re: Baseball: Game 3: LSU 11 @ USC 3, Final; Tigers win series!

Bat shaving is a process that involves removing the end cap and thinning out the inner walls of the bat to increase the trampoline effect that happens when a ball hits it. This will greatly increase the pop and distance of the bat. When a bat is shaved it should always be rolled first to eliminate any need for break in time. It’s not uncommon to pick up 40-50 feet of distance with a shaved and rolled bat. Shaving does shorten the bat’s life due to the thinner walls. On average you might lose about 25% of the life of the bat.

A lot of people selling bat shaving services merely roll the bat and send it back making you think you are getting something you are really not. Others do a home shaving job with a drum sander attached to a drill which involves guessing how much material is being removed. This produces a very inconsistent wall thickness which results in less performance and highly increases the chance that the bat will break prematurely. When you see someone charging $75 for bat shaving services you are getting what you pay for. When you get your bat back from one of these guys and you can’t tell any difference, the bat breaks within the first 20 swings or your end cap pops off you’ll wish you had paid a little more to have it professionally done.

To properly shave a bat you remove the end cap and place the bat on a lathe. The bat is placed on the spinning part of the lathe and a boring bar is placed inside the bat which removes a fine and very precise amount of material from the inner walls. The more consistent the inner walls are shaved the more it will allow the bat’s entire barrel to flex.

Shaving does remove about 1-2 ounces of weight. Some or all of the weight removed by shaving can be endloaded back into the cap depending on the type of bat.