Easton Composite Bats

Having the bat that fits your needs and meets your comfort levels is important in softball. The material used in the bat has quite an impact on your game. The materials have changed quite a bit over the past few years. They have changed from solid wood, then to aluminum and now to composites. Composite bats only started getting popular. Let’s see if they are better than aluminum ones.

Aluminum bats have been used since the 1970s and performed almost as good as wooden ones. It was during the late 70s when manufacturers used different alloys which made them outperform wooden ones. Composite bats were introduced back in the 80’s but they didn’t last long as they couldn’t compete with aluminum or wooden ones. It wasn’t until early 2000 that composite bats had become quite popular among softball players. These composite bats were made of a graphite-fiber material and coated with an epoxy resin. Coming to the performance, the design and materials used allowed aluminum bats to become lighter and stronger. This enabled players to get greater swing speeds. Thanks to the thin barrel design balls which were hit achieved a greater distance as well. The batted ball speeds exceeded expectations and questioned the safety of aluminum bats. This is why they are banned in the little leagues.

Composite bats presently are a lot lighter than aluminum bats. They are presently used by most softball players. Composite bats have a flexible handle, a larger barrel and a larger “sweet spot”. Once they are broken in and the fibers start to loosen up they are the best performers. They outperform aluminum bats as well. A good solid hit with a composite bat and you are definitely going to need a good set of gloves like the Wilson baseball glove with dial fit to catch it without getting injured. The performance improvements in these bats were so significant that almost everyone seems to use them these days. The drawbacks with composite bats are that they are not ready to use and require a good break in period before they perform well. In addition to that they are not as durable as aluminum bats. The durability issue has been fixed in some of the latest Easton composite bats.

Composite bats are quite expensive as well. Couple that with the fact that they tend to break at certain temperatures makes them expensive to use. Aluminum ones are durable and are relatively less expensive but are quite durable. So if you are a person who has no limit to your budget and wants the best possible performance levels from your bat then a composite bat would be your best choice. If not then an aluminum one would do just fine.