next Gen)
These bats had a good balance of pop & durability. Most of these were from 1999-2005.
Their are Easton Z2Ks & Redlines still being sold in the $300-1000 used range on ebay. I wish I would have kept mine to compare them to today's alloys but the prices alone should tell you how good these bats were from that era.

From 2006 and up the most popular have been the Voodoo, Dynasty, Techzilla,Prodigy, Plasma Fusion. I didn't like the Easton alloys, pop was there but the durability was lacking.

As of now it's pretty much the EXOs that everyone uses. Last yr we used a Prodigy & Zcore ConneXion but switched to a Voodoo for H.S. Ball. We cracked the Voodoo b/c of cold weather so he mostly uses composites now(CF3,Stealth Speed,Nike Aero Fuse). He's tried a lot of the new alloys but wasn't impressed. As of now he's asking for an older model Voodoo or Z-core ConneXion for next yr.

Pros: all bats listed above had good to great pop, I do favor some models mostly the Demarini & Easton bats but have no problem switching to TPX if I had to. Most underrated was the Plasma Fusion but I think the "Rawlings" name killed it. Not too many want to swing a bat from a glove company.

Cons: I have destroyed at least one of each listed above:D
In fact 3 techzillas in a 2 week span which is why I'll never buy Anderson again.
I was as guilty as anyone else for abusing bats. Now we keep them separate..for practice and game use.
I do think today's alloys are paper thin and should be used for games only, they can't take the beating like the lead pipes we swung as kids.

[colesdad2]

Hookem, thanks for the thorough reply and info. I'm *searching* for a specific bat, so don't have one to throw out for comment. I'm probably an old dog in this group, played HS ball, one year of college (NAIA), discovered girls and beer, and that was all she wrote. That was 1979. I've coached off & on for 25 years, almost all in rec leagues. I've learned more about bats here in the last month than I even knew existed.

My youngest son has some talent and while I'm obsessing about this I thought I might go ahead and look at bats for his next school season. Your comments about older alloys in other posts got my attention - a "retro" bat appeals to me. I guess I'm seeking advice on good choices in something less than the Z2K price range.

FWIW, 8th grade studs on his team this year swung 09 Voodoos and red CF3. The Voodoo in 31/28 was too much bat for my kid this season. For rec ball, we have an F3 he's using for BP, he's in love with the CF3 black, but he's killing the ball with an Adidas Phenom (which he only swings at my insistence).

[tom2p]

Bats constructed of aluminum alloy with scandium have worked very well for us. They have good pop and are *extremely* durable. Primarily have used LS TPX Omaha XS Scandium and LS TPX Response Gen1-X with Scandium. Also has good luck with LS TPX Dynasty with ST-20 (enhanced) alloy.
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A very popular HS bat is a LS TPX Exogrid. I believe this bat is constructed with ST-20 (enhanced) alloy - similar to the old Dynasty.
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