Thread: Batting Cage balls hurts bats?

All bat manufacturers say that using their bat in a batting cage with rubber type balls will void their warranty and cause damage to the bat. Is this actually true? Isn't hitting an actual softball worse on a bat than a rubber ball? Also, we have some of the heavy Total Control balls and they also say that it will damage a bat. That sounds more believable due to the weight, but do they cause damage?

Batting cage balls can and do damage bats. I've observed about a dozen bats breaking in batting cages, I've only observed one bat breaking in a game (and that was in cold weather).

TCB balls will not damage bats if you follow the instructions, which is to hit about 10 balls and no more per drill. If you're talking about the really big and heavy atomic TCB balls, then yeah, they will damage bats.

Typically the break point on a composite bat is where the barrel meets the handle. Consider this when you think about a very light object (bat) hitting a very heavy object (ball). This is opposite from baseball where you have a heavy bat hitting a light ball.

-W