Victus Sports, which makes several Phillies' baseball bats, is ready for all the big moments to come in 2026
Ahead of the Phillies' Opening Day at Citizens Bank Park, there's a festive atmosphere at Victus Sports.
The company headquartered in King of Prussia, just outside Philadelphia, is home to the official bat of Major League Baseball — and supplies a few Phillies players with custom bats.
"Opening Day for us here is a company holiday," founder and CEO Jared Smith said.
Bryce Harper has been slugging with Victus bats for a while now — last season, Harper rocked a custom baby blue bat for a gender reveal when his wife Kayla was expecting their fourth child, Hayes Three Harper.
Today, Victus bats are now made in a warehouse set in the back of an industrial park in Montgomery County, a short drive from Citizens Bank Park. Smith started the business in 2012 with some friends.
"I worked at a steel mill. I was helping some buddies in a parent's garage in Hummelstown making baseball bats on the swing shift," Smith said.
Their bats are used around MLB. You might recognize some of their other designs — one that looks like a pencil is probably the most iconic.
"I was asking my family all the time — throw ideas at me," said Bruce Tatem, Victus' special projects manager, who is also known as the "Bat King."
It was Tatem's son who gave him the idea for the pencil bat design.
"My son casually walks by and said, 'you should make a bat that looks like a pencil,'" Tatem said. "And I was like alright, I'll see what I can do."
Tatem says the team is always looking for "moments" to create for — and this year, as the U.S. celebrates its 250th anniversary, there are plenty happening close by. The Home Run Derby and MLB All-Star Game will be in Philadelphia in just a few short months.
Tatem showed us a couple Philly-centric bats that he's ready to give to local All-Stars when the time comes.
One, the "Wit" bat, looks just like a Philly cheesesteak. Another features the Phanatic in his best Ben Franklin cosplay, complete with bifocal glasses (which Ben invented).
"These bats are hand painted," Tatem said. "There's no machine that's doing this for us."
Victus turns out more than 100,000 bats a year, but with all the events to come in 2026, that number is going to increase.
"There's about 400-600 bats on the floor every day that we're working through, and back in the wood room, same thing," Smith said.
When we stopped by, we also saw the engraving room, where bats go through the last step of the process: getting names added before they get sent off to the heavy hitters who will use them.
Harper, second baseman Bryson Stott and outfielder Brandon Marsh are among Victus' most frequent Phillies customers.
What's next for Victus? The plan is to continue growing the company in King of Prussia, and leaning into the DNA of baseball that runs through the Delaware Valley.
"Really telling the history, now that we kind of built one, having some batting cages and really creating a staple here in Montgomery County and King of Prussia," Smith said.
