Shawn, I actually buy this argument and kind of wish I had seen this coming a little earlier. We had talked about either going to a 34" bat or to a (-9)... or both... but did not make the move. Now I hate to do it in the middle of HS school season, but would prefer not end up north of $2,000 spent on bats! The only thing that goes against your explanation somewhat though is the fact that she hasn't broke the 3 yr old 33/23 LXT. She has used that bat for both travel and HS ball and hits 500-1000 balls per week. There has to also be something going on with the construction of these bats to keep getting these stories of breaks at just a few hundred swings. It's across the board too with same problem using Easton, Louisville Slugger, Mizuno, etc...???
Your 3 YO LXT is an older style bat and occasionally someone gets a quality, unflawed, old tech composite bat. A majority of Wilson bat models (Demarini and Louisville Slugger) are old tech. The bat walls are thick and they have been tweaked and repainted to the point of obsolescence. That's why they started fooling around with this years model of the LXT. In order to get it hotter and compete with the Ghost, GA and PC's exit velocity, they tried a slightly different composite formulation and thin downed the bat walls. Historically, every time Wilson has tried a composite formula variant, it has backfired dramatically. This change to the 2021 LXT's is no different. They are breaking on par with the Ghosts, Ghost Advances, F21 Power Carbons, etc. and still haven't matched their exit velocities. That said, it
is noticeably hotter out of the wrapper than their past LXT's and other various models sold under the Wilson name. Has anyone noticed a company and model of bat which is also a new tech gap bat that isn't mentioned in most places as breaking? Answer: Rawlings Quatro Pro. Does anyone have one or know of anyone that has one other than me? Answer: Probably not. Sales of this one never took off. Why? Because they were nowhere near as hot right out of the wrapper as the Ghost which was introduced the same year in 2018. Yet, If someone were to put 500-750 swings on the thing to open it up, exit speeds would be extremely close to the Ghost depending on swing speeds. The reason I mention this bat is because it illustrates a very important point...Society today, due to various reasons no longer has patience and wants, expects and demands immediate results.
On another thread, I posted a couple of things which I will reiterate here.
1. There are only so many hits on a composite bat. Whether they are new or old tech, they
will break sometime.
2. Old tech is more durable because the bat walls are thicker and will take more punishment/flexing of the bat walls.
3. Old tech bats right of the wrapper can in no way, shape or form, compete with the exit velocities of the new tech right out of the wrapper.
4. The new tech, due to several reasons, are not as durable as the old tech.
5. The reasons are:
5a. Thinner bat walls
5b. Inherent flaws in the composite manufacturing process which become more pronounced with thinner walls.
5c. Most of these flaws are undetectable to the naked eye.
5d. Manufacturers won't spend the money on other forms of detectors such as X-ray to detect these flaws leading to poor quality control.
5e. The reasons for this: (JMO)
5e1. Too many bat barrels would have to be thrown out when found to be flawed.
5e2. There would be so many that it would make a serious dent in the manufacturers bottom line and with people unwilling to spend more than they already are on a bat, these manufacturers can't make up the difference in profit margin.
5e3. It's far cheaper to replace the broken bat with another bat that costs them $50(as an example) to manufacture than throw out 6 flawed barrel blanks costing $20 a piece to manufacture for every 1 that would actually make it through a rigorous quality control process.
The bottom line is this. Due to the very nature of the composite material and it's manufacturing process as of today, as manufacturers increase performance, endurance suffers. But because of todays immediate results driven economy, these very same manufacturers are giving the people what they want. The hottest bats right out of the wrapper. That they break more often is of little consequence to them because they know that most people in todays society aren't willing to take a NIW bat and put 1000-1500 swings on it (like we used to have to do) before getting the results they want and expect. The Rawlings QPro is evidence of this trend. Again, JMO of this phenomena.