Louisville Slugger Embraces Popularity Of Custom Bats By Expanding Offerings
Image credit: (Photo courtesy of Louisville Slugger)
During the College World Series, one of the most popular limited-edition Louisville Slugger
bats—it sold out within two days—was a pink-based Atlas colorway. That design came directly
from what Slugger saw as a trend from customers toying with online customization.
“The pink bat was the first bat we sold out of,” Jennette Rauch, senior director of global
marketing for Wilson’s portfolio of baseball and softball brands, which includes Louisville
Slugger, tells Baseball America. “Boys were picking up a pink bat and saying, ‘This is tough.’
We can see the colors people are playing with [on the customization site] and we are picking up
on those trends.”
Rauch says a dedicated effort to reinvigorate the Slugger brand has led them to a focus on both
exclusive and custom product. And it’s the nearly 2-year-old Atlas bat that has helped make that
happen, being the top seller for Slugger. It also makes it the top-seller through the custom site.
“Players want limited product with exclusivity and that can come through custom,” Rauch says.
To give the fans what they want, Louisville Slugger is more fully embracing customization
across its non-wood bats.
The next step comes on Aug. 7. As Slugger continues to celebrate the top-selling non-wood bat
in baseball, the Atlas, the brand brings the 2025 Atlas to the custom site for the bat’s launch. The
new 2025 Select PWR and the all-new USSSA Meta Prime also get added to the site that day.
The BBCOR Meta joins the site Sept. 14.
“Louisville Slugger continues to invest in offering more custom options because ball players
continue to show that custom is what they want with increased traffic to the customization site
and 300 percent increase in time on site compared to Slugger.com,” Rauch says. “Custom
continues to grow and be a bigger part of our business year over year.”
Then comes the actual customization, which has plenty of room for growth with the welcoming
of new barrel colors—all hand-painted in the brand’s U.S. factory—and additional decal colors
in solids and prints. Updates will come in waves.
Rauch says they enjoy giving fans of Slugger a chance to engage in the product in a fresh way.
Custom makes that happen. The brand sees customers log on and design for 10, 20 or 30 minutes
before saving bats to come back to later or sharing them with friends and family. She notes that
“there are people who really labor over their decisions, who want to try all the combinations.”
During the process, customers can select the color of the barrel, the decal, the endcap, the knob
and the grip. The final touch is individualized lettering on the barrel using multiple fonts and
colors.
Slugger is able to see the trends within the customization site, which is why light blue and pink
were popular colors for the recent limited-edition designs. Rauch says the goal now is to
continue to build the individualized options on the site. That means more colors and more “crazy
patterns.”
“It is a really fun part of this,” Rauch says, “you’ve got this amazing core audience that is very
engaged in your brand.”
Customization adds $50 to the price of a Slugger bat. And since the Atlas isn’t the most
expensive in the Slugger lineup, Rauch says it makes customization even more accessible. “With
a $50 price increase, it is something that is very possible for a lot of players,” she says, “which is
one of the things I love most about the Atlas.”
Slugger appreciates that customers spend so much time trying color combinations and playing
with designs. “We want people to engage with our brand,” Rauch says, “get a sense of who
Louisville Slugger is and create a bat that fits who they are on the field.”
Tim Newcomb covers gear for Baseball America.
