Methods of Breaking in Composite Baseball Bats

Ah, what an interesting topic. Breaking in composite baseball bats is a hot topic today. Why? Because composite bats have raised a lot of eyebrows lately around baseball fields with kids getting incredible performance out of them.

For instance, there was a kid at our local Little League that hit over 20 home runs, using a Combat baseball bat. Not sure what it's like where you live, but over 20 home runs from a Little Leaguer isn't too shabby. And if you watched the Little League World Series, almost every kid was using the blue B2 Da Bomb model.

Anyway, I digress. You're probably wondering what the best way to break in a composite baseball bat is. The first and most obvious way it to just plain old, hit with it. That's right. Just use it. The more and more the composite bat is used, the more the composite fibers are loosened up, therefore making the bat more "trampoline-like."

How does this contrast to aluminum bats? Well, it's pretty simple. As aluminum bats get used more and more, they lose their "pop." As composite bats are used more and more, they get more "pop." In fact, composite bats are best to use right before they break, because they are usually the most broken in at that point.

There is also another process called bat "rolling," that is gaining a lot of attention. I'm not going to get into specifics here in this article, but it is a process by which bats are put between two wheels, and compressed while it spins, or "rolls" the bat in the middle. By compressing the bat, the process loosens up the composite fibers very rapidly, thus speeding up the break in process.

The whole problem with breaking in composite baseball bats is the fact that after they are broken in, they usually end up exceeding performance limit regulations set by the leagues. All bats are tested before being sold to the public to not exceed a certain performance limitations, but since composites get more pop the more they are in use, they actually exceed those limitations after a certain period of time. This has put their legality into question, which is why the NCAA has temporarily banned composite bats for use in the 2010 season.

What is the future for composite bats? Will they eventually be taken off the market for every league, or will manufacturers come up with a way to stay within regulations? Only time will tell.