Baseball is among many sports that calls for the right equipment to play: in this case, a wooden or metal bat, the ball itself, and a catcher’s glove. All of these are classic sports equipment, and many Americans own baseball gear for casual play in their backyards or a local park. Baseball as caught on in other parts of the world beyond the United States and Canada, such as Japan, where that sport is hugely popular. Meanwhile, some Americans choose not only to find the best baseball bats for their game, but make them into doctored bats. Just what are doctored bats? Put simply, these doctored bats are those that have been modified with tools to alter their performance. This includes rolled baseball bats, and shaved bats as well. It should be noted that while these doctored bats such as rolled bats for sale can improve performance, they are illegal in sanctioned and official games and events. Baseball players are discouraged from using these doctored bats in official games, and may instead use them during practice or casual games. Used in the right context, thes4e doctored bats can prove useful.
Rolling a Bat
What does it mean to roll a baseball bat? Wooden baseball bats, most often made from ash wood, typically need to be “broken in” in order to reach peak performance during a game. These wooden bats will have their fibers stretched and bent as they are used to strike baseballs, and they get “warmed up” over the course of a few hundred strikes. Some baseball players, however, would rather get their bats rolled and compressed with machines to artificially induce and speed up this process to get the end result right away. This might be done, for example, if a buyer just got a wooden bat and needs to practice the use of a fully warmed-up bat right away. Such bats are illegal in sanctioned games, and they are easily identified.
Baseball bats may be subjected to a number of rolling sessions with rollers that apply heat and pressure to the bat. This also leaves distinctive marks on the bat’s surface. Once done, this rolling induces the fiber stretching and bending that naturally happens to a baseball as it’s used in a game, so even a brand-new bat may function like a well-worn one. Why? Whether rolled or used normally, bats in this state may bend a little more and send the baseball flying a little further than a fresh bat would. Measurements have been done to confirm that worn or rolled bats result in further ball travel arcs, something that any batter would want. For practice or casual game use, such doctored bats may prove quite convenient to use.
Bat Shaving
Another way to create doctored bats is to open a metal baseball bat and shave away some of the lining inside. As with bat rolling, this is strictly illegal for sanctioned games, but for practice or casual games, it might be acceptable. How might this be done? A metal bat has an end cap on it, and once removed, the user may access the bat’s hollow body. This bat may be mounted onto a machining platform, and a shaving device such as a lathe may grind off and remove some of the inner materials that make up the bat’s body. Only a small amount is actually removed, at most an ounce or two of it, but this may make the bat springier. This, in turn, gives a similar effect to bat rolling and increase the distance traveled of balls struck with that bat. Users of shaved bats, though, should be cautioned that shaving away material in the bat’s handle makes it too brittle, and the bat may shatter during use if the handle was shaved, too. Shaved bats may also suffer in temperatures lower than 65 degrees Fahrenheit, so users are advised to keep that in mind as well. Someone interested in bat shaving or rolling may consult local shaving and rolling services who can get this process done just right and for maximum effect. It should be restated, however, that such doctored bats should not be used in official games. Users of these doctored bats might be caught and penalized.
