Aluminum Vs. Composite Bats
When trying to find a softball bat, you might be surprised at the prices. Why charge over $300 just for a piece of metal? Well, over the years, softball bats have evolved from pieces of aluminum to high tech composite bats. Companies put in a tremendous amount of research and effort to make the best bats that will hit the ball as far as possible. These bats have gotten so strong that there are restrictions in place to limit the amount of power a bat can have. There are even different types of bats for different types of batters. While some players might like the end of the bat to be heavier, others like the weight more evenly dispersed. It may seem crazy to care this much but it is very common for people to spend over $400 on their bat, even in recreational leagues.
Composite bats are made of many different materials, one being carbon fiber, which is what causes the price to jump so immensely. Making carbon fiber is an extensive process, which causes production to be pricey. Composite bats have three different materials that go into making them; carbon fiber, kevlar fibers, and resin. Aluminum bats, on the other hand, are made of one, simple, hollow, aluminum alloy tube. In exchange for the simplicity, aluminum bats have many issues that composite bats have resolved, including the awful pain that shoots up your hands if you hit the ball the wrong way, the annoying ringing noise that happens every time you make contact, and the miniscule amount of power they have.
When hitting with an aluminum bat, the ball sends a rapid vibration down the bat, and to your hands. There are only a few inches of the bat (called the sweet spot) where, if you make contact, you won’t be in pain. Aluminum doesn’t allow for an even weight distribution while carbon fiber does, making the “sweet spot” much larger and effortless to hit off of. There are two different types of pain you might experience while hitting. One occurs when you make contact too close to the end of the bat, and causes a painful buzzing sensation throughout your hands. The other occurs when you make contact too close to the knob and it is described to feel like a sharp sting in your thumb.
Over time, composite bats have gained so much power that restrictions have been put in place. When hitting with an aluminum bat, at contact, the ball will compress and lose energy, causing it to move slower. Composite bats are softer, so when contact occurs, the bat compresses rather than the ball, then the energy from the bat is transferred back to the ball giving it a trampoline like effect. The struggle with making aluminum bats more springy is that in order to do so, the walls of the bat need to be made thinner. If the walls are too thin the bat will simply break at contact. Several problems arise from too much power. It makes it easier to hit a homerun, but too many homeruns take away from the game. Safety is another issue. At higher levels athletes get stronger and the strength in combination with the power of the bat can cause the ball to travel too fast to field properly.
So the question remains: is it worth it? Coming from someone who has been playing softball from the age of 6, I personally enjoy composite bats far more than aluminum bats. The game is overall more enjoyable when hitting the ball isn’t painful. On the other hand if I weren’t able to afford a composite bat I would be enraged that other people can. Someone being unable to spend hundreds of dollars on a bat shouldn’t be such a disadvantage.