A number of sports around the world are distinct due to the equipment that players use in them, such as racquets and a court’s net in tennis or the puck and sticks in hockey. Meanwhile, baseball is famed for its use of baseball bats, catcher’s mitts, and more, and pro athletes and casual players alike need the right gear for a game. Softball, baseball, and other variants call for wooden and metal baseball bats for a batter, and those bats may be modified if so desired. Baseball bat shaving services are available, and an interested person could look up “shaved bats softball” or “local services for shaved bats softball” to find a service that can modify metal bats in this way. Of course, a person could simply looked up pre-shaved bats, such as “shaved bats softball for sale” and buy one. What will a bat shaving and rolling company do for you? Are rolled bats or shaved bats worth it?
Softball Bat Shaving Done Right
It may be noted that while ash wood is the standard material for making baseball bats (a time honored tradition), many softball and baseball bats are made from metal, too. A metal bat is not solid the way a wooden bat is; rather, it is hollow on the inside, and has soft padding to keep it solid and allow it to flex somewhat while in use. A metal baseball is ready for gameplay as soon as a customer buys it, but some buyers may want to use shaved bats for casual games for enhanced performance. This customer might look up “shaved bats softball” online, and either buy a pre-shaved bat or get a metal bat of theirs shaved.
How might this work? An interested client can bring their metal bat to a shaving and rolling service, and there, that metal bat’s end cap will be removed to expose the hollow interior. That bat is then placed on a lathe table and slowly fed to a grinder, and that rotating grinder will shave away a few ounces of the metal bat’s inner padding. Once that is done, the bat is removed, and its end cap replaced.
After proper shaving, a metal baseball bat is even more flexible, and this allows it to strike a baseball or a softball further than normal. This may be a popular option for casual games where league rules are not enforced. Care should be taken when shaving bats like this, though, since a bat with too much material shaved away may shatter when it strikes a baseball or a softball. Not only that, but if any material is shaved away from the handle, then the bat may break. Players are also advised against using shaved metal bats in temperatures under 65 degrees Fahrenheit.
Rolling Wooden Baseball Bats
Meanwhile, wooden baseball bats can also be modified, and this is done with rolling. Normally, a wooden baseball bat’s fibers will be bent and broken as the bat is used, and that is to be desired. After enough use, a wooden bat is fully broken in, and this bat is flexible enough to send baseballs and softballs flying further. This takes time, though, so a player may choose to get a wooden bat rolled.
At a bat shaving and rolling service, a wooden bat will be passed through some pressurized rollers, that that will distress the bat enough to simulate gameplay and break in the fibers quickly. Care should be taken to not apply too much pressure, or the bat might simply break instead. But if done correctly, wooden bat rolling results in a bat that can closely mimic the performance of a fully broken in bat.
This may be done for casual games, for example, where league rules are not enforced. Such modified bats are not allowed in sanctioned games, and experts might be able to spot these bats on sight anyway. Rolled bats are also a fine idea for practice games, standing in for a player’s prized broken-in bat. Wooden bats can break, so a player can avoid risking their best bats and instead use rolled ones as proxies. After all, those rolled bats will have a similar performance profile to naturally broken-in ones.
