Been working with this ball for a few weeks now and thought I would share my results.
We drilled several of these balls but primarily used one left-hand player and one right-handers for our review information. For the left-hander we placed the pin next to the ring finger (4" from his pap) and the mb half way between the center line of his grip and his val. This required an extra hole, which we placed 1 1/2" below the midline, 5 1/2" from the grip center. We left the ball in it's box condition originally and have sanded and polished it several times since. The ball was intended for this player to create a stronger mid-lane reaction on longer oil. He doesn't have a very strong release and throws about 19 mph with minimal axis rotation.
The ball was nearly perfect for this player right away. The ball began to rev right off his hand, read the mid-lane and arced hard to the pocket, which improved his carry which was light with his other equipment. He liked the reaction so much that he tried to polish it for regular league conditions but there were better choices in his bag, whereas the Mutant required a little force to get down the lane. Restoring the ball to it's dull but smooth box condition brought the reaction back nicely and he is still using it on the longer oil he sees from time to time.
The right-hander was looking for something that would also read the mid-lane more effectively than his X-Factor. This player is similar to the lefty but with slightly less ball speed, slightly more axis rotation and more revolutions. The drill pattern was also similar, using a pin out 4", the pin was placed 4" from the pap but with the mb on the val. The extra hole was 1" in diameter, and was placed 1 1/2" below the mid line, 6" from the grip center and was pitched to avoid drilling into the mb part of the core. This ball was also left in it's out of the box condition and has yet to be adjusted. The Mutant was again perfect for what was intended, it began to rev off the bowler's hand, started to react noticeably earlier than the X-Factor and arced hard in the back end for more than enough angle to carry. The ball held the line nicely when pulled into the heavier oil with enough contact to maintain carry. On the down side, if the ball encountered friction before the intended break point, it was a high hit to be sure. In keeping with that theme, the ball was also sensitive to changes in the front part of the lane, when the head oil began to break down, the Mutant was tough to hold back. We did observe that as the player moved in deeper, the ball was able to continue to carry the corners as long as it was able to save some energy in the heads.
Neither of these players could be considered power players, we can certainly imagine people with that kind of game having problems with this model on anything less than heavy oil. The other caution would be that players with low speeds should be carefully about the drilling pattern they select. We can see this ball changing direction too early and/or sharply if drilled with a pin/mb placement that is too strong. Apart from that, the Mutant is a very nice piece of equipment for many players from stroker to tweener looking for a stronger mid-lane reaction on longer patters.
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