Shohei Ohtani’s first American bat brand is Chandler, owned (and resurrected from a 2019 bankruptcy) by Cuban slugging legend Yoenis Cespedes, and his bat is based off another legendary slugger’s model, Aaron Judge.
Shohei’s power, like Judge, is top 0.0001% in the world, and his SO17.4 is sized accordingly. His 34.5 inch, 32 ounce Chandler Maple is as long as any bat in the Bigs except Judge’s 35 inch AJ99.2 behemoth, and Shohei based it off that bat. He thinned the AJ99.2 handle and flared the knob, which he borrowed from his cage trainer bat.
Chandler is offering the SO17.4 Maple as a custom, and its designed to be used by a wider range of players than baseball’s unicorn. It has the same basic attributes of Ohtani’s bat, with a flared knob, medium handle thickness, long barrel taper, medium barrel diameter, and a slightly endloaded feel.
Well played by Chandler… You can get the retail Ohtani bat as a custom for $230 at ChandlerBats.com.
