Many sports around the world are distinctive with the equipment used to play them. Hockey is known for its hockey sticks and masks, and golfers need club to play. Meanwhile, baseball calls for bats and leather catcher’s mitts, and this hugely popular sport draws a huge following in the United States and Japan in particular. Professional athletes and amateurs alike will need the right gear for a good game, and some players may look for rolled bats for sale or shaved fastpitch softball bats. But what are rolled bats, anyway, and why might someone look for rolled bats for sale in particular? And how can someone shave a baseball bat to alter its performance? While doctored bats like these are not allowed in tournament games, these rolled bats for sale or shaved bats may be appealing for casual games where tournament rules are not enforced, or for practice sessions. A simple online search for “rolled bats for sale” may show some results, or a customer may get their own bat rolled or shaved.
Rolling a Baseball Bat
Traditionally, baseball bats are made from wood, in particular ash wood. This is still true today, and wooden bats have fibers in their bodies that are naturally bent and broken as the bat is used. This is a good thing, since a fully broken in bat can strike a baseball further than a fresh, unused wooden bat will. These broken-in wooden bats may be prized by players, but it is also possible to expedite this process with roller services. While some customers may look for rolled bats for sale, others may bring their wooden bats with them to a roller service for work.
A wooden baseball bat may be placed in a series of rollers, which will then pressurize the bat and stress it. Once this is done, the bat will have its fibers bent and broken as though it were struck hundreds of times, simulating a naturally broken in bat. These doctored bats can be recognized on sight, and players are discouraged from using them in tournament games. But these rolled bats may be a fine option to use in casual games for enhanced performance, or for practice. A player may not want to risk breaking their prized, naturally broken-in wooden bats during practice, so they may instead use these rolled bats as a stand-in to replicate their performance.
Shaving a Baseball Bat
What about shaving baseball bats? Some modern bats are made of metal rather than wood, and they have a follow interior that has padding to strengthen the bat and protect it during use. However, a player may make use of doctored metal bats that have been shaved, or take their metal bat to a shaving service to get this work done.
In this case, the metal bat’s end cap is removed, and this exposes the hollow interior. The bat is placed on an assembly on a carbide grinder table, and the bat is slowly fed into a rotating grinder. This grinder, upon contact, will scrape away a few ounces of material from the bat’s body. Once this is done, the bat is removed, its end cap replaced, and it is ready for use. Doing this makes the body slightly more flexible, and that allows a player to strike a ball further. These doctored bats may be a fine option for casual games or for practice, where tournament or league rules are not enforced. These bats are not allowed in sanctioned games, after all.
Care should be taken when buying or using a shaved bat. If too much material is ground away during shaving, the bat becomes brittle and might break during gameplay. No material should be removed at all from the handle, or the bat may shatter during use. Players may also take note that shaved bats may be too fragile to use in temperatures lower than 65 degrees Fahrenheit. Overall, it is a good idea to use these shaved bats during practice games in warm weather. A player might find ways to mark their shaved bats to tell them apart from their unaltered metal bats, so they don not mix them up by accident.