Aluminum alloy bats dent. The more fibers to lay out the tell-tale signs to consider. How are composite bats different from aluminum bats? Watch this video and find out through the most up to date research. But, only you will know if your bat is making a sound that is not right or different from when you first started swinging it. But, these testers are not always readily available. Thus, the bat barrel speed is a combination of the rigid rotation of the bat and the flex, and the effective bat speed may be faster than what one could obtain for a stiff bat which does not flex. Have you heard why kids need new bats even if they got a new one last year? … Composites last a year to around 3. W/ that said, the best you can do is take care of your bats by not leaving them in your car all of the time. This next bat for seniors is one very rare bat. Most baseball bats last 2 years – especially if you’re in the little leagues. You need to take the material of your bat into consideration when determining whether or not it is dead. Sometimes, you'll even notice that a composite bat can change sounds over time as it starts to break-in. And while most slow-pitch softball bats have fundamental bending frequencies between 150-200 Hz, the use of composite materials provide a manufacturer with a considerable amount of variation in the way a bat will feel in the hands of a player. Keep your bat out of extreme hot or cold temperature areas such as the trunk of your car. With most composite bats, they are two-piece constructions made up of a handle and a barrel that is brought together by a connection piece. So, if an umpire allows it and the performance is not declining, keep swinging away. Don't let paint chips fool you. The best way to test for these dents is to run your hand across the barrel. This is because, due to its structure, alloy bats can give you a great performance for about two years or more, and its only problem would be it making a dent. In fact, a few years ago when the BPF test was being used by all softball governing organizations (a similar test called the BESR was being used by NCAA baseball) to measure bat performance (all tests were conducted by impacting the bat at its center-of-percussion) it was discovered that by shifting the balance point, a manufacturer could design a bat that would pass the required performance test, while it performed much higher in the field. Take care Composite materials have a distinct advantage over aluminum in that they are anisotropic, which means that the elastic properties of a composite material are not the same in all directions. And, how is it that composite bats are able to outperform the best aluminum bats? The idea is similar to what happens in a good golf swing. History. If you are positive that your bat is dead, let's get the warranty replacement process started … Most bats are falsely accused of being One of the most common questions that our Bat Experts receive is, "How do I know if my bat is dead?" Miken Ultra II SSUSA 1-Piece Slowpitch Softball Bar. It is recommended that you should go over your bat thoroughly and check for any excessive wear or damage at least once a year and approximately every three months for an oil or natural bat. Bat (60) A Bat (5) Bats (6) Related Types. Most manufacturers, if you were to read the warranty policy, also suggests a similar temperature. 0 0. The graphite and glass fiber materials used to manufacture composite bats are much lighter than aluminum. Today there is a wide variety of composite choices from several manufacturers, including all-composite bats, bats with composite handles and aluminum barrels, bats with composite outer shells over aluminum barrels, and even some all-composite double-wall bats. Have you heard why kids need new bats even if they got a new one last year? Now, if you are certain that you're drilling the sweet spot during each at bat yet still experience serious sting in the hands, your bat may be on a downward decline towards death. As far as I know the jury is still out as to whether this handle flex "whip action" actually improves performance, but I have heard that it does affect a player's swing mechanics in addition to affecting the perception of feel. or spiral fractures. The aluminum bat has a balance point 22.5-inches from the end of the handle and has a very large moment-of-inertia (11,134 oz-in 2 ). The balance point for the composite bat is more than 3 inches closer to the handle, at 19.4-in, and as a result it has a much lower MOI (8963 oz-in2). In 1993 Easton, Worth and Louisville Slugger each introduced titanium softball bats (Worth had kept theirs under wraps for several years because they knew it would radically change the game and only released it when Easton did). Relevance. That is until it eventually fails and the web turns into a crack. Rotate your bat a quarter of a turn after each swing, if possible. The team at JustBats does not necessarily recommend using this method because it is never a good idea to hit your knob on the ground. Composite bats are great, but just make sure you take care off it and it will last a long time. One bat is aluminum and the other is composite, but bats are 34-inches long and both weight exactly 30-oz. When it comes to durability, alloy bat ranks higher on that part. These two values represent the extremes that currently exits for softball bats. The red data points and dashed lines are for a different softball bat with much lower bending stiffness and a fundamental bending frequency of 85 Hz. Here at. eight questions, please give our friendly Bat Experts a call at 866-321-BATS (2287) to find out what the next step is. Composite bats are manufactured using carbon fiber. The Miken Ultra was so hot that organizations like the Amateur Softball Association quickly banned it, and threatened to ban all composite bats - as they had banned all titanium bats back in 1993. Composite softball bats were now competing with the best available aluminum bats. Now, if you know that your bat is fully broken in but the pop is starting to decline then your bat may be dead or well on its way. and a rattle should be covered by your manufacturer's warranty (if you're within the time period). Composite materials provide a manufacturer with a very wide range of possibilities to design a bat to a targeted performance and/or feel. Some umpires will automatically deem your bat illegal when they hear this, The result was a bat that literally bent in half every time she made good contact with the ball. Some players can be in the middle of a bad hitting slump, feel some painful negative feedback, and then immediately declare that their bat is dead. In some sense, it is the grandfather of the CAT Composite. The early ones (which were not tested in this study) performed like an average single-walled aluminum bat. Are bats “hot out of the wrapper” a good value for me? There is no clock in baseball and there are no ties. Higher bending stiffness means that the frequencies of the bending vibrations for the lowest bending mode fall into the range where the hands are most sensitive to vibration. This tends to be a sign of the composite material being fully broken in and at it's peak performance. However, picking them up and swinging them clearly differentiates between the two. They can be used almost instantly. 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