How much mileage from one bat?

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obbay

Banned
Aug 21, 2008
2,199
0
Boston, MA
DD has a bat that she has used since the beginning of last spring season, through the summer and again through the winter (Nov-April). Now that her spring season is underway, I'm wondering if her bat is starting to lose some of it's pop.

I think it may be ok but how do you know when it's starting to go dead? is it sudden and obvious or subtle and not so obvious. Hits on her bats in the past would seem to become less powerful, or she was growing or some other reason to get a new bat.

She didn't grow this year and at 5'-01/2" is swinging a 32/24. she could maybe go up to a 33 but I'm thinking that's probably about it for her. I got her present bat as a 2-fer so I have a brand new unused version of the same bat and I'm thinking maybe I should just have her start using that

I'm also toying with the idea of maybe moving her up to a Demarini CF3 Black in maybe a 33/24 or 25. But if she's doing fine with her existing bat (Demarini 375), why push her into the big league bat? The other thing is I'm thinking I should wait till next year (HS) for that upgrade.

If I get the CF3, how long should I expect it to last?

I dunno, what do you think?

thanks.
 
Jan 15, 2009
585
0
Had a girl that used a Miken (Freak or NRG not sure which) for 2 full years of travel ball and we finally made her give it up after winter ball this year, because the labeling was unrecognizable and the endcap would fall out every other at bat. Bat seemed to keep getting hotter it was hard to make her give it up. Until you have signs of breakage (rattles, change in sound when hitting) I would assume the bat is still good to go. The girl played year round in MN for two years. Guess it just depends on the bat. FYI, This is a kid that puts them deep she already put one over the fence with her new bat as a freshman in HS ball.
 

Cannonball

Ex "Expert"
Feb 25, 2009
4,854
113
I don't think that there is a standard number of games or length of time. My dd is using a Synergy 33/23 and this is her second year for it. I think it is just getting broken in. The one she had before lasted for 4 years but I will admit that her coach came to us and asked us to get a new bat. :D I think you would find few players that hit more than she does. I don't know about other bats since this is pretty much the only type of bat she has owned.
 

Ken Krause

Administrator
Admin
May 7, 2008
3,911
113
Mundelein, IL
I've read that the composite bats get hotter as they are used. That's the reason some were initially approved and later banned, as a matter of fact. So if it's a composite bat it may not be the bat itself. I don't think the same applies to an aluminum alloy bat, although I don't know that for sure. I think aluminum bats fatigue after a while and lose their pop.
 

obbay

Banned
Aug 21, 2008
2,199
0
Boston, MA
thanks for your help. I didn't know if these things usually fizzle out after 12 mos and it sounds like that is not necessarily the case. She's happy with her bat so we'll keep using it until the power of the hits start to fade.
 

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