Using wood bat for batting practice - how to prevent breakage?

[NewbieBBDad]

Was thinking of getting an inexpensive wood bat for my son to hit in the batting cages. How do you prevent the bat head from shattering after repeated usage? Someone told me tape it up but what type of tape would I use? Any advice is appreciate, thanks.

[Baseball gLove]

Was thinking of getting an inexpensive wood bat for my son to hit in the batting cages. How do you prevent the bat head from shattering after repeated usage? Someone told me tape it up but what type of tape would I use? Any advice is appreciate, thanks.

We don't usually have a problem with the bat head even against a pitching machine at 75 mph. We found it's the handle that usually snaps, even when using maple bats. We found that the bats lasted months by taping the handle with either leather bat tape or athletic tape. We only tape the barrel so we can see where the batter makes contact with the ball on the bat.

[iamdiesel18]

Using athletic tape on the barrel of the bat can serve two purposes. The first purpose being that you can see where you are striking the ball as previously mentioned. The second use is to help prevent flaking. Occasionally bats will start to flake apart with repeated use. Athletic tape can help slow this process down. Otherwise, there really isn't any specific way to keep a wood bat from breaking besides not hitting it off of the handle or the end and making sure that the brand is on the back side of the bat at point of contact.

[BatSpinner]

Use the barrel, that simple.

[Centerfielder2]

i play in highschool and when i didnt tape my barrel it broke of chiped whenever i hit. now ive had the same ash bat with a tapped barrel for two years and i havent had a problem
i used athletic tape and it works just fine

[wogdoggy]

chance are the only thing that may break your bat on mid 70's pitching is hitting the bat on the extreme end of the barrel or the "idiot" { got that from a coach of mine}

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[chesspirate]

you can tape the barrell with athletic tape AND (my personal favorite) Duct Tape the handle.

I tape from just above the grip to just below the barell. I'll use a number of layers, but be aware this does add considerable weight, although i like it for training purposes.

Just an example though, i taped up one bat really well, and hear it break a number of times, even though it was still very usable in the cage, no excessive flexing or anything like that, balls still came off the bat very well, so one night i decided to untape it just to see how bad it was, and found that there were at least 6 seperat breaks, (all rather large) but the bat, untill i untaped it, was a champ for practice.

[Richmond Hill Phoenix]

and making sure that the brand is on the back side of the bat at point of contact.Don't you mean that the brand is on the top of the bat at contact? Like, you make contact at 90 degrees to the logo...

[CPatt44]

Using athletic tape on the barrel of the bat can serve two purposes. The first purpose being that you can see where you are striking the ball as previously mentioned. The second use is to help prevent flaking. Occasionally bats will start to flake apart with repeated use. Athletic tape can help slow this process down. Otherwise, there really isn't any specific way to keep a wood bat from breaking besides not hitting it off of the handle or the end and making sure that the brand is on the back side of the bat at point of contact.


Ash bats flake. Maple bats don't. The biggest thing I would suggest is if you get an ash bat, tape the barrel using white athletic tape. If you get maple, do that only to see of you hit the ball no need for flaking.

The one other thins is ALWAYS hit with the bat logo facing straight up or down. When you have the bat in your hands holding like you would to swing, extend your arms and bat in front of you and turn the bat until the logo is straight up or facing straight down.

Remember, all wood bats will break, but how you take care of them and proper hitting technique, will extend the life of it.