New Look, Same DeMarini: Introducing the RAYZR’D Logo
Learn about the new logo appearing on 2022 bats, a nod to Ray DeMarini's legacy.
DeMarini founder and namesake Ray DeMarini was boldness personified. Obsessed with bringing home run power to the masses, Ray went from building bats out of a dirt-floor barn to operating a factory in Hillsboro, Oregon. When it came to producing DeMarini slowpitch softball bats in Hillsboro, Ray wanted his bombastic attitude – the personality that led to game-changing bat technologies – to come through in the designs.
“He cared a lot about overall impact,” said Hodad, DeMarini’s Creative Director for more than 20 years. “Like color and just making it insane.”
Since 1989, Ray constantly pursued innovation. With more than 30 years of history driving the Oregon-based bat company, the latest line of DeMarini bats is set to continue Ray’s legacy with a sharp new look.
Introducing the DeMarini RAYZR’D, the logo appearing now on DeMarini’s newest trailblazing baseball and softball bats. The RAYZR’D logo, featured prominently on the 2022 D-Lab Zoa BBCOR Bat and USA Softball Signature Series CF Fastpitch Bats, celebrates DeMarini’s history as a leader in bat design and product innovation and points to the technological innovations still to come.
Origins of the RAYZR'D
The RAYZR’D DeMarini logo serves to usher in a new generation of innovative baseball and softball bats. The 2022 D-Lab Zoa – the first BBCOR bat to feature DeMarini’s game-changing continuous fiber composite barrel technology – and the 2022 USA Softball Signature Series CF Fastpitch bats – the very first bats to feature the RAYZR’D logo – are already altering the landscape of the game. The newest DeMarini bats, including the 2022 The Goods BBCOR Bat, the 2022 Voodoo One BBCOR Bat and the 2022 CF Fastpitch Bat, will proudly boast the RAYZR’D on the barrel taper.
Hodad began sketching out new DeMarini logos in 2015, dabbling with different, more abstract design ideas that could speak to DeMarini’s history in Oregon. He wanted the new logo to closely tie DeMarini to baseball and softball, the company’s passion, so the center of the RAYZR’D showcases the outline of a home plate.
This new logo, Hodad said, could stand by itself without the need for a DeMarini wordmark on the barrel, a staple to early DeMarini slowpitch bats. More recently, a D logo on the barrel taper served as the primary DeMarini branding, especially on baseball and fastpitch softball bats.
Many early DeMarini bats featured a wordmark on the barrel and the logo on the taper.
DeMarini Logo History
From making noise on the slowpitch circuit to launching a series of instructional hitting videos, Ray DeMarini knew what it took to create buzz in the softball world. To capitalize on Ray’s notoriety, the first DeMarini bats featured his last name inscribed along the length of the barrel.
This early design helped DeMarini off the ground and out of the dirt-floor barn, but Ray and Hodad never intended to follow the industry standard. To buck the national trend, they introduced a D logo on the barrel taper, allowing for more room to play with designs along the bat. Getting logos and designs onto cylindrical barrels and the taper towards the handle has always been challenging, but the shape of the new RAYZR’D allows DeMarini technicians to play with a much larger logo.
“With the new RAYZR’D, I can make it quite a bit larger, especially on the baseball models, Hodad said. “It’s about as large as it can get because now it’s wrapping halfway around the bat.”
Included in the sharp RAYZR’D is a nod to Ray, the original mastermind behind DeMarini bats. The latest logo highlights Ray’s initials – it appears as a D when printed on the bat taper, but then appears as an R when turned on its side.
New DeMarini Logo Steps Up to the Plate
Launching a new age of innovation in June 2021, the RAYZR’D logo made its product debut on a trio of DeMarini Signature CF Fastpitch Bats. USA Softball standouts Ali Aguilar, Valerie Arioto and Amanda “Chiddy” Chidester all designed custom CFs for their international competition with USA softball, and their bats showed off the new company logo.
“It’s awesome. I think it has a different feel to it,” Aguilar said of the new logo. “It’s edgy and just kind of cool, and I think it’s cool to be the first.”
Chidester, who designed a red, white and blue CF ahead of 2021 competition, said her friends, social media followers and USA Softball teammates took interest in the new logo right away when she began teasing the bat ahead of launch day.
“I think it’s pretty sweet. I think it brings some edge to it,” Chidester said. “I’m excited to use it, and I know a lot of people have noticed it.”
The 2022 D-Lab Zoa BBCOR Bat, launched in June 2021, brought the RAYZR’D to the baseball lineup, and the logo took center stage during DeMarini’s latest trip to the Omaha Experience amid college baseball’s national championship. Following the launches of the 2022 baseball and fastpitch bat lineups later this year, the RAYZR’D will feature prominently on most DeMarini baseball and fastpitch softball bats, opening a new chapter of DeMarini innovation.
Via DeMarini.com