Bat shooting has been a guessing game for most people who shoot; what pressure to use, how long to roll, which bats break easily, etc. There are quite a few more factors to rolling than just applying pressure A and rolling B the number of times. People are buying rolling machines and testing pressures on eBay and Craigslist customers. I can tell this from some of the negative feedback left on eBay and in the forums. There are snippets on forums, videos, and websites on how to hit, but there is no magic guide to how to do it. I feel a little weird saying bat rolling is an art, but it really is a delicate process. A college professor once told our class that reading a book, one hour a day, on a specific subject will make you an expert on that subject. He would definitely say that this is not true for rolling, although it is a good start. In my opinion, an hour a day of shooting will take you to become an expert. The old saying, practice makes perfect has some merit with rolling.
Picture this, there are about 22 people selling bat roller services on eBay and of those only 5 have been rolling for over a year (in terms of their time on eBay or as an internet company). Also, there’s no way to tell how long someone has been rolling when shopping on Craigslist. If a good ad on eBay or Craigslist can entice you to give up your $300 bat, so be it, but I’d be better off leaving my money with the guy who has good reviews and has spent the time and money running a website. . Word of mouth is a great way to go, that is if you know someone. Just do me a favor before you work on your bat…do some research on the person or company that rolls your bat. Search eBay feedback and check the web, it doesn’t take long.
What’s 15 minutes to make sure your $300 bat doesn’t break? Most legitimate laminating companies offer a broken bat guarantee. Some of the common things you will read or see on eBay are: “don’t let an amateur roll your bat”, inflation of distance results, such as saying you will gain “20-60 feet of distance” (20-40 feet away). distance has been tested, no more). People have pictures of bats rolling around in their living room. I’ve seen a guy blame the manufacturer for breaking a bat, are you kidding? The same guy wrote that the bat will compress. 186 inches; this would break any bat before it got to half that number, amazing. One guy offers “hot” and “super hot”, email him and see if there is a “super hot”. Another guy recently wrote his own guide to hitting and sells it on eBay, the guide is so bad it has the wrong measurement of pressure (it was 6 rounds off the mark that would break any bat because 1 turn is the max pressure for most bats) Please don’t be offended if you roll the bats, just tell the truth and run a legitimate business without fancy propaganda. All bat rolling companies will share the reputation for quality bat rolling rather than a few bad seeds that leave a bad taste in the mouth of customers and potential customers. In the Marine Corps we used to call the bad seeds the 10% that recruiters pushed. Unfortunately, I see a lot more than 10% when I search online and on eBay. I’m sure the major bat laminating companies will read this article and understand exactly where I’m coming from. Those hitters who don’t understand will be waiting to “hook” that new bat of yours.
The 10% I’m talking about have been doing things to hurt the industry and the reputation of hitting, which has been bugging me for a while. Seeing the nonsense around me I asked myself, what could I do? I didn’t want to mention anyone by name because that also discredits me. I needed to do something to help. Have you ever heard the saying, “Give a man a fish”? I’m sure you’ve heard that. I thought I could create a base to roll to help those who want it. Spread the knowledge of 4 years of shooting, maybe that can make a difference.