Comprehensive Information on Bat Rolling

This topic is one the REAL creates allot of different opinions and discussions. I’ll try to give you the all the facts and I’ll let you make your choice on what’s best. Bat rolling has been in existence since composite bats have been released into the marketplace. This was around 2000. Bat Rolling as we know it today started with people using homemade devices to accelerate the break in of their composite bats. People use rubber mattets on their bats, standard bench vices, clothes rollers, pipe benders at a local muffler shop are among some of the methods that were used in the beginning.

Sometime around 2002 the first bat rolling machines began to pop up on the internet and this was the beginning of our current bat rolling marketplace. All of the first bat rolling machines were of the Perpendicular style. This has been the most widely used method for bat rolling for many years. The reason is it provides the BEST overall results and put’s the least amount of stress on your bat. Click on the links below to see a detailed analysis of what the benefits and methods of bat rolling are.

Dr. Russell Study
L.V. Smith Paper

Both of these well know studies were done and clearly show the benefits of bat rolling. If you read through the studies there is mention of impact area of the bat and ball. Softball bats are designed to accept an impact of a softball in roughly a 1-2 inch area and the bats are designed to flex in this area. When using a perpendicular roller you are only applying compression in small area and as you feed the bat back and forth are you simply transferring this to a different location of the bat. This is as close to a normal impact as you can get without actually taking batting practice. When you roll a bat via the Parallel method you are applying compression of the barrel in a 6-7 inch area. It’s like hitting a basketball with your bat. The barrel is flexing in places and amounts it’s not designed to. This is putting greater amounts of stress on the barrel than it was designed to accept. As you can logically imagine this is not good for your bat.

You’re probably asking if this is the case then why are so many companies offering Parallel rolling? Well the answer is that most companies are just trying to make a quick buck and get your bat in and out as fast as possible. There are 2 well known companies on the internet that have been in business longer than anyone else (BatRolling4u and Worldshottestbats) They both offer Perpendicular Bat Rolling. Most of the other companies out there offer Parallel rolling because they have limited experience and don’t have nearly enough experience to give your the REAL story.

I ran across a company recently that claims they are rolling your bat first via the Perpendicular then via Parallel. They also say they were the first to offer this rolling. There is absolutely no benefit to rolling your bat any other way than Perpendicular and I challenge anyone to prove that there is any additional benefit. With all the research that has been done on the subject of advanced break in techniques you would see analysis on Parallel rolling if it in fact provided any additional benefits. The reason you don’t see this anywhere is because there is NO ADDITIONAL BENEFIT. It’s simply a sales pitch and by many Bat Rolling Service companies.

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