The Bats that Help Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil Go BOOM

Mets slugger Pete Alonso has become the face of Dove Tail Bats, ever since breaking the rookie home run record with 53 dingers in 2019. Dove Tail has another client you might’ve heard of; Jeff McNeil.

While the two All-Stars are huge walking advertisements for using Dove Tail Bats, the company’s story kicks off in a different realm of emotions for Mets fans.

The 2015 World Series was hard on a Mets fan soul, but it was a huge boost in business for Dove Tail Bats. In the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 1, Alex Gordon hit a game-tying home run that potentially changed the course of the entire series and helped build their company.

The first player to swing a Dove Tail Bat in the Major Leagues was outfield Yasiel Puig. It was still an uphill battle for the new bat makers until “We caught a break with the Kansas City Royals,” says owner and creator of Dove Tail Bats, Paul Lancisi.

Gordon hit that home run using a Dove Tail bat and 70% of the Royals runs in the World Series were driven in by their bats, and more players wanted to hear that same noise. That’s when Bryce Harper called.

This very much pleased Lanicisi. Back in 2007, Paul’s son was playing and he got sick of paying bats at the big box stores, so he decided to start making them. He had been in the wood industry for an extensive period, and at the time, was doing custom cabinets and furniture for kitchens.

“We started making bats out of furniture stock, high quality maple wood that was normally destined for table legs. The quality of the wood was good, they weren’t breaking, and the kids loved them. I took a look at the economics of making bats and the market for them, and we decided to try our luck in making it a business.”

Business was just fine after 2015 when the majority of the World Series champs lineup was using Dove Tail and now Harper was on board as well.

Lancisi had been making bats for the Mets minor league system starting in 2014 thanks to Paul’s connection with former Mets assistant GM J.P. Ricciardi. Lamar Johnson – the Mets minor league hitting instructor at the time liked the bats and had around 12 guys using them.

“Johnson requested some U1’s (the knobless bat) for Jeff, and he just went off. He got called up to the big leagues and we changed the name to the JMc1.”

McNeil, 28, came into the 2018 season as an older prospect that had missed significant time over the previous two years. He had shown the ability to rack up base hits, play lots of different positions, and limit strikeouts.

The 2018 season – with his knobless bat – was a breakout year for McNeil. The left-handed swinger hit .327/.402/.626 with 16 doubles, three triples, 14 home runs and 43 RBIs in 57 games for the Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies.

Alonso was crushing it in Binghamton hitting right behind McNeil in the order. The 2016 second round pick hit .314/.440/573 with 15 home runs and 52 RBIs in 65 games in Double-A.

McNeil and Alonso were promoted to Triple-A Las Vegas together on June 14 of 2018. While Alonso stayed in the minors to finish out the 2018 season, McNeil was promoted to the big leagues late July of 2018 and as Paul said, he took off. McNeil burst onto the scene in 2018 when he hit .329/.381/.471 in 63 games for the Mets. The versatile fielder posted a 144 OPS+ in 2019 and was named an All-Star – along with Alonso.

Other players are now looking for knobless bats according to Lancisi (or “zero knob” as Dove Tail describes on their website), “We were getting a lot of request before Spring Training because it’s a good bat for the hamate bone, the balance of the bat is phenomenal, and it has fantastic durability given it’s structure.”

Paul didn’t think it was coincidence at all that McNeil’s power surge came once he started using the zero knob Dove Tail, “No doubt, we were able to find the right bat for Jeff.”

“Not every bat is perfect for the player just because you pick it up and it feels good, more importantly it has to perform. So, we use a lot of data from sensors and we will do a demo with the player. We will have them swing a bat and see what the results are, sometimes the player has to get comfortable with a bat that might not feel the best because the results are phenomenal.”

Alonso discovered Dove Tail Bats as well, and while he certainly had big-time power before, it was more prevalent and on full display in 2019 when he tagged a rookie record and league leading 53 homers. He also won the Home Run Derby, the first player to ever do so using a yellow birch bat according to Lancisi.

Lancisi – former pitcher that hit 92 MPH during a Major League tryout – has been extremely impressed with Alonso, “I’ve got to spend a lot of time with Pete, he’s the type of guy that loves to prove people wrong. He told me about a lot people that doubted him and told him he would never make it. So, I created a bat for him and I called it MTB and he’s like ‘what does MTB mean,’ I told him it meant Make Them Believe.”

Here’s a Pete Alonso bat being made:

Pete now has his own model with Dove Tail Bats and they also released a commemorative bat that celebrates his home run record. Alonso talked to me about Dove Tail, “PA220 is my own personal model that I created with the Dove Tail team. It fits who I am as a player. After spending tons of time in the cage, I figured out what I needed the most. I love the skinny handle and big barrel.”

I had the opportunity to visit Dove Tail Bats before Spring Training started to see how their operation worked and what was coming for the 2020 season (obviously there’s been a shift in that given Covid-19 postponing the season).

Paul showed me the big bin of bats they had already made for Alonso and were getting ready to shift. The amount of bats was because Pete likes to tinker with small things, “I use a 34 inch, 32 ounce bat. I tinker with different knobs and weights, but the model stays the same.”

Like McNeil, Alonso started using Dove Tail in the minors and raves about the company, “I started swinging DTB in the minors, they just made the most consistent product.”

“They give me the best tools in order to succeed. They have the best customer service and the best wood out there to swing. The MTB model is a slight variation of the PA20. There were always skeptical of my ability to succeed from the get go. Paul has always been a big believer in me and I’m big believer in his product.”

Lancisi made sure to mention that Alonso isn’t just a client, he’s also referred multiple players to DTB including Robinson Cano, Wilson Ramos, and former Met Travis d’Arnaud (used Alonso models in 2019). Mets pitchers Jacob deGrom and Dellin Betances are also high profile Dove Tail clients.

Yellow birch – like Alonso used to win the Home Run Derby and break the rookie homer record – has become a favorite of Dove Tail Bat clients. Lancisi says the phone was buzzing with calls from players wondering what Alonso used in the derby. He also explained that players like the yellow birch because you get the hardness of maple and also the desired suspension after contact with the ball.

Whether it’s yellow birch or maple, Dove Tail Bats uses only Maine wood. The wood is delivered and processed at their facility in the small Northern Maine town of Shirley Mills.

Lancisi believes using only Maine would is a key to their success, “Our harsh climate produces a harder, denser, and stronger wood. Our growing season is a lot shorter (we have snow sometimes from mid-October until May) and you want something that grows slower. It takes about 80 to 100 years to get a piece of wood that we can harvest to make a bat out of.”

The end result is the best bats in the world according to Pete Alonso. When Lancisi flew out to the Arizona Fall League to go over things with Pete, Alonso said he had been offered money to swing other bats, but he was staying with Dove Tail anyway.

Alonso believes that Dove Tail Bats have certainly helped him, “DTB is a huge part of my game and they will continue to be in the future. They’re a great company with a superior product, that is just a winning combo.”