?? about composite bats and weather

[LLdad]

How concerned should I be about my kids using composite bats in cooler weather? A Catalyst and Omaha Comp were the favored bats of all but two or three of my minors kids this year. Both were bats that I bought for my son that he happily shares. We suffered through temps in the 50s and even 40s for most of this Little League season. A couple of the kids who usually used aluminum bats (a Techzilla and TPX Dynasty) usually wanted to use the composites when it was very cold, as they didn't vibrate as badly.

Someone pointed out to me that composite bats don't perform as well when it's cold. I'm wondering what the temperature threshold is, how severely the bat's performance is impacted, and whether I should be concerned that we're ruining the composite bats by using them in the cold. I'm also looking for recs on alloy alternatives in cold weather that minimize vibration. I'm a bargain shopper and am seeing some nice deals on non composite Eastons (stealths and connections), and some of the TPX like the Omaha and others. Anyone here want to talk me into investing in a couple more bats for next year while the deals are hot?

[m4ster_chef]

The composite bat cold threshhold is well above 40 degrees. I think it's in the 50's for the Combat and the new Easton Stealth, both of which i have recently bought. The combat virus, btw, is the hottest bat i've ever seen. The best thing to do is buy a 2 bat, Bat Warmer. BaseballExpress sells them for about 40 bucks. And yes, you can crack a bat and deaden it by using it in 40 degree weather.

[2ManyBats]

Here's my $.02

Everything I've read states .... It's the Density of the ball... not the density of the Comp or alloy in the bat.

In the start of my oldest sons season... he would swing his Stealth (SC900 Alloy) on the cold weather days, and his Catalyst (Composite) on days when temp was above 60 ish. Eventually he got into a grove and stopped bringing his Catalyst ... he batted 700 in last tournament. ( in the 8 slot )

Buy the Way, this technology works and Easton is still using it on some of its Stealth
They call it 2-Piece (CNT) construction on in their bats. This is for Vibration reduction ... and it works.

Use or borrow from a friend and Check it one out. They are well worth the money !

[LLdad]

Thanks for the advice. I've been leaning toward a Stealth CNT alloy model or even a ConneXion. I figured the two piece design would help dampen vibration. I used a couple of connexions in slow pitch softball and, while bad hand wringers aren't really a factor in that, found that they really give a muted feel on all hits.

The cold weather and stinging hands are easily my biggest obstacle with the kids I coach. Most years it gets better around mid April, but we were still getting early Spring weather in late May this year. Some of the kids get a stinger on their first or second swing in BP and it wrecks them for the whole session. Not easy to get them ready for games if they're too scared to hit the ball in practice.

[Speedy42]

is a concern I would use the Demarini Voodoo Black. It's 1/2 and 1/2 like the CNT only the Voodoo has more pop.

[LLdad]

Does the Voodoo have an undersized knob? We tried out an F3 and didn't like the small knob. I'm not sure which Demarini has it and which doesn't.

[2ManyBats]

That's a great Point.
I know the Vexxum does .... my sons do not like the little Knob.