Composite Bat Question

[OGR69]

My son has one of the new (2009) Stealth Bats, but he has been using a friends Triton bat lately. At our last tournament, the bat sounded "dead" when contact was made, but the damn ball was jumping off the bat. The bat had been making the aluminum "ting" with contact, now it sounds more like a "think"-of the 3 kids that used it anyway-my son and another boy noticed more pop and distance, the other kid (who owns the bat) was upset that the bat was now "broken" because of the sound.
Any ideas or comments on this?

[Speedy42]

kid to take a chill and congratulations. The bat is now broken in and is hotter than ever.

[tigerdan]

It's definitley on it's way to being broken in. The change in sound is what you want. When composites are new they have that almost heavy, thick, hitting 5" glass like sound (you are starting the process of breaking down the resin and composite weave). Then they kinda get a duller sound and the ball starts to jump a little more ... pretty soon you'll start to hear more of a "Crack" much like a good hit off a wood bat... that's when I know the bat is broken in.

[cps]

Tigerdan,
That is a very good description of the sound change due to the break in process. I have also noticed the sound will not necessarily be consistent until the bat is fully broken in.

[Union-LL-AA-dad]

Do hybrids/half-n-half (composite handle/alloy barrel) need the same amount of breaking in as all-composite bats? Should I avoid buying used/pre-owned hybrids/composites because they might be close to end-of-life? Which manufacturers' bats break in the fastest and last the longest (Easton, LS, Demarini, ...)?

[tom2p]

???
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My guess ..... the 'hybrids/half-n-half (composite handle/alloy barrel) ' require little or no break in - as the barrel is alloy.
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???
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Worth made a 'hybrid/half-n-half' a few years ago - Wicked Insanity - that had a alloy handle and composite barrel - that bat may have benefitted from a break-in period - similar to the break-in that appears to benefit the more current all-composite bats do.
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As for reliability - it is a guess. ???. Lots of variables. I have seen DeMarin F2's (half-and-half - composite handle/double wall alloy barrel) go for years and years. But I have also heard that some failed relatively quickly (one when kid hit metal fence post ... lol ).
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[Union-LL-AA-dad]

Thanks tom2p. I guess I'm still trying to understand how a composite bat breaks in and gets hot. My initial guess was the comp handle (not the barrel) is becoming more flexible/springy due to repeated bending moment/stress from the ball hitting the barrel. With that theory, half-n-half bats with comp handles would experience the same break-in effect. If the theory is the comp barrel is getting hotter because of localized impact on the barrel by the ball, then you're right - the break-in effect only occurs with full-comp bats. But if this is the theory, then why wouldn't taking a rubber mallet to the barrel all over break in the bat faster? Similarly, if the handle needs to be broken in faster, why not clamp the grip end in a vise and pound the barrel repeatedly all around its perimeter? Sorry for the questions. I'm not only a sports equipment junkie (mostly golf though), but a mechanical engineer with some background in material science. :confused:

[OGR69]

It is not a "crack" like from a wooden bat, but more of a "thunk" like hitting a tennis ball-and that is the jump off the bat as well-like a tennis ball.
The kid's dad has already bought him a new bat, and I offered to buy the other bat from him-cost me a few beers. We will see what happens at practice tomorrow.

[tigerdan]

If it's still at the thunk sound - the bat isn't all the way broken in yet ... it takes a lot of hits off fast pitching to break a bat in. That's why I get my kid his new bat in August for the following spring.