Our 2016 DeMarini Uprising Review (Baseball) comes after a dozen hours of testing in the cage on the field with the drop 10 2 3/4 version of the bat. On the whole, we'd suggest the bat only to those who are looking for a cheap option this year but would also like the guarantee of a warranty from a name brand company. Performance and durability are lacking but not any more than other bats in the price point.
Models Overview
If you are not willing to spend more than $80 or so on a new baseball bat---and need one now---then the Uprising is probably as good as an option as any. It's just a bat made out of aluminum that has a light swing and will at least serve the purpose of providing a bat to hit within rec ball.
Travel or comp players will find the bat is prone to denting and doesn't have great performance outside the perfect center. The Uprising isn't a bat for earnest players and serves a different part of the market outside of the performance bat space. If $80 were our budget, we'd personally use it on a used performance bat in the off-season.
Amazon, at the time of this writing, had the best price for the Uprising.
Construction & Technology
The Uprising is a single-piece alloy bat with a light swing weight for both a drop 10 big barrel (2 3/4) and a drop 13 youth barrel (2 1/4). The bat's light swing weight does, however, come at a cost: the bat is prone to denting and will wring the hands massively on mishits.
The knob of the bat isn't flared, and the standard grip is as straight forward as you'd suspect. There is nothing notable about the end cap, and the barrel size is below average. The paint job does look, at least as I was told by my 9-year-old son, "cool."
Comparable Bats
The DeMarini Uprising has a long list of competitive bats in the sense of a balanced swing in the aluminum single piece space. If not all, inexpensive Walmart type bats are made of similar material with the same goal in mind: mass-market appeal with a cheap price point and a balanced swing weight. We've reviewed a few similar like the 2016 Easton S500.
Within the brand, the 2016 DeMarini Insane is similar only in its single piece of nature. The Insane is built with a measurable end load, while the Uprising is intended for the lightest swing possible. Both are hand ringers for sure, but the Uprising's light nature adds to the hand sting issue. We'd recommend the Insane over the Uprising IF the player can swing a heavier bat.
Overall grade: B
Overall grade: B
Overall grade: B