Before I start with the baseball bat review, let’s begin with the name. Miken is a combination of the names of its two founders, Mike and Ken. I had always thought it was the name of a well known softball player. Miken was founded in 1997 as a manufacturer of composite golf club shafts and soon began manufacturing softball bats with its composite material. They expanded into baseball bats and continue to manufacture composite only bats.In 2004 Miken was purchased by K2 (the ski company) which also owns the Rawlings and Worth brands. So there’s no doubt Miken composite material is well integrated into Rawlings and Worth bats. I’m sure there are identical bats under each brand except for the name and color. Case in point, the Rawlings 5150 Comp and 5150 Hybrid have eerily similar designs to the Miken bats.
In 2010 Miken has decided to FREAK out as their entire 2010 line-up carries the Freak brand name.
Here’s what they offer:
Miken Composite Bats
- Freak Flex & Stiff: 100% composite, one-piece, multi-wall bat with a stiff or flex handle and intermediate swing weight. Miken, like Easton, is wise to offer their top bat in both a stiff and flex handle design. Unfortunately, this bat is priced too high in my opinion. The Adult -3 model retails for $379 putting it in the Stealth/Synergy Speed category which is a proven commodity. This bat should be priced as s second tier composite bat and so I’d take a pass on the Freak.
Miken Hybrid Bats
- Freak HT: two-piece, multi-wall bat with a flex handle and intermediate swing weight. The composite handle and alloy barrel are fused together to make the bat appear to be one-piece. The Adult -3 model retails for $299 putting it in line with the other high end hybrid bats. My recommendation in the high end hybrid category is the Demarini Voodoo or Easton SV12 and to pass on the HT.
Miken has made a name for themselves in softball, but has had only limited success with youth baseball bats and next to none with big barrel bats. I can’t remember ever seeing a high school player using a Miken bat. In my opinion there no reason to purchase a Miken baseball bat.
Take a look at the recommendations by category section for my recommendations.
I would not recommend purchasing a Miken Heat bat. I’ve had two since May of 2008 and something happened to both of them after a month or so. The first one went dead after a month and the ball would just drop when you’d hit it so I sent the bat to Miken and they sent me a replacement. I’ve only used the replacement four or five times and something broke on the inside and now the bat rattles. I called Miken and they will not repair it unless I send them $50 and they won’t repace it either. If they can’t back up their products better than that, they shouldn’t be selling them. I’ll never buy another Miken. I’m sticking with Easton.
If the bat is rattling that’s a good thing it means the bat is breaking in and no you will get the trampoline effect off of it. My son has a burn that 3 years old and sounds like a baby rattle when shock and he is launching unbeleiveable shots. I’d gladly give you the $50 if that bat.
I will definitely not purchase another Miken bat, I purchased the Miken Heat for my AAU travel team and after the first game every one who used the bats will never touch them again ….ABSOLUTELY NO POP … the ball just dies off of the bat. My son used one in 2 tournaments ( 11U ) and his average dropped from 567 to 419 along with his confidence at the plate, all of his hits just died off of contact. I am currently returning these bats for a refund !!!
Did you break in the bats. Composites take a lot of swings to break in, especially for 11u players. They aren’t like aluminum bats that come ready right out of the wrapper. My son uses one and it seems to hit at least as well as good aluminum bats, probably better.
And yeah DC, that rattle means it’s now perfect. In fact, once you hear the rattle on any composite, the bat speed is said to go up by 10 to 20mph.
I bought my 7 year old son a Miken Heat bat last season. He’s about 48 inches tall and 60 pounds, so he’s not one of the bigger kids on the team. After following all the manufacturer’s suggestions, it still cracked in less than a season. I sent it back to Miken and it was replaced with a Miken Freak. It also cracked in less than a season. The warranty doesn’t carry for an additional year on the replaced bat so I’m faced with buying a new one. I’m going to give one of the other brands like Easton or Louisville Slugger a try. These bats cost too much to not even make it through one season for youth baseball.
I bought a Miken Freak for my son last year. As with most baseball bats there is a break in period, espescially with composite bats. You have to choices when buying one of these bats. You either take the time hitting only baseballs and turning the bat a quarter turn every swing for about 500 swings in temperatures no lower than 60 degrees or you send it out to be rolled. Then and only then will you get the true performance of these bats. My sons bat is completely broken in and he hits monster shots with this bat so much that I went out and bought him a heat that he won’t need until next year. He played over 160 games last year and his bat has plenty of life. I have bought a new bat every year for my son since he was 9yrs old he is now 16 this is by far the best bat I have bought him. So before you buy any bat understand the material and how it should be broken in.
Are all you people crazy?! Miken puts out amazing bats! My son is 12 and used the Heat 2 5/8 on his middle school team and the Heat Stiff -10 on his Little League team. These bats are awesome! Much better than the Stealths (as he’s had those as well). The pop is amazing! Last season as an 11 year-old, 5′ 1″ 115 pounds he hit a bomb that measured 270 feet with his Miken Heat Stiff… If that’s not pop then nothing else is!
Bought my son a Heat Stiff. His prior bat was a Voodoo (-9). We are so disappointed in this bat. I want back to where I bought it and got the ‘it’s a composite and needs a minimum of 250 good hits to break in’. So I sent it out to get it rolled. We are still disappointed. There’s an OLD TPX team bat with stress cracks that hits better, as does The Hammer and Samuri. NO comparison to his ‘worn out Voodoo’.
Bought our son the Miken Freak Youth bat last year. after about 9 games into the season the bat craked. Miken replaced it and now 5 games into this season the replacement cracked again. Another kid on my sons team had gotten the same bat and his also cracked. For the money spent on these bats, how does it crack this easy.. these boys are only 12 years old…..
coch ron is right. my son is 13 and just hit a 300 ft homer and weighs160 and is 5″5.
I just bought a Miken MV3 -10 youth bat and its awesome. At 1st my son thought it didn’t have much pop but after 100 or so hits it is now the best bat he has ever swung. 20 feet longer than the B3 and cf4. he is 11U, 90 lbs or so and has hit 5 hr’s in 8 games (210 ft fence). Everyones differant and yes it is 80% confidence but I can see the pop it has. Sounds cool too. Matt from 11U Vipers in VA
i bought my son a miken freak 32-22 for 299.00. they say you need to break them in but after less than 50 hits the bat cracked. i sent it back and they sent me a new one. we did this four times and when i sent the fourth one i raised cane about how cheap they are made. they sent me the new miken freak cv-3 and in the fourth game of one tournament the bat broke in half right on the sweet spot. it is definitely one of the hottest bats on the market but you are paying for a bat that i have had five of them and none of them lasted more than 75 hits. they want replace it anymore because they say they only have to replace one of them. if i pay 300.00 for a bat i would think that it would at least last one season. every other bat i have bought does. miken is by far the cheapest made bat on the market.it is one of the hottest bats but who wants to pay 300.00 for two home runs.
I had the opposite experience with the MV3. While hitting the first bucket of balls on a brand new bat, it cracked. Tried to return it to the store and get a new one and they said Miken does not allow it. Sent it to Miken and after one month of waiting for the replacement, they are sending a Freak instead of the MV3. Now I have to reject the Freak when it arrives and wait again until the MV3 is sent. Customer service is horrendous. Warranty manager argued that I asked for a Freak replacement. I wish they would record their service calls.
I think this bat it ok…i have a miken burn and the bat it sort of heavy…thats only because it is weighted at the bottom which is not bad because it gives power…just not speed. The sound of the bat sounds dead…but the ball still goes as far as when i hit with my stealh BCN4….only i have to put little effort with the miken. I give this bat a 3.5 out of 5.
After having two of the burns, we decided to make the jump to the MV3 . . . BIG mistake, we have been through two of them and one MV3 hybrid in one season. Already had to buy another bat to use while waiting on the replacement bats. I give this bat a 0 out of 5. It’s durability is totally unacceptable!
I bought the Miken MV3 Bat and my Grandson will not let anyone else on his team use his Bat`s as does the other kids, this Bat cracked on the 8th. ball he hit with it so I sent it to Miken and they sent me a replacement pretty quick too – He used it at a Tryout 3 days later and it broke down by the handle on the 5th. pitch he hit with it – now Miken is sending me a Hybrid Bat in it`s place – Does anyone know how these hold up ?
How did you get miken to replace your cracked bat more than once? I have a trunk full of cracked warranty bats. I thought it was a one time replacement. I keep buying them because they are amazing while they last.