The 2 Biggest Scams in Bat Rolling

I make my living off of rolling bats so why would I loose out on thousands of dollars by stating bat rolling does not help alloy bats? The answer is Integrity. I cannot knowingly cheat the players of the game I love. The most significant scam first; rolling metal bats. Every bat roller in the business knows, without a shadow of a doubt, that bat rolling, heated bat rolling, or any other type of bat rolling does not benefit an alloy bat. It does not increase durability, and it does not increase distance. An aluminum bat will hit the same out of the wrapper until the alloy dents and breaks down; this is the way it has been for decades. There are companies who state that bat rolling aluminum bats work. Companies say things like, "Yes, we will roll your aluminum bats" or (bat rolling) "helping to prevent against denting in metal/aluminum/alloy bats"; both of these claims are deceptive. And even worse, some companies are selling new rolled alloy bats, knowing there is no advantage to rolling aluminum bats. You will be able to tell extremely quick who cares about their customers and who is motivated by profit by researching who sells rolled aluminum bats. To be honest, I expected all my competitors to sell rolled alloy bats, and I will mention who do not because it shows some integrity. Here are the companies that do not sell rolled alloy bats: Big Dawg Bats (that's us), Home Run Derby Bats Only, The Bat Doc, and Gorilla Bats. That means all other companies are selling rolled metal bats and swindling their customers. If they are using a compression tester, they are knowingly cheating them (which all of them use). The compression test number of an alloy bat will not change even with a standard roll, a heat roll, or a super roll (although compression numbers can be manipulated in pictures and videos). Bat rolling an aluminum bat will not increase the trampoline effect, not increase exit velocities and not increase the bat's durability as some would have you believe. This the biggest money-grabbing scam going on in the bat rolling industry. (It is a small list but alloy bats with a composite or plastic ring do have the potential to have a minimal drop in compression. For example; I tested 12 Demarini's The Goods baseball bats and they consistently dropped about 50 lbs (The Goods has a hard plastic restrictor ring).

  Some bat rollers would have you believe they have amazingly come up with a new and improved way to roll bats with heat. Some companies push that heat rolling is the only way to break in a bat, and others state that it does nothing. I, along with a couple of other bat rollers, understand that heat can help break in certain bats. I started to heat roll bats in 2011 when Easton came out with their new slow-pitch bats. The outer shell of these bats was cracking with less bat roller pressure. I experimented with temperature and found by heating the bat, more pressure could be added without breaking the outer shell of the barrel. It took about

two years for others to catch on to what I was doing, and in 2013 heated bat rolling was “a thing.” Heat can also be more effective when breaking in Bbcor bats. I have also found that not all bats can withstand heat, making the outer shell more prone to breaking. Heat can also cause decals or paint to slide or come off the barrel. When heated and rolled, there is some composite bats that do not break in when heat rolled, as in no change in compression from the initial compression reading. Let that same bat cool off and reroll it without heat, and the break-in process occurs. There are bats that you can heat, roll, cool-off, roll, and heat again, then roll that produces an exceptional break-in. Where I am going with all this is that heated bat rolling is not some magical all-encompassing break-in technique. Other break-in strategies need to be utilized, or you will not get every bat broken into its fullest potential.