Loading a bat

[Tater10]

How would one modify an aluminum softball bat?

How much distance would it add on average?

This is just an experiment, I have an old aluminum softball bat, and I drilled out the plug on the end. I'm going to throw some metal washers in there and epoxy it up. It will look obviously modified, so I'm not trying to cheat, just for experimental purposes only.

[srjunkacct]

I don't think changing the mass of the bat will really affect anything. The momentum you supply to the bat will still remain the same. I guess if you're playing fast-pitch softball, it might help to be able to get the bat around the plate quicker. I don't really know, as I've never played hardball or fast-pitch softball.

The factor that would add distance would be if you could improve the elasticity of the bat. I don't think you could really improve upon it by "corking" or "loading" it, but I could be wrong.

[vhawk01]

Ok, what distance are the fences in your softball games? 220? Maybe 250-275 to center? If you can't hit a softball 250 feet with an aluminum softball bat, corking it cannot help you. Actually, I dont even think you can cork an aluminum bat...its already a trampoline.

[atrifix]

I would imagine that it's actually harder to hit home runs with an aluminum bat, because the ball doesn't hang in the air as long. But I could be wrong.

[soko]

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I don't think changing the mass of the bat will really affect anything. The momentum you supply to the bat will still remain the same.

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Gravity is helping you swing the bat, more mass is more momentum

[srjunkacct]

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I don't think changing the mass of the bat will really affect anything. The momentum you supply to the bat will still remain the same.

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Gravity is helping you swing the bat, more mass is more momentum

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1. Gravity will only help if one swings the bat down on the ball, which I'm pretty sure nobody does.

2. More mass * lower bat speed => the amount of momentum that one imparts to the bat will remain the same. What matters is how much of this momentum is transferred to the ball upon contact.

[atrifix]

It all depends on where you add the mass, what kind of material you use, etc. The bat isn't making a head-on collision with the ball. As a general rule of thumb, I think less mass is more optimal, because it increases the speed with which you swing the bat. Of course, if you can keep up the same swing speed with a heavier bat, using the heavier bat is better.

[vhawk01]

Well, the idea is that you can get more bat speed, and that the fences arent very long. Sure, it might be easier to hit a 400 ft blast with a wooden bat than an aluminum one (although I don't really see why this would be true) but its way easier to hit the ball 270 ft consistently with an aluminum bat.

[srjunkacct]

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It all depends on where you add the mass, what kind of material you use, etc. The bat isn't making a head-on collision with the ball. As a general rule of thumb, I think less mass is more optimal, because it increases the speed with which you swing the bat. Of course, if you can keep up the same swing speed with a heavier bat, using the heavier bat is better.

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Bat speed and bat mass by themselves do not matter (except for the bit about getting around the plate quickly, i.e. swinging the bat quickly enough to hit the ball flush instead of hitting a foul ball). Momentum, which is the combination of the two, does matter. And the momentum that you supply to the bat (or, more accurately, to the combination of bat and body) is basically a function only of your legs pushing off the ground, assuming that you have an efficient swing that doesn't have any hitches.

The material, mass distribution of the bat, etc. all can be encapsulated in the elasticity factor, but I find it hard to believe that one would improve significantly over a well-designed aluminum bat. I would guess that if one hollowed out the bat, filled it up with some other substance, and then recapped it, the seam between the aluminum and the foreign matter would decrease the bat's elasticity.