Bat shaving is a service that thins the inside wall of a composite bat’s barrel for the purpose of hitting the ball farther. This is accomplished by removing the end cap of the bat and placing bat in a CNC lathe. The lathe then has coordinates punched in and the chuck the bat what secured in spins as an arm with a cutting tool goes up and down the barrel evenly removing a portion of the inner wall. Then cap is then secured back into place with a strong flexible epoxy and your bat has now been shaved.

Bat shaving has been proven to work by Penn State University. Gains of 62 feet of distance on a batted ball have been verified through their study. On average bat shaving gains are anywhere from 30-60ft add an end load to the bat and that number goes up even higher. Without a doubt bat shaving works and will cause a batted ball to travel much further than a normal stock bat.

As you seen from above in question 1, bat shaving is accomplished through thinning of the barrel walls making it more flexible. The barrel now will compress more when impacted with a baseball or softball. This impact gives off a greater trampoline effect when the walls are thinner; Like pulling a bow back farther to shoot an arrow. Bat shaving 101 video.

Bat shaving is illegal in all baseball and softball associations. They all consider this to be altering a bat. The reason for this is once a bat is shaved the associations’ distance restrictions on bats is no longer within limits. Therefore, a shaved bat should only be used in certain settings such as batting practice (in a controlled setting) or a homerun derby contest.

With the right equipment, it is easy to tell if a bat has been shaved. Looking down the barrel by opening the end cap is the easiest way to tell. Another indicator could be a Barrel Compression tester. This will measure the stiffness of a composite barrel bat. If the barrel flexes below the allowable limits set by associations the bat could be shaved (but isn’t a tell all). One other way to tell is by simply hitting the bat and comparing it to another similar bat. If you find the bat hits much farther than the same bat your buddy has it is most likely a shaved bat. A properly shaved bat will increase the distance by 30-60ft; those distances should be obvious to the hitter.