Baseball Bats and Softball Bats

Baseball Bats and Softball Bats

How do I break in my new baseball bats and softball bats?

Every ballplayer knows about breaking in their new glove or mitt, but far too many are unaware of the need to break in their baseball or softball bats as well. Unlike breaking in leather, the process of preparing an aluminum or composite bat does not allow for any shortcuts or strategies to make it go faster. Quite simply, the only way to break in a bat the correct way is to use it.

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Barrel

If the barrel of the bat is made of aluminum then the break-in period is virtually nonexistent. The bat should be good to go right off the shelf but it can never hurt to liven up the foundation with a few rounds of batting practice first before bringing it out for live game action. However, if you’re in possession of a composite bat, the process of getting it ready for gameplay is far more time consuming but is a critical step in making sure that you are taking full advantage of the bats technology and design while put yourself in the best position for success. An important factor to consider when breaking in your new bat is to make sure that you are doing so with actual baseballs or softballs as rubber or dimpled balls can damage the bat or slow down the break-in process.

Amount Of Swings

The industry standard for number of hits it takes to properly break-in a bat is somewhere around the 150 to 200 mark. It is around this number of impacts between bat-and-ball that the composite starts to perform to its fullest potential. Two important things to consider when breaking in your composite bat: 1) You should start off the break-in process at about half game speed That is, you should start off doing some sort of soft toss or tee work so as to gradually wear the initial coating that comes on the bats before bringing it up to full-speed batting practice. and 2) It is incredibly important that you rotate the bat a quarter-of-an-inch in your hand after every contact swing. That will help the bat break-in evenly and allow for consistent performance swing after swing.