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Real name:
Bill Fennell
Location:
, RI
Division:
Men's 60
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| Jan. 18, 2018 fennellwg | Topic: Bats Discussion: New 2018 Melee Reloaded Thanks AJC, Your suggestion that the additional weight may be added to both the knob and end cap makes a lot of sense. If true, that would be the same as saying that the addidas Reloaded bats all have the same Balance Point. yes/no? Don’t cut the bat up. Just measure the balance point. Most of the recent 27 oz endloaded Melee bats have a balance point around BP= 21.5” Dudley bats seem to be a bit less @ BP=21” and Combats are typically the most @ BP= 22” Dave V. Steve B. and Doug have provided a good assortment of measurements for a variety of manufacturers, models and weights. All of the above options are possible. Lee can’t tell you, but pretty soon someone will just measure the BP of one to tell us how the weight distribution compares to other brands. There are a lot of people that believe “diluting “ the endload by adding additional weight to the knob is not good for performance. I happen to agree. However, it’s suggested by folks that manufacture and test bats that the heavier and more endloaded senior bat have trouble passing the BPF test for SSUSA approval because they are too good. ....shifting some of the weight to the handle allows them to pass BBF. regards, Bill |
| Jan. 14, 2018 fennellwg | Topic: Bats Discussion: New 2018 Melee Reloaded To cyborg and bkb, Let me say that I encourage your questions. Most of what I think I know about bat performance comes from the Russell article cited by bkb. Russell as well as Richard Brandt and Alan Nathan provide a wealth of experimental and theoretical work related to softball bat design. But don’t let your questions distract you from the few basic “ truths” that the folks above all agree on. 1) Momentum (linear and rotational) is the combination of velocity and inertia. The transfer of momentum from bat to ball is what makes a softball go 300 ft. 2) your ability to obtain max bat speed is inversely proportional to the moment of inertia (MOI) of the bat. The greater the MOI, the slower your batspeed will be. Endload, total weight, length, are all factors that influence MOI. 3) batspeed is good if you want to maximize batted ball speed (BBS) and distance. HOWEVER, if batspeed is obtained by a proportional reduction in the MOI of the bat (see #2 above) there is no net gain in momentum and resulting BBS. *assuming you have a personal preference for balanced or endloaded styles. The bat with the greatest MOI that does not cause a proportional drop in batspeed will give you the most pop , (but total weight, endload or balanced don’t drive the math as much as MOI) , IMO ** What the math and theory do not tell you is whether or not the Melee Reloaded is a turd or the greatest bat ever. Since they all need to pass BPF testing like everyone else and they have a pretty good track record , odds are you will be able to swing one of their flavors as effectively as all the other “best” bats on the market. regards, Bill |
| Jan. 13, 2018 fennellwg | Topic: Bats Discussion: New 2018 Melee Reloaded Lee may not be able to give you the answer you are looking for. If all else fails, knowing the actual location of the bat’s balance point will provide most of the missing information about the mass distribution in the bat . Additionally, it will be the primary indicator as to how fast you will be able to swing it compared to other bats with a known balance point and weight. Folks like Dave of “senior softball bat reviews” has started to provide this info as part of his reviews. Some of the other popular sales reps are also willing to provide such info for bats in their inventory. Bill |
| Jan. 13, 2018 fennellwg | Topic: Bats Discussion: New 2018 Melee Reloaded bkb I’ll keep babbling until lee or one of the other “grownups “ finds time to chime in. Since all the reloads have the same endload, any difference in the final weight of the bat needs to come from either the strategic use of “ballast “ weight or modification to the composite layup of the shell. I believe having 5 different composite shell designs for the 5 different model weights would be cost prohibitive .....and probably not provide significant performance benefits. Typically (but not necessarily) each bat is weighed at final assembly and weights are added to handle to obtain specified model weight. (The weight visible in knob of miken ultra is best example) Most are suspicious that this “dilutes “ the endload , as you say. But I believe the intent of the design is to find a location for the added weight that has minimal effect on the chosen endload....despite the obvious cost advantages. Although it does appear to be dead weight, mass added to the handle does increase the rotational inertial of the bat....and observations by folks conducting bpf tests suggest that the heavier bats in a model line have better performance than the lighter counterparts. IMO, Bill |
| Jan. 13, 2018 fennellwg | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Plantar Fasciitis Excellent timing! Thanks all |
| Jan. 12, 2018 fennellwg | Topic: Bats Discussion: New 2018 Melee Reloaded I believe cyborg45 would like to know if the 29.5 oz Reloaded has 4 oz additional weight in the handle compared to a 25.5 oz Reloaded. Yes/No? .i.e. are all model weights of the Reloaded the same construction other than an additional weight in the handle? |
| Jan. 1, 2018 fennellwg | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Ryan Harvey Tee Hitting & Hitting Tips Swing Makeover #66 Thanks. Nice to see a kid with so much natural ability still working hard at what he does so well. Being a first round draft pick out of high school makes you part of a very select group. An inspiration to young and old, alike. Being older, shorter, weaker, slower will probably never change for me but I can worker harder ...maybe smarter. Happy new year folks |
| Dec. 23, 2017 fennellwg | Topic: Bats Discussion: Dudley bat question Bummer. I’d hate to think that Alan was saying something improper. And would definitely like to know if any of his advice was found to be incorrect. But in the meantime, I would consider him to be a valuable resource in a post seeking opinions regarding Dudley or any other senior bat. Despite any implied confusion, I have always found him to be quite open and proud of his professional experience and affiliations. IMO. Bill Merry Christmas kids. |
| Dec. 22, 2017 fennellwg | Topic: Bats Discussion: Single wall “ broke a Steel recently and cut it open to see what the endload was and found virtually nothing” Yerwombat. You may be able to provide some measure of explanation for your observation. If you were to piece your bat back together and measure its balance point , you could compare to similar weight balanced and endloaded bats. I don’t know the answer for any of the demarini steel flavors. But, the barrels of those bats are really composed of steel as opposed to aluminum. The density of steel is considerably greater than aluminum. So steel barrels would likely weigh more than comparable aluminum barrels. The result would be less opportunity and/or need to provide additional endloading. IMO Our single wall league has also banned the steel. Lot of folks still use the ultimate weapon. |
| Dec. 20, 2017 fennellwg | Topic: Bats Discussion: Single wall It’s possible that this is one time that the manufacturers marketing hype has merit. Using steel for the barrel allows for thinner walls that provide more flex without cracking. Normally the extra weight of steel would be problematic. But they compensate with a light weight composite handle. IMO |
| Dec. 17, 2017 fennellwg | Topic: Bats Discussion: WORTH WICKED REVIEW Dave (senior softball bat reviews) measured the end weight for a 27oz wicked at slightly less than a comparable 27 oz Dudley or addidas. ... still more than similar weight balanced. You probably can feel the difference, but it would certainly be a good compromise while you adapt. balanced 27 oz bats will have the balance point around 20.2 - 20.5” 1/2 oz endloaded 27 oz bats will have BP around 21.5 - 21.75” According to Dave a 27 oz wicked has BP around 21.3” |
| Dec. 8, 2017 fennellwg | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: 50 yr. old world armwrestling champ harnesses rotational power and snap SM65 Both seem to work for me. Thanks bogie, I’ll soon be ready to compete in the “little old man” HR derby. -bill |
| Dec. 8, 2017 fennellwg | Topic: Bats Discussion: diference between melee 2 bats Thanks Lee I appreciate the response. No doubt, all of the Melee bats have proven to be great performers. However, some of your reply regarding the effect of different endloads is a bit confusing. If available, actual measurements of the balance point for a Melee 12 and 13 of the same weight would help folks make a bit more objective comparison until they are able to swing one in real life -bill |
| Dec. 3, 2017 fennellwg | Topic: Bats Discussion: diference between melee 2 bats I agree with callavett. All things being equal; reducing barrel length will effectively increase the amount of end-load. Technically that would imply an increase in the moment of inertia of the bat while sacrificing a bit of sweet spot without changing the overall weight of the bat. But the devil is always in the details. Comparing the weight and balance point of the two bats is the only way to know for sure. |
| Oct. 20, 2017 fennellwg | Topic: Bats Discussion: Is BPF rating stamped on all Senior composite bats approved by SSUSA? No. As I understand it, any bat submitted by the manufacturer for approval in SSUSA will get a “BPF= 1.21” stamp if the bat passes qualification testing, regardless of the value actually measured. I’m sure every customer would like to know the true BPF of the bat they are buying.....but that would certainly put a damper on all the hype offered by vendors to separate you from your hard earned cash. Theoretically, bats testing at bpf = 1.21 are the same as bats formerly tested at bpf= 1.20. The different values are attributed to a change in balls( COR & compression ) currently used during testing. Not many manufacturers are willing to pay for testing of poor performing bats just to get SSUSA approval. But it still seems like there is a wide range in performance for all the Senior bats with identical BPF stamps. I believe that all bats currently on the SSUSA “approved “ list are what you describe as full composite. However I also believe that there are more than a few “alloy” bats with performance comparable to some composites I suspect that none of this actually provides the guidance you aware looking for, but it should add to the thought process. IMO, bill |
| Oct. 10, 2017 fennellwg | Topic: Bats Discussion: Ways to easily identify a full composite bat? @ softballnutz. I doubt the handle material impacts bat performance very much, which is why bobs league permits its use for the kids. It’s the full composite bats they are most interested in keeping track of. However there may be some subtle advantages. -It’s possible to alter the overall flex of the bat with composite. - the light weight of composites has allowed manufacturers like demarini to use steel in their barrels instead of aluminum. Steel is typically stronger than aluminum with more flexibility and resistance to fatigue. But it’s higher density would prevent its use as a bats w/o a light weight handle. IMO. Bill |
| Sept. 23, 2017 fennellwg | Topic: Bats Discussion: rolling I think as we get older and slower, The more a senior bat resembles a 30oz tennis racquet, the better the results for the hitter Loss of bat speed is compensated with increased mass. Extra soft flex in bat permits better storage of elastic energy with good transfer of momentum ....as opposed to deforming the ball with resultant energy losses due to friction. The problem is the above is a pretty good description of bats exceeding bpf=1.21 Even though manufacturers of senior bats may design and build to the SSUSA performance standard, there is little doubt that both " legally approved use" and rolling will transform the bat into something much hotter than bpf of 1.21 I would be among those that believe that rolling has the potential to be a better method to increase bat flex over a larger portion of the barrel. To what extent it exceeds the performance of a legally broken-in bat , I cannot say. We can only speculate what those values may be because SSUSA has no real protocol for testing once the bats enter the market or get on the field. IMO. bill |
| April 4, 2017 fennellwg | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Ball Exit Speed Testing and top Pro Speed Demos..Swing Makeover #52 Thanks Bogie. Always fun yet humbling to compare swings with the big kids. Have you ever measured bat speed in addition to batted ball speed? The wizards that conduct BPF testing for SSUSA claim peak BBS is about 20% higher than corresponding bat speed. So I was wondering if you folks had similar observations. It makes sense that batted ball speed is the true objective. But when comparing BBS with bat speed it would seem hard to have one without the other. Thanks again, Bill |
| March 8, 2017 fennellwg | Topic: Players looking to join a team Discussion: CT/NY border I believe you are referring to PGC. George is on this board as poolshark if you want to reconnect. |
| Feb. 23, 2017 fennellwg | Topic: Product review Discussion: bat break in https://www.clubrollers.com/services/heated-bat-rolling-services-with-compression-testing.html Just found this site. Description of rolling process, bats offered and comments regarding manufacturers warranty are so similar to Kelly's that it's not likely to be just coincidence. Still would like to hear what SSUSA staff thinks of the above. |
