Bat Myth ?

DC427

Silver Slugger
I have always thought that a composite bat will be as hot as ever up until it breaks regardless of swing count. A friend of mine was telling me that they can hit a certain point and grow dead without breaking. Does it depend on the bat or is he full of it ?
 

coolluvr4u1976

#1 bomb dropper
I think there is some truth to it, and some BS......

I've seen some guys who have had bats like a NRG600, from day 1, and thousands of hits later the bat is just Ultra-like HOT, and sounds like a damn glass bat and could break at any moment.......

I've " heard " of guys who have had bats that get super hot after X amount of hits and then it seems like the bat just goes dead..... idk......

I've never had a bat go dead on me so idk..... also never had a bat bust open on the barrell either.....

but more than likely if you took a couple hundred bats, you'd probably have a small percent that would go dead once getting hot......
 

Gamble

Addicted to Softballfans
I believe Kettering has something on this, perhaps in a comparison of rolling vs. normal use? Showed that composites hit a peak and slowly lose performance.

Could be mistaken.
 

fierce_gt

Addicted to Softballfans
kettering has already done this study and there results showed that composites DO in fact decrease in performance slightly after breaking in fully.

see here: http://paws.kettering.edu/~drussell/bats-new/abi.html

they don't have the biggest sample size, but 100% of the bats they tested showed a decrease in performance.

NOTE* a 'decrease in performance' is not the same as going dead. all bats tested maintained a higher level of performance than NIW, it was just less than their max performance
 
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Ozzy3313

Addicted to Softballfans
I vote myth busters... even though those two guys' ga yness is almost too much for me.
 

DSNuts48

Badass
Makes sense, the bat could fall apart from the inside out. Possibly the inside layers start to break away from the outside and when the ball comes in contact the trampoline effect is dampened by the separated layer.
 

stoopidwon

I Am OG Noob!!!
I believe myth, every JH120 I've broken I swear the last hit before death was always to hardest hit. I had a friend actually shelve a OG freak for 2 years, he swore it had died, three guys all said it was dead blah blah blah, we hit it two weeks ago and now its his USSSA gamer. That bat was seriously one of the hottest bats I've ever hit. I think guys have a rough BP session with a bat and give up on some sticks. DUMB!
 

cuban

Addicted to Softballfans
the first crush i owned was stupid hot right out of the wrapper, then about 500 hits later nothing lost all the pop it had and had a god awful sound too it. no visible cracks and a couple of dents.
 

Artie

basic famous
in the Northeast, it has been ridiculously hot and humid until lately. Unless you freeze a ball, they have been absolute mush after and inning or so
 

laverdt

Addicted to Softballfans
i do believe the kettering study but i also believe that it can vary on different types of composites. For example a lot of times you will here people talking about how there mikens were the hottest right before they broke which i do believe because my OG psycho is doing it right now. But i also had a 08 Reebok tator that for sure proved this kettering test to be true. After 500-600 hits it was very hot then i could slowly tell a difference in distance i was getting with the bat. So basically this will vary with what ever the composite the company chooses to use.
 

SlapHappy

Addicted to Softballfans
If a composite bat has gone dead it usually means it's flexing too much and is about to break. I know you want a bat to flex, but there is such a thing as too much flex.

This is true. Think of it like a tennis racquet. The top players have very tight strings because they generate a lot of the power. Lower players have looser strings so it flexes more and helps them generate power. But if you string it too loose, you'll lose power.
 

The Crimedog

Best ASA Baterator
I have always thought that a composite bat will be as hot as ever up until it breaks regardless of swing count. A friend of mine was telling me that they can hit a certain point and grow dead without breaking. Does it depend on the bat or is he full of it ?

He is full of it and stupid to boot.
 

lOOkatme

Addicted to Softballfans
I think a lot depends on how hard someone swings. I have used a lot of bats.....and to me....as the bats age more and more the performance definitely declines at some point in time.

I have had people tell me there old bat with a trillion hits is super hot.....and I can no where hit it as far as a almost brand new bat.

If you swing a hit really long balls....the older bats flex way to much for the stronger swingers. I think if you swing and can hit a ball like 250ft max.....it probably benefits them who have a bat that flexes like no other.

I have had really good luck with bats that have like 200-300 swings on them all put on by me....and they usually last a good 200-500 swings more where then the performance declines. I believe everything deals with hoop frequency....and its supposed to max out at like 1,000 hertz.......as the bat breaks in...it might move from like 1,300 all the way across this hoop frequency and then get too low and performance declines.
 

SMAC

mmmmmm...beeeer
kettering has already done this study and there results showed that composites DO in fact decrease in performance slightly after breaking in fully.

see here: http://paws.kettering.edu/~drussell/bats-new/abi.html

they don't have the biggest sample size, but 100% of the bats they tested showed a decrease in performance.

NOTE* a 'decrease in performance' is not the same as going dead. all bats tested maintained a higher level of performance than NIW, it was just less than their max performance

I don't think they were hitting the bats to failure. If they did, they'd see some drastic improvement on some models.

Regardless, not every bat that cracks becomes super hot. Some just die instead. Depends mostly on bat model. For example: Most Envy's heated up and became senior bat hot after cracking, but occasionally an Envy would get respectable right before cracking but would become dead and blow up... never improving to a high performance bat.
 
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Rawyzf

<font color="blue">Coach</font>
I have seen a few actually go dead, but in those cases they were bats that people didn't take care of and left out in rain and such.....so I think it has to do with that.
 

tnacty

Director
Not the least bit scientific but I've had two go dead. To quote Terry, both my original Freak and ASA CNT were 'nuclear' hot and then one day they weren't anymore. They have to have 5000+ swings on them at that point and I turned them into BP bats. The Flex eventually broke one cold day a couple of Februarys back and I sold the Freak somewhere along the line. Everything else I've owned cracked before it went dead but I tend to keep bats a very long time and haven't purchased that many in recent years.
 

Trogdor

God of SBF Poker
I heard the Combat Supremacy goes dead before breaking.

This^^^^^is true and probably one of the most disappointing things I have experienced in softball. Go from mashing the ball to feeling like you are swinging a wiffle bat.
 

Gamble

Addicted to Softballfans
Those calling 'myth' may be overlooking the obvious fact that the longer you own a bat, the more swings you've taken with it, and the more you've developed a feel for it.
 

lOOkatme

Addicted to Softballfans
Those calling 'myth' may be overlooking the obvious fact that the longer you own a bat, the more swings you've taken with it, and the more you've developed a feel for it.

perhaps the sweet spot grows with time while the rebound batted ball speed may have already peaked.....but on average....the batted ball speed is greater because of the greater sweet spot gained?
 
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