Bat Rolling Baseball Bats - What You Need to Know

Advanced Skills Tees - The Best Batting Tee in Baseball

By Brock Gibson

Baseball bats are the most widely produced bat in the United States. In addition, composites have overtaken the top manufactured position that aluminum sticks held for so long. With the new era of composite material, they are more durable and better performing. The performance is not limited to the distance and pop of the first hit, it will actually get "hotter" with use. There has been a scandal or controversy in the NCAA about rolled composite bats and they have decided to go back to aluminum. The problem might not have been with the bat rolling aspect but with the increased MPH achieved through the breaking in process; naturally through batting practice or the rolling process.

Big barrel baseball bats have composite that is more durable (thicker) than any other type. This is part of the reason they hit "hardballs" and not softballs. Baseball bats do pose a problem to rolling companies who want to break it in through advanced break in techniques. The barrel is rounder and shorter than others are. The perpendicular roll of a baseball bat is more difficult due to this fact. If you are not familiar with what rolling accomplishes I will go over it real quick; The resin is broken upon within the composite which gives the bat more flexibility (trampoline effect) and equates to more distance. A complete roll of a baseball stick is impossible with a perpendicular roll only, the taper will pose the biggest obstacle. This problem is alleviated with a parallel rolling after the perpendicular roll is completed. The parallel roll will cover the entire sweet spot of the baseball bat's barrel.

As I said before, the baseball bat's composite is thicker and more durable than any other type of bat. For this fact, some rollers will break down after repeated baseball bat rolling. The bearings and softer nylon rollers will not hold up under the added pressure, this is why some bat rolling companies have changed there roller material and changed their type of bearings the bat rolling machines utilize. The roller material change is the biggest advancement. Because so much pressure is needed to compress composite baseball bats the nylon rollers "warp" or deform to the bat and correct pressure cannot be achieved. This deforming of the nylon roller and added pressure causes the break down of these types of bat rolling machines.

Getting back to the issue of rolling baseball bats; a bat rolling machine with upgraded rollers are needed to properly roll big barrel baseball bats, the nylon rollers will not create enough pressure on the surface of the bat.
After a big barrel has been rolled you can expect 20-35 feet of distance to your batted ball, assuming the bat is 34 inches in length. The longer the barrel the more flex or trampoline effect occurs. Therefore, as the barrel length decreases the flex decreases by an inch. In my experiences, the distance lost due to a smaller length barrel is about 5 feet every inch. So, that means big barrel bats under 30 inches will only gain about 5-10 feet.
In Summary, big barrel baseball bats can be rolled with good distance results but some factors can decrease that distance.

Nylon rollers can deform under the high pressure needed for the more dense and thick big barrel baseball bat material. A harder roller material is needed to properly roll a big barrel bat. The length of the bat is also a factor in the distance gained, a shorter length equals a small decrease in distance gained. Big barrel bats will gain distance to your batted ball when properly rolled.
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