Our 2020 Victus Vandal review comes after hitting with the bat more than 200 times with 3 different hitters. In short, the 2020 Vandal's inner barrel design and exit speeds make it a legit single piece aluminum bat with a premium price, great look and reasonable enough performance to serve the serious hitter. The barrel size is good but not functionally bigger than other comparable bats like the Solo. We think the 2020 Victus Vandal price is more than its performance and design deserves but, not more than it's vibe and unique Victus brand should get.
Models Overview
Big hitters like single piece bats as they transfer all the power to the ball. Small hitters like light swinging bats as it allows them to generate as much bat speed as possible and increase their chances of find the ball. Our hitters like single piece aluminum bats in the BBCOR space for their soul crushing power.
While the light swing doesn't help any when it comes to hand sting it does allow a hitter to size up an inch for more plate coverage with the same swing weight they might get out of a balanced or heavier winging shorter bat.
Construction & Technology
The 2020 Victus Vandal is, at its core, a single piece aluminum bat. It is a metal handle and barrel made out of the same material. Inside that barrel the walls have different levels of thickness. In theory at least, this extends the length of the sweet spot as making the areas outside of the middle just as springy as the middle of the barrel. To help lower the swing weight, the Victus Vandal extends the length of the end cap, which is made of composite (aka plastic). This strategy, used by other bats on the market too, remove metal end cap weight and replace it with light composite. As such, you get a light swinging single piece aluminum bat with an extended composite end cap.
Comparable Bats
Although the Vandal is new, the idea of a single piece aluminum with an extended composite end cap that is accentuated by some thinning of certain parts of the barrel well, there are others. In particular, Rawling's VELO ACP for 2020 is a real similar bat to the Victus Vandal. It has the extended composite end cap as well as grooves in the barrel to make its sweet spot longer. Both Slugger's Solo and Easton's Fuze us an extended composite end cap to lighten the swing and extend the barrel size---although neither of them use any wall thinning to extend the barrel size and, at least in theory, increase the sweet spot size.
Of course, too, there is Marucci's CAT line of bats. Marucci uses a very similar wall thinning technique as the Vandal (surely they worked together on this since Marucci owns Victus) but the CAT 8 line of bats (or any previous) do not have an extended composite end cap. If you want to go Old School, there is an older Boombah Cannon floating around that uses an extended composite end cap and an aluminum barrel with different thicknesses---almost exactly like the Vandal.
