The new product is the first to be approved for in-game use by the United States Specialty Sports Association (USSSA), which governs a wide swath of youth baseball.Marucci Sports/Diamond Kinetics
Diamond Kinetics and Marucci Sports have developed the industry’s first smart bat with a fully integrated swing-tracking sensor that never needs to be removed and charged.
The new product, a limited release from Marucci called the CATX Smart, relies on new battery technology to provide a lifetime charge and is the first to be approved for in-game use by the United States Specialty Sports Association (USSSA), which governs a wide swath of youth baseball.
Users will have access to data, interactive games and content through the DK app. Notably, the Marucci CATX Smart bat retails for the same $299 price as the current CATX bat without the embedded sensor.
“The drive here was a very graceful, magical user experience,” Diamond Kinetics CEO/Co-founder CJ Handron said, adding, “Overwhelmingly, this is taking the thinking out of it for the user, so the idea of having to thoughtfully say, ‘I need to get a sensor, put it on my bat, make sure it’s charged.’ That entire user experience is very doable — we’ve done that for a long time with lots and lots of people — but this is a completely mindless exercise.”
The CATX Smart bat connects via Bluetooth to iOS devices and can record more than 100 swings locally on the hardware when not connected to the app.Marucci Sports/Diamond Kinetics
The CATX Smart bat is a one-piece alloy made from AZR aluminum that has the same weight and shape as its sensor-free counterpart. It connects via Bluetooth to iOS devices and can record more than 100 swings locally on the hardware when not connected to the app.
Marucci and DK first created a smart bat with a sensor embedded in the knob back in 2017, but that was for a wood bat and required extraction to charge the device. Prior to that, all sensors were affixed to the bottom of the knob.
“To be able to create a bat where the sensor is in the bat and it doesn’t mean to be charged for the life of the bat was a really big deal for us,” said Marucci CEO/Co-founder Kurt Ainsworth. “We didn’t really like the one that wrapped over the end — we wanted it in the bat because it’s also better for certifying bodies for it to be inside the bat where the bat can’t be altered. That was a big part of this.”
The USSSA is the first sporting group to certify the bat, but the goal is to complete the process for other leagues, including the BBCOR standard that has been adopted by the NCAA and high schools.
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Bat sensors are currently prohibited in MLB but have been permitted in varying forms in the minors since 2017. Initially, only external sensors attached to the knob were allowed but, by 2019, embedded sensors were allowed at all levels of the minor leagues.
Though this new embedded sensor technology is available only in a limited release CATX Smart bat for now, Ainsorth predicted that “you’re going to see this in a lot more bat lines of ours moving forward.” When asked if DK might collaborate with other bat manufacturers for this type of sensor, Handron demurred, saying “we’re really focused on the relationship with Marucci.”
Marucci, whose parent company was sold by private equity firm Compass Diversified to Fox Factory for $572 million earlier this month, intends to produce training bats with the tech for older players who can use the bats in practice, even if they aren’t sanctioned in games, as well as for fastpitch softball.
Ainsworth praised DK’s app for gamifying baseball training while also providing young players the data they need to be successful.
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Users will have access to data, interactive games and content through the Diamond Kinetics app.Marucci Sports/Diamond Kinetics
“What can that data do for you?” Handron said. “For us, that’s where it kind of hops and walks over into the app experience that we’ve developed, which is really meeting this generation of kids where they are, which is, What are the interesting and fun social digital experiences that you can marry together with physical play?”
Both men believe this will become universal, as reflected by intentional decision to list the smart bat for the same price as the one without the sensor.
“Why wouldn’t you hit with it if you had access to it?” Ainsworth said. “Why would you use another bat without it?”
“Marucci and DK are aligned on feeling like this can and will be the future of bats,” Handron added.