2021 Marucci CAT 9 Composite Review

Our hitters like the big barrel, smooth swing, and great feel of the 2021 Marucci CAT 9 Composite. The drop 5 CAT Connect competes with the best in the business. (Yes, that is, the drop 5 Cat Connect competes with the CF Zen). The bat has not been out long enough to make commentary on the durability, but we're hopeful.

Marucci's CAT Connect is a two-piece composite bat built with a HUUUGE barrel and nice connection piece. The connection piece, which helps absorb mishit balls' sting, is the same one used on the high-end BBCOR CAT 8 Connect. The bat comes in a few different drops (5, 8, and 10) and, for their class, have a swing weight in the middle of the road. Not too light, not too heavy. (MOI we measured on a 31/21 was 5800 or about 1.5% above the average---well within our margin of error).

There isn't a real last year's version of the Marucci CAT Composite. But, for sure, Marucci took what they learned from the Marucci Hex Connect and made it into a better version. Though, Serious upgrades go into the CAT connect, including the connect (SCX) connection used in the Cat 8 BBCOR Connect.

The idea of a two-piece composite bat with a HUGE barrel is common in the USSSA space. Companies like DeMarini and the CF Zen, Easton and their Ghost X (Mako), Rawlings and their Quatro have been living there, and thriving there, for quite a while. The CAT Composite reminds us most of a nearly unheard of bat in the Mizuno Ghost in terms of barrel size. However, as of 2018, the Mizuno Ghost was only a USA Bat. Marucci has yet to get into the USA space. If we compare construction and drop sizes, then bats like Easton's Ghost X and DeMarini's CF Zen fit a close competitor to the CAT Composite.