Rude American, based in Las Vegas Nevada, is most know for their single piece aluminum MOAB set of bats. These bats have a speed and power version that have a hand and end load respectively. In 2019 they updated performance on the bat.
Models Overview
Construction & Technology
This is probably a long way of pointing out why we tend to prefer the Power Engineered versions of the Rude American MOAB over the Speed. It wasn't so much the Speed lacked any prowess or ability at the plate---by all measurements we took it's a legit bat with solid out of the wrapper performance. But, players who need a light swing also tend to often prefer the sting dampening that comes from two piece bats and the added barrel size composite barrels usually offer.
Our Recommendations for the Rude American MOAB
As such, we'd recommend the Power Engineered MOAB, especially in the drop 5 and BBCOR, to any player looking for serious power that is capable of wielding a bat with serious gumption. Do know the bat will come with the requisite potential for feedback on the hands (i.e. sting) but such is a small price to pay for those looking to get the best transfer of energy to the ball in a single piece aluminum bat.
The Speed Engineered bats should find a home in the unique case of a hitter looking for as much power as possible---and can deal with the feedback---but lacks the strength to swing the Power versions. In fact, we'd probably suggest they look at a shorter sized Power to see if that swing weight is more in their wheel house than a longer sized Speed.
Speed Engineered
The speed engineered bat's swing weight is very similar to the Marucci CAT 6. They should be classified as balanced bats. We suspect that most players will gravitate more towards these. The BBCOR (Green) was our favorite bat of the bunch.
Power Engineered
The power engineered bats from Rude American swing with a weight more like the DeMarini Insane. These should be considered moderately endloaded bats built for the hitter who appreciates the balance of the bat more towards the end cap of the barrel during swing. The 2 5/8 senior barrel (second one down) was our favorite in this bunch.
Rude American's New Drop 5: Speed and Power
In early 2016 Rude American added two drop 5 bats in the senior league space to their offering. We've now spent several hours in the cage with the end loaded version (Power Engineered) and balanced version (Speed Engineered) of the drop 5 Rude American MOAB and are pretty confident in claiming they are our favorite bats in the lineup. It's as if single piece aluminum bats were made to be a drop 5 in the senior league or big barrel space.
We dare say anyone in the drop 5 space looking for as much power as possible and are okay, or maybe even prefer, the hand sting associated with a single piece bat should check out the drop 5 in the Power Engineered (Black) version of the bat.
