By Aaron Barrows (Aaron was a 4-year starting outfielder at Eastern Kentucky with a .313 lifetime BA, and a former product developer for Louisville Slugger. Aaron knows bats. These are his *opinions*. Aaron’s job is not to sell bats. His job is to help you buy the right bat. Reach him at aaron@www.whatproswear.com or @thebatscout)
UPDATE: The final 8 teams are set for the College World Series in Omaha. Easton will be represented by 4 teams, the most of any manufacturer.
UCSB – Easton
Coastal Carolina – Easton
Florida – Easton
TCU – Easton
Arizona – Louisville Slugger
Oklahoma State – Demarini
Miami – Adidas
Texas Tech – Mixed
The field of 64 is set and regionals across the country started this weekend, which kicks off college baseball’s best time of year. With the added national attention and increased TV time, manufacturers are likely to start introducing their 2017 models over the coming weeks. The more exposure and hype that can be built up around the new line prior to full launch, the better. It’s not do or die, but if any of the brands can land some of their sponsored teams in Omaha for the College World Series, it’s an added bonus. The manufacturer that ends up with the national champion will be able to create a marketing campaign specifically around that to drive sales.
With all of that aside, let’s take a look at the bat usage by the field of 64 broken down by bat manufacturer. Easton is leading the charge this year with a total of 18 teams, Rawlings follows close behind with 17, Demarini has 13, Louisville Slugger has 11 and Adidas managed to land 3 teams in the tournament this year. As of right now I have 2 teams that use multiple brands and count those as mixed. Here is the list of schools and the brand they swing (if viewing on mobile, you can scroll to the right to see all brands):
Easton | Rawlings | Demarini | Louisville Slugger | Adidas | Mixed |
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Florida | Virginia | Clemson | Louisville | Miami | Texas Tech |
Ole Miss | SEMO | South Carolina | Florida State | Nebraska | Mississippi State |
Cal State Fullerton | Georgia Tech | Vanderbilt | Sam Houston | Louisiana Tech | |
Texas A&M | UCONN | UNCW | St. Mary’s | ||
TCU | NC State | Wright State | Wake Forest | ||
Ohio State | Navy | Arizona State | Rice | ||
Minnesota | Southeastern Louisiana | Oklahoma State | Alabama State | ||
South Alabama | Dallas Baptist | LSU | Long Beach | ||
Coastal Carolina | Willaim & Mary | Washington | Florida Atlantic | ||
Southern Miss | Binghamton | New Mexico | Arizona | ||
East Carolina | Duke | Bryant | Louisiana – Lafayette | ||
Bethune Cookman | Utah | Western Carolina | |||
Western Michigan | Rhode Island | Gonzaga | |||
Xavier | Tulane | ||||
Stetson | Princeton | ||||
UCSB | Utah Valley | ||||
Oral Roberts | Fairfield | ||||
Boston College |
Below you’ll see a geographical breakdown showing brand usage per state in the field of 64. The bigger the circle, the more schools that are located in the state. The circles are split into mini pie charts representing the different manufactures.