Baseball Coaching Digest - 10 Important Facts About Composite Baseball Bats That You Should Know

Baseball Coaching Digest - 10 Important Facts About Composite Baseball Bats That You Should Know

By Nick Dixon

Every little league baseball, high school baseball, and college baseball team in america now uses the composite baseball bat. These bats have a reputation for extreme durability in warm conditions, incredible pop, a larger sweet spot, extended break-in time, limited warranty coverage, poor cold weather durability, and noticeable handle flex. These bats are also known for having a lot of forgiveness for a poor quality swing. Many people feel that a good composite bat can make the average hitter more productive and powerful at the plate.

What are the benefits of using these bats? What are the disadvantages? This article outlines 10 facts about these bats that every baseball coach, baseball player and baseball parent should know.

10 Composite Baseball Bats Facts that you should know:

1. These bats have a much longer break-in period than aluminum bats.

2.The best way to break one in is to hit real baseballs is in batting practice by taking 100 to 200 hits.

3.When breaking the bat in, the balls should be thrown 40 to 50 mph. The barrel should be rotated 1/8 of a turn each time a good contact so as to break the barrel in evenly.

4. These bats are not as durable as metal bats. Never use your composite bat when hitting off a pitching machine or with while hitting pitching machine balls. Hitting pitching machine balls or rubber balls can do serious damage to composite bats.

5. A Composite bat should not be used in cold weather. When used in temperatures less than 65 degrees they can easily crack. The warmer the weather, the bigger the sweet spot is.

6. Composite bats are more expensive than metal or hybrid bats with most composite bats costing from $330 to $400.

7. If broken in correctly and used under proper conditions, a composite bat will outlast and perform the metal and hybrid bat.

8. Never leave a composite bat in cold weather for an extended period of time. Always take your bat inside your home at night. It is a risk to leave it in your car or truck over night.

9. Composite bats have flex in the handle so a good impact blow on the handle can cause them to break. Most breaks occur in the handle area.

10. Only hit leather cover solid baseballs. Make sure to not hit water logged baseballs with your composite bat. Heavy baseballs could damage the bat especially in colder conditions.

Buyers Tip: Different bat manufacturers have their own terms and conditions as to the warranties on their bats. Read the bat warranty policy for your bat before using it. Most bat warranties cover manufacturing defects from normal field use only. Use in commercial batting cages is not covered. If you alter your bat or mistreat it is any way, your warranty will be voided. Make sure to keep your purchase receipt. The bat company will ask for proof or purchase date and place when you ask to return a defective bat.

I hope that you found this article informative. I appreciate you taking the time to read it. Look for more articles like it at the Baseball Coaching Digest, Youth Baseball Digest, Baseball Parent Guide, and the Little League Digest. Good luck to you and your team! Have a great day, Nick.

The CoachesBest Baseball Store has a great selection of 1400 Baseball Products. Check out the BatAction Hitting Machine baseball pitching simulator. This high speed training machine is 100% Guaranteed to raise Batting Averages and has a full year warranty.

Nick Dixon is the President and founder of Nedco Sports, a sports training company established in 1999. Dixon is also an active and full time high school baseball coach with over 25 years experience. Coach Dixon is better known as the inventor of the BatAction Hitting Machine, the SKLZ Derek Jeter Hurricane Hitting Machine, the SKLZ Target Trainer, the SKLZ Derek Jeter ZipnHit Pro, and the SKLZ Strikeback Trainer. Dixon is also a contributing writer for BaseballCoachingDigest, the Youth Baseball Digest, the Baseball Parent Guide, the Baseball 2Day Coaches Journal, and Blog4Coaches.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nick_Dixon

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Bat Rolling - The Process

HandsBackHitter.com

By Kirk Cameron

The Equipment

As I have written before, bat rolling is really not that complicated. There is however differences in the process. A machine is used, that consists of some very hard rubber, or very rigid nylon rollers. These rollers are from 5 to 7 inches in length. They are fixed to a steel shaft, and the shafts are inserted and secured in heavy sealed bearings. They a re then bolted into some type of an adjustable clamping devise.

What Happens

Your composite bat is inserted between the rollers and secured into the clamping devise. Then in a series of clamping the bat harder and turning the rollers to rotate the bat the bat is compressed to the desired amount by the person you have trusted your bat to. This releases the fibers in the bat lamination's and in turn accelerating the break in process of your bat. Which of course is the objective. If done correctly your bat should perform up to the factory specifications. So you can now get the most from your bat in a short period of time.

Is there a differences

Not all the people rolling bats out there use the same methods or the same rolling devices. There are differing views on both. Some say the bat should be rolled both parallel and perpendicular to the bat barrel, and some say only parallel is necessary. Most agree that parallel rolling gives the most uniform and consistent release of the composite bat fibers. Some also have differing opinions on which type of material the rollers are made of to get the best outcome from the process. Either the very hard rigid nylon, or the hardened rubber. As far as I have been able to ascertain, though the equipment may be a little different the process they use is pretty much the same. That is because that is what the instruction booklet that came with their machine told them how to to it. I however take a very different, more exacting, scientific approach to the rolling process.

The Precision Method

From my experience in machine repair, and high performance motorcycle engine building, I have developed a very precise and much more accurate method of rolling your composite bat. I use specialized equipment to measure the amount of pressure applied to the bat surface, as well as the amount of compression of the bat barrel surface. This allows me to make sure you get the ULTIMATE PERFORMANCE from your bat because I know exactly what is being done during the rolling process

What Special Equipment

To measure the amount of pressure being applied to the bat surface I use an inch pound torque wrench. This has an analog (or dial) indication display, which give me direct and precise pressure measurements, because it measures the pressure per square inch of surface area. To measure the amount of deflection(or compression) to the barrel surface I use an analog (or dial) micrometer. This measures in 1/1000 ths of an inch increments. You can't get much more precise than that.

So What

Not all composite bats are made the same, which I am sure you are well aware of. Some are more rigid and some more flexible. Some bat barrels are much thicker and respond differently when compressed. This also holds true for the different materials used to construct the bat. There is a great amount of differing science used to construct a bat because the manufactures want their bat to stand out from the rest. Naturally they want you to buy their bat. Price also determines how the bat is made and the materials used. Differing science also has to be used when rolling a bat. A whats good for one is good for all approach cannot be taken. You have to know exactly how the bat is responding to the amount of pressure being applied, and how much pressure to apply to get it to respond the way you want it to. If you don't, you are just guessing, and you don't want that.

Show Me

Lets say I am rolling a bat and have applied pressures of 5, 12, and 22 inch lbs to the bat, and have rotated the bat between the rollers 15 times at each pressure. From my readings I know the bat has been compressed 200/1000 of an inch (or 1/5") in the process. I have also done this to another bat but it has only compressed 150/1000 of an inch. You can see that the bat that reached 150/1000 of an inch would probably have a thicker barrel construction or be made of a more rigid material. This information tells me that I have to make adjustments to the process if I am going to get the best performance from the bat. I may have to go slower and through more rolling progressions with one bat than the other to attain my objective. Of course the bat rolling techniques I use are much more involved than that but you get the idea.

Of the many other people out there rolling bats I have never seen anyone that offers the precession or quality of service that I offer. So to the best of my knowledge I am the only one the has developed these exclusive methods. If I know people they will probably be climbing all over themselves to try and duplicate my methods. Either that or they may say what they do is just as good. Don't believe it. There is me and then there is the rest. So come to the best and get The ULTIMATE PERFORMANCE out of your bat. Make the wise informed choice. Happy Hitting.

If you would like to have your new or used softball or baseball bat rolled so it will perform to it's maximum potential using the most advanced method then you must go to this site. http://www.UltimatePerformanceBatRolling.com Happy Hitting Look for more informative articles in the near future.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kirk_Cameron

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Baseball2u.com/CoachesBest.com is the ultimate online baseball training and coaching store. With over 1400 products organized into categories Baseball2u.com makes finding that baseball training product easy and simple. Order securely online or by phone. Baseball2u.com is a fully licensed company and has a full time staff available from 8:00 to 5:00 CST. Their toll free customer service number is 1-877-431-4487.

The Categories they have are: Baseball Training Equipment, Youth Baseball Training Equipment, Training Bats, Pitching & Throwing Trainers, Defensive Trainers, Batting Cages, Pitching Machines, Jugs Equipment, Game and Practice Baseballs, Protective Practice Screens and Nets, Portable Pitching Mounds, Baseball DVDs & Books, Clearance Items on Sales, BatAction Hitting Machines, Hurricane Hitting Machines, NEDCO Bataction Replacement Parts, SKLZ Hurricane Replacement Parts and Much Much More! Visit Baseball2U.com today!