History
In the early days of baseball it didn’t matter what size or shape your bat was. Along the development of baseball they quickly learned that a round bat worked the best. Around the 1900's a rule originated that a bat should not be larger than 2.5 inch in diameter, but it didn’t matter how long your bat was. After this rule they made another one. The bat could not be longer than 42 inches. Around this time they only used wood to fabricate a bat, but in 1924 William Shroyer made the first metal baseball bat. They didn’t use it in game until 1970, when Worth introduced the games first aluminium baseball bat.
User moments
A bat is used in a game of softball/baseball by the batter. A batter is the person that has to swing the bat to hit the ball as far as possible so he can run a homerun. The best way to run a homerun is to hit the ball with the sweet spot of the bat. The sweet spot is the spot where the ball is being struck and absorbs the maximum amount of the available forward momentum and rebounds away from the bat with a greater velocity than if struck at any other point on the bat. The batter wears batting gloves when he’s about to strike the ball.
Materials
Bats are made with different types of materials. The most known are wood and aluminium, but you also have composite and wood. There are different types of wood. You have maple, hickory, ash, birch and bamboo. For different leagues you need to have different kind of materials. For example the Major League Baseball (MLB) uses wooden bats, but in the lower class like college baseball or little league baseball they use aluminium bats.
We also have foam bats, mini bats and baseball bat display
Age/gender
Age isn’t a factor in choosing the right bat, but you’re length and weight is. Gender also isn’t a factor in choosing the right size bat, but the difference between a male and female bat is the colours and design of the bat.
Certificate
A baseball or softball bat needs to have a specific certificate for the league that you’re playing. The most common are: ASA, NSA, USSSA, SSUSA, ISA, BBCOR and ISF. In Europe the most common is the USA and BBCOR certificate.
Construction
One-piece bats are one complete piece of composite or alloy and are often used by power hitters, since they provide less flex on contact.
A two-piece bat is simply in the name. This is a bat with 2 separate pieces combined to one bat. This can be with an aluminium barrel and a composite barrel. This is named a hybrid bat.
The swing weight is a factor you will not see but you will feel. There are two swing weight. One is that the bat can balance exactly in the middle and the other one is that the end cap is heavier. When the bat is balanced you have a more even weight distribution, allowing for a potential better swing speed and more control of the swing. When the end cap is heavier you can generate more power.
Softball bats
If you play softball you have 2 different playing rules. One is slowpitch and the other one is fastpitch. The bats are the same size and shape. The difference between them is with fastpitch they throw the ball with an upwards angle and with slowpitch they throw it without the distinct windmill motion. Another difference is the weight. An fastpitch bat is lighter and can hit the ball with a faster speed.
Training equipment for bats
We have a lot equipment for training you’re swing. One of them is bat weight to improve you’re speed when batting. You also have a heavy stick that has the same purpose as the bat weight.
Award winning bat
Every year Bat Digest rates bats and hands out awards. They look at the barrel pop, players feedback, industry demand, size relevance and tech specs to base their rating. They have 8 categories. The best award is the diamond reward followed by platinum, gold, best high school bat, best youth bat, best innovative bat, best wooden bat and the best rookie bat.
Brands
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