Who is Jack Marucci? Meet man arming LSU baseball with Marucci Bats amid College World Series run

The name Marucci is synonymous with excellence in baseball. Is it any wonder, then, that LSU’s run to the College World Series is being armed by the man behind one of the premier baseball equipment companies in the world?

Jack Marucci isn’t the only reason LSU is among the top hitting teams in college baseball. But his involvement with the team certainly isn’t a detriment: Using bats developed by his namesake company — Marucci Sports — LSU ranks 20th in Division I with a team batting average of .307. It ranks second nationally with 138 combined home runs.

Marucci also has a vested interest in helping the Tigers to succeed on the diamond: He is LSU’s director of performance and innovation, a position he has used to great effect in helping the team reach the 2023 CWS finals.

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Here’s everything you need to know about Marucci, his company Marucci Sports, and how he has helped arm LSU’s run to the College World Series:

Who is Jack Marucci?

Jack Marucci is LSU’s director of performance and innovation, a role he took on in 2021 after serving as the Tigers’ director of athletic training for 25 years. Per his LSU bio, “his position is believed to be the first of its kind in college athletics.”

Marucci, who works with both football and baseball at LSU, graduated from West Virginia University in 1986 with a bachelor’s degree in athletic training. He earned his master’s from Alabama in 1988.

His innovations in sports science have focused in recent years on eye dominance and tracking testing, as well as quantitative character studies, testing athletes’ cognitive skill set and athletes’ processing and reaction times.

In that sense, LSU describes Marucci as a trendsetter in focusing on the data-driven and cognitive aspects of athletics. But baseball fans may be more familiar with Marucci for his involvement in designing and producing top-tier equipment.

What is Marucci Sports?

Marucci is also the co-founder of Marucci Sports, which produces bats, balls, gloves, batting gloves, batting helmets, and chest protectors.

Per Marucci’s bio:

Marucci has mastered the art of crafting wooden baseball bats and founded his own company, the Marucci Bat Company. The bat company, which originally started with a workshop in his backyard, now has hundreds of Major Leaguers swinging its bats, including Albert Pujols, the 2006 NL MVP, World Series champion Anthony Rizzo and home run champion Ryan Howard.

Marucci’s bats, which now include a line of aluminum bats for both baseball and softball, are the fastest-growing bat in baseball. The Marucci Bat Company has also been represented in both the Major League All-Star Game and the World Series in recent years.

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According to Marucci Sports, the company was founded in 2003 after Jack Marucci unsuccessfully attempted to find a bat for his son, Gino. He eventually associated with Louisiana-based MLB players Kurt Ainsworth and Joe Lawrence, who became the company’s co-founders.

Marucci has used his proximity to LSU — his company is based out of Baton Rouge, La. — to not only supply the Tigers’ baseball team with bats, but also to help them with their swing mechanics and fit them for their preferred bats. This is where Marucci’s experience as a sports science innovator comes into play.

Per a report from the Daily Advertiser (Lafayette, La.), the lab uses a 3D body motion capture system to track bat speed, acceleration and hitter’s movement patterns. That’s just before they make contact, too. The machine also measures balls’ exit velocity and spin rate, among other factors.

Liam Mucklow, the founder of the baseball performance lab, offered this thought when discussing the consistent success of the lab:

“(One thing) we always kind of joke about is, ‘If you come in here and we can’t figure it out, we should probably get a new job,'” Mucklow said. “We consider what we do is measuring the full batted-ball event said.”

Who uses Marucci Bats?

Marucci Sports lists partnerships with several college baseball and softball teams, from the NJCAA to NAIA to every division of the NCAA. It also has a partnership in place with several softball teams.

Here’s a breakdown of the partnerships Marucci has in place throughout college athletics:

Division I: 39
Division II: 14
Division III: 6
NAIA: 5
NJCAA: 14
Softball: 5

Unsurprisingly, LSU is among the Division I teams that has a partnership with Marucci Sports. According to a detailed breakdown by Bats Digest, each batter in LSU’s lineup uses a bat produced by Marucci or Victus (which is owned by Marucci):

Gavin Dugas — 2023 Marucci CATX Connect
Tre’ Morgan — 2023 Marucci CATX Connect
Dylan Crews — 2023 Marucci CATX Connect
Tommy White — 2023 Marucci CATX Connect
Cade Beloso — 2023 Marucci CATX Connect
Jordan Thompson — 2023 Victus Nox
Brady Neal — 2023 Marucci CATX Connect
Paxton Kling — 2023 Marucci CATX
Brayden Jobert — 2023 Marucci CATX Connect

Marucci Sports describes its CATX Connect model, the most popular bat in LSU’s lineup, as having an “end-loaded design for faster swings, more surface area, a wider sweet spot and higher overall performance.” It suits power hitters such as Dylan Crews, Tre’ Morgan and Tommy White.

“The ball just jumps off of it really well,” Crews told the Daily Advertiser (Lafayette, La.) of the CATX Connect. “It’s definitely the most popular bat we have on the team.”

Said LSU coach Jay Johnson of Marucci bats:

“I was with Wilson and Louisville Slugger my whole career at my previous stops and it didn’t take too long to figure out like 10 seconds after I was hired the level of service (Marucci) gives LSU baseball,” Johnson told the Advertiser. “(I’m) very thankful for the relationship with them. The intelligence behind the whole operation and how they put everything together is a big asset to us.”

Precious cargo geauxing to Omaha@lsubaseball x Marucci pic.twitter.com/ImLW8ljy4m

— Marucci (@MarucciSports) June 14, 2023

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Marucci isn’t just used at the collegiate level, either. The company boasts an advisory board consisting of several former MLB stars, including Albert Pujols, Jose Bautista, Chase Utley, David Ortiz and more.

According to data from Bats Digest, Marucci and Victus bats have “made up 50 percent of the MLB market” since the 2019 season. On MLB Opening Day 2023, Marucci bats accounted for 23.9 percent of all at-bats, narrowly edging Victus at 22.8 percent. Louisville Sluggers was a distant third, at 14.6 percent.