The DeMarini Zen - Good Performance But Breaks Too Much
What is the difference between the 2019 CF Zen and the 2020 DeMarini CF Zen travel ball USSSA bats? You guessed it – absolutely nothing aside from the paint job! Expect lots of broken in half bats, or if you’re lucky just a crack in the barel due to durability issues. You can almost always count on long waits for replacement bats from DeMarini during baseball season – sometimes taking months. Most of our travel ball boys have switched to the Marucci Cat 8 or Easton ADV and Maxum for travel ball in the last year. Easton has really stepped their game up on travel ball bats performance wise. Easton’s acquisition of Combat has allowed Easton to use production patents that make the bat both hot and durable.
Broken bats can be sent back to Demarini for replacement, but it is not unheard of with DeMarini for it to take MONTHS for a replacement to arrive.
No Changes Needed – DeMarini Zen is a competent, but fragile USSSA legal travel baseball bat. The CF Zen USSSA travel ball bat has been unchanged, aside from paint jobs, since late 2017. The breaking and durability issues remain.
Performance – Exactly the same, which is good, but surpassed by the new Easton Maxum and Marucci Cat 8 bats. The DeMarini CF Zen is the 4th most used travel baseball bat on the market, behind by the Marucci Cat 8, Marucci Cat 7, and Easton ADV USSSA travel ball bats. Brutal feeling with some vibration on contact. The CF Zen hits the ball almost as hard as the Cat 8 and Easton Maxum.
Durability – This is the main thing about the DeMarinis in general, and especially the CF Zen that people don’t like. The CF Zen will very likely crack and break because of the thin walls. Cracking in a composite bat is a sign of performance, when the umpire sees the spiraling cracks in the paint they will eject the bag from the game. There is a fine balance between making a bat too hot and durability, and the 2020 CF Zen rides that razor’s edge. Generally, the minus 10 ounce CF Zen should be used by 8-10 year olds, the minus 8 ounce CF Zen should be used by elite 10 + year old players, and the minus 5 ounce CF ZEN should be used by the biggest and strongest kids, and anyone playing at the 12 year old level (to help prepare them for the switch to BBCOR bats in high school). Broken bats can be sent back to Demarini for replacement, but it is not unheard of with DeMarini for it to take MONTHS for a replacement to arrive.
