What Is The Best Way To Break In A New Composite Baseball Bat?

There's nothing like the smell of a new car or the look of fresh cut flowers. But not everything is better new and fresh. Like shoes, baseball gloves and your favorite chair, baseball bats get better after you break them in. Composite bats hit hotter after you've given them a workout. While some websites suggest that breaking in a bat increases the size of the hitting surface or makes the sweet spot bigger, applied physicist Daniel Russell from Kettering University says that other mechanisms are involved in breaking a bat in.

How Hitting Works

When a ball strikes a bat, the bat and the ball both compress. As the ball compresses, some of its kinetic energy is absorbed by the material of the ball, but the compression of the bat causes less loss of the ball's kinetic energy. After the ball changes direction and exits the bat, the bat and the ball decompress, expanding back to their original shape. The decompression of the bat back to its original form pushes against the ball, increasing the ball's exit speed above and beyond the energy the ball has absorbed by the mass and momentum of the swinging bat. This extra pressure on the ball caused by the slight elasticity of the bat is called the trampoline effect.

How Breaking In Works

Early in a bat's career, each impact of the ball causes compression from which the bat does not fully recover. The force of the ball collapses space between layers of the bat and crushes fibers. The impact causes gentle indentations in the bat called "waves." During the breaking-in process, some of the ball's kinetic energy is lost in crushing the bat fibers, decreasing the ball's exit speed. Once the bat is broken in, the bat is somewhat softer and more elastic, says Russell, enhancing the trampoline effect.

How Much

Russell reports that bats that have been hit 500 times have an increased trampoline effect, creating a ball exit speed 2.5 to 3.5 mph faster than new bats. This can make a difference in how far the ball flies of as much as 27 feet. Many players and coaches believe you can break a bat in with 100 to 200 hits, according to TheCoachReviews. Just like a player, however, a bat has a limited peak period. After 1,000 hits the trampoline effect begins to weaken, according to Russell.

What to Do

To break in a bat, hit real baseballs thrown by pitcher. A pitching machine probably matches the ball speed of most amateur pitchers, but rubber batting cage balls are too soft and elastic to sufficiently break the bat fibers. Doing soft-toss hitting or using a tee likewise provides insufficient force to cause optimal waves. Rotate the bat between hits so the bat is broken in evenly on all surfaces. If you are breaking in a composite bat, make sure the temperature is at least 65 to 70 degrees to reduce the risk of the bat cracking or breaking.

What Not to Do

Don't try breaking in a bat by hitting rocks, fences posts, stumps or other objects as these can damage the bat. Likewise don't use a hammer or mallet to strike the bat. Some websites offer "rolling" services to break in bats. This technique involves placing the bat between rollers that squeeze tightly on the barrel of the bat, crushing the fibers. All of these artificial means to break a bat in are considered to be bat-doctoring. They can be detected by the type of marks left on the bat, and they can get you disqualified from league play. Stick to hitting pitched balls. As an added benefit, taking practice swings against a pitcher will do your game good.