Meet Zoa: the Bat Obliterating Boundaries of Composite Performance

DeMarini Zoa – Continuous Fiber Composite Technology

Our engineers sought to harness our most advanced carbon fiber composite technologies into the ultimate performance BBCOR bat in history – a bat with a commanding swing and optimized hitting area not yet seen on any ballpark or in any batting cage across the globe. Meet Zoa, a complete redesign of the modern composite BBCOR bat. We built Zoa from the ground up, introducing Continuous Fiber Technology to baseball and overhauling our design and manufacturing processes to deliver our most consistent bat ever, the first in a new generation of DeMarini baseball bats.

The Problem – Limits of Former Composite Technology

The limits of previous composite baseball bat technology only stretched so far, leaving hitters with lighter swinging bats built solely for bat speed. Zoa, our first baseball bat to feature Continuous Fiber Technology, changes the game by revolutionizing what composite barrels are capable of. DeMarini Innovation and Engineering Manager Don Loeffler said the strength and performance of any composite material lies in the fiber choice, orientation and length of the product, and Continuous Fiber Technology is tailored to fortify those underlying factors.

“Our revolutionary new manufacturing method allows for longer, more continuous carbon fibers along the length of the barrel,” Loeffler said. “Long, unbroken lengths of fiber provide superior strength, stiffness and consistency for a more ‘tied-in’ structure that allows the bat designers more freedom in optimizing the various performance parameters of the bat.”

Continuous Fiber Technology is already a critical manufacturing process in several DeMarini fastpitch and slowpitch softball bats, and we refined the technology to bring it to baseball. The process lengthens carbon fibers along the barrel to improve consistency and performance in composite bats. Through this process, DeMarini engineers set out to build a BBCOR composite bat that would redefine the BBCOR hitting experience.

The Process – Manufacturing Continuous Fiber Technology

Zoa and other DeMarini bats crafted with Continuous Fiber Technology are manufactured by rolling the composite material upon itself, creating our most consistent composite barrel ever while efficiently distributing weight where needed. Through this manufacturing process, the DeMarini D-Lab team crafted Zoa to feature a consistent wall thickness and a larger optimized hitting area, affectionately known as the sweet spot.

“The Zoa design substantially increases this usable, maximum performance area of the bat beyond any previous DeMarini design or current competitor offerings,” Loeffler said. “This translates into a higher batted ball velocity in the areas slightly outside of the hitting area.”

This process proved to be extremely difficult to translate to Baseball, as the larger barrels and steeper taper to the handle posed unique challenges. However, after years of research and hundreds of prototypes, Zoa’s barrel construction was finalized. With a pair of polycarbonate discs in the barrel, Zoa features a reinforced Continuous Fiber Barrel technology, maintaining barrel integrity and allowing for the larger optimized hitting area.

Zoa, top, features a larger optimized hitting zone, or sweet spot, than its predecessors in the DeMarini lineup.

Built from the Ground Up

Every component of Zoa, from handle to end cap, was engineered from scratch to push the limits of our modern design toolbox. The DeMarini D-Lab team spent four years fine-tuning the composite manufacturing process and refining weight distribution, feel, sound and the overall hitting experience. Years of revisions and hundreds of prototypes resulted in Zoa, a bat crafted with Continuous Fiber Technology to redefine the composite BBCOR hitting experience. DeMarini Player Insights & Anticipation Engineer Ryan Raagas said Continuous Fiber Technology had not been used in the upper levels of baseball.

“We hadn’t tried that in a BBCOR application yet,” Raagas said of Continuous Fiber Technology. “Our thought was, let’s use all these new tools that we have to try and do something that we haven’t done before.”

DeMarini engineers pushed Zoa toward the finish line throughout 2020, quickly turning around prototypes for playtesting and generating user feedback. When crafting Zoa, team members approached each component of the bat individually, optimizing the pieces separately before assembling the desired final product. Our goal was to make a high-performing bat that fills a need in the lineup, and Zoa delivers with a stiffer, two-piece composite setup compared to our legacy CF. Zoa boasts its continuous fiber composite barrel, the Anomaly End Cap and Connection system for seamless energy transfer on contact, with a stiffer Paraflex™ Plus Composite Handle built with a taper more similar to the popular handle featured in The Goods.

The Solution – Elongate the Optimized Hitting Area

Following the leadership of our late founder Ray DeMarini, Zoa is built to deliver home runs to the masses. The elongation of the hitting area, made possible by our innovative Continuous Fiber Technology manufacturing process, empowers hitters to barrel up the ball more consistently. The barrel geometry of Zoa closely mimics that of the extremely popular USSSA (-5) DeMarini CF series, meaning players who have grown up swinging composite bats will benefit as they transition to BBCOR from USSSA.

Once we finished each component and assembled the DeMarini Zoa, the result was the most innovative carbon fiber composite bat in our history. Built for advanced BBCOR players, the D-Lab Zoa comes in 32” and 33” sizes, built with a barrel designed for a larger hitter area that hitters crave. When swinging Zoa, batters will have more opportunities to barrel up hits and drive the ball for extra bases.

More barrels mean more total bases, more runs and more wins for your club. Zoa’s larger optimized hitting area helps you generate hard contact more frequently and terrorize opposing pitchers. The most elite hitters in the game deserve the best tools, and Zoa delivers the most technologically advanced composite bat in the BBCOR ranks.

With Zoa, you'll feel all-new power at your fingertips. 

CURRENTLY the ZOA is only available on DeMarini.com

 

2022 Zoa D-Lab (-3) BBCOR Baseball Bat

Introducing the 2022 DeMarini Zoa D-LAB BBCOR Bat, a ground-up redesign of our composite BBCOR offering. The first in a new generation of DeMarini baseball bats, Zoa boasts an innovative Continuous Fiber Composite Barrel to offer BBCOR hitters an elite combination of bat speed, barrel control, and power. The 2022 Zoa’s Continuous Fiber Composite Barrel delivers superior strength, stiffness, and consistency compared to traditional carbon fiber barrel construction. Our technicians roll long, unbroken carbon fiber composite material in upon itself across the length of the barrel, a revolutionary manufacturing method that allows for efficient weight distribution and consistent barrel performance. Taking inspiration from the handle for The Goods, the Anomaly Connection system of Zoa flawlessly pairs the Continuous Fiber Composite Barrel with a stiffer composite handle, allowing for seamless energy transfer and maximum exit velocity on contact. Our D-LAB team put the finishing touch on the Zoa with the Anomaly End Cap, a durable and lightweight cap designed to amplify bat performance. From the wrapper to retirement, Zoa offers the game’s advanced BBCOR hitters complete control of the dish. D-LAB is where R&D reigns free and Ray DeMarini’s vision comes to life. It’s where we defy norms on a daily with bats no one else is brave enough to build, aiming to solve problems hitters don’t even realize exist. Bats born in the D-LAB are made for the players ready to unlock their full potential.

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