Bat Roller

[JC heir]

One of our local guys bought a new bat roller. the thing is highly reccomended by the manufacturer to break in a composite quickly, & evenly,& increase power a bunch. Does anyone have any pos. or neg. experience with these things they would share before I let him work my DD,s new bat over. Thanks Lane

 

[Daddy O]

Can't wait to see where this goes

 

[ASAPAump]

Not gonna touch that one. I'll let Bretman handle him. Where's that Bret signal when I need it?

 

[cshilt]

I thought April Fools was last week? Lane, I do hope you're kidding. Running a bat through a bat roller is altering a bat and is illegal and will shorten the life of a composite bat.

Amateur Softball Association of America

 

[PEPPERS]

I’m not up to date on a lot of this stuff, but my understanding is that rolling a bat made the bat illegal to use in games. I was thinking that most new bats had something on them that showed when a bat was tampered with.

I suggest using good instruction and advice on this forum and from good coaches to improve player performance and not altered bats.

In my opinion tampering with a bat to make it hit harder puts the players in danger I would not allow my daughter to use a altered bat in a game. I think of how she or I would feel if she hurt another kid because of the bat!!!!

 

[Hitter]

One of our local guys bot a new bat roller. the thing is highly reccomended by the manufacturer to break in a composite quickly, & evenly,& increase power a bunch. Does anyone have any pos. or neg. experience with these things they would share before I let him work my DD,s new bat over. Thanks Lane

JC

How is the home rebuilding going after the fire?

This is a site you may find interesting and has links explaining in detail how it is done etc Do Advanced Break-in Techniques Really Work?

I have brought this up before and still no answer back from ASA as to warranty restrictions on bats....for example!

Most bat manufacturers limit the bat being used in less than 60 degrees and some at 50 degrees. They claim the core of the ball will damage the bat when used below these temperatures.

So I ask if that is the case and you know this could happen then any association knowingly allowing a game to be played when the temperatures are below the 60 or 50 degree temperatures would put the players at risk of being injured or possibly killed by the bat breaking in half.

If an umpire knew this and allowed the game to start knowing the temperature is below the bat manufactures recommended temperature is the umpire liable?

What if the game started at 64 degrees and dropped to 58 degrees? Should the game be called on account of temperature?

In our court system today jury's have little to no common sense so this may be a test case.

In my opinion if ASA can tell us what standards must be used to protect us, then common sense dictates that a bat being used below the rated temperature recommended by the manufactures is being misused and has the potential to harm players, coaches and umpires and fans!

Here in Ohio there are not too many days in the Spring that games are played above 50 degrees so it puts the risk down to the State of Ohio Athletic Association level and someone who gets hurt from a batted ball could be suspect for a lawsuit from allowing a game to be played when the temperature drops below the stated recommended bat manufactures limits in my opinion.

What is funny is that the bat manufactures claim the ball damages the bat. So why don't they research a ball that can be made that will allow the bat not to be damaged or broken and can not be hit as far and you could lower the BESR limits down if that truly is the issue?

Bat rolling for now is supposed to be illegal in the ASA and if the bat were to break in my mind you could be sued if someone where hurt in my opinion.

Thanks Howard

 

[MTR]

"Rolling" is an Accelerated Break-In (ABI) Technique which in all rule sets is considered "altering" the bat. In ASA, it can get you a minimum of a 1 year ban. I believe U-trip has a similar penalty. In closed shops like NFHS & NCAA, only they know what will happen to a player caught using an altered bat other than be ejected from the game.

Last year, the NCAA (baseball) banned all composite bats in a knee-jerk reaction after they found nearly 80% out of spec at their championships. Until that time, they allowed the manufacturers to self-police their product. Yeah, not really a great idea which they recently learned.

ASA with the bat manufacturers as co-complainants, won a $300K judgment against three bat doctors in court a couple years ago. As a matter of legal liability, I doubt any manufacturer would endorse, support, recommend or even recognize a certain piece of equipment no matter who was using it for whatever.

Rolling a bat does NOT increase the performance of the bat, it simply forces the components to break down quicker which means it will reach its peak faster, allowing the batter fewer swings and basically making the bat more expensive by shortening its life span. BTW, I wouldn't want to be a catcher, pitcher, umpire or especially a charging infielder when the bat shatters at the plate sending shards of it through the air.

See the presentation submitted at the 2007 ASA Convention in, of all places, Louisville, KY

http://downloads.asasoftball.com/about/pdf/2007Altered-DoctoredBats.pdf

 

[Hitter]

"Rolling" is an Accelerated Break-In (ABI) Technique which in all rule sets is considered "altering" the bat. In ASA, it can get you a minimum of a 1 year ban. I believe U-trip has a similar penalty. In closed shops like NFHS & NCAA, only they know what will happen to a player caught using an altered bat other than be ejected from the game.

Last year, the NCAA (baseball) banned all composite bats in a knee-jerk reaction after they found nearly 80% out of spec at their championships. Until that time, they allowed the manufacturers to self-police their product. Yeah, not really a great idea which they recently learned.

ASA with the bat manufacturers as co-complainants, won a $300K judgment against three bat doctors in court a couple years ago. As a matter of legal liability, I doubt any manufacturer would endorse, support, recommend or even recognize a certain piece of equipment no matter who was using it for whatever.

Rolling a bat does NOT increase the performance of the bat, it simply forces the components to break down quicker which means it will reach its peak faster, allowing the batter fewer swings and basically making the bat more expensive by shortening its life span. BTW, I wouldn't want to be a catcher, pitcher, umpire or especially a charging infielder when the bat shatters at the plate sending shards of it through the air.

See the presentation submitted at the 2007 ASA Convention in, of all places, Louisville, KY

http://downloads.asasoftball.com/about/pdf/2007Altered-DoctoredBats.pdf

From Dr. Russels site....

"Improvement was gained for all techniques, but the BCT process improved the batted-ball speed by 8-9 mph. Recalling that the performance improvement due to natural break-in processes is only about 3 mph, it is difficult to argue that an accelerated break-in process such as BCT is not equivalent to bat doctoring. A process that provides three times the improvement in performance as natural break-in seems to me to be a significant alteration of the bat's performance. "

Someone always tries to find a way around the standards to get an edge!

"The only place where success comes before hard work is in the dictionary" Vince Lombardi

Thanks Howard

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Rolled bat = cheating. In the slow pitch world, any guy with a bat rolling machine would be ostracized.

 

[shockcoach]

Hey, my DD has two RockeTechs. Can we try it out on them? In all seriousness, I looked into it and thought about it. A guy does it locally here. But then I came to the conclusion that many have posted here. It's cheating and can be dangerous to the defensive team. Is your DD hitting it harder and further worth the risk of hurting someone else's DD? Not to me it isn't. I coach this game for the kids and won't allow a rolled bat. It might be fun to take BP for grins and giggles with an altered bat, but don't cheat in the game. There are some valid arguments our there right now that the bats are already too hot without ABI techniques.