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RockBats Wood Quality Assurance - and broken bats
Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price: $89.95 Adult solid-wood, $99.95 Adult laminated-wood.
For RockBats to remain the only wood bat company that offers a Wood Quality Assurance on their bats - we need to sell our bats at the Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price (MSRP).
Our Wood Quality Assurance says that we are supplying a RockBat that has true professional-quality wood. True professional quality wood means that the wood grain in the handle portion of the bat meets 3-degrees. We created this slope-of-grain standard, and it is now a required wood standard in all maple bats used in the Pros.
What if you've broken your RockBat?.... First and foremost, we need to determine if your RockBat had straight-grain wood. We do this 2 ways: (1) we need to see a close-up and in-focus photo of the ink spot on the handle - did the bat have straight-grain wood? and (2) HOW did the bat break? If the wood grain has BAD slope-of-grain, then it will break by the classic OVAL-SHAPE break, like in the photo below.
What does not factor into this broken-bat evaluation is the circumstance - and we have heard them all....
..."my bat only lasted 1 game... 3 games... 10 at-bats".... "I hit it right on the sweet spot, and it broke"... "I've had wood bats that lasted me all season"... "I thought this had a 3 month warranty? 30-day warranty?"... "we were only doing soft toss and the bat broke"... "the pitcher was only pitching 50 mph"... "I didn't save the bat, but it had the OVAL-SHAPE break"... and the list goes on.
The short summary about broken bats... "hitting AWAY from the sweet spot is what breaks bats". And only bats with the BAD slope-of-grain will break by the classic OVAL-SHAPE.
So, the only bats that we replace are those that show the classic OVAL-SHAPE break.
And this is very important to understand - all wood bats may break if hit significantly away from the sweet spot. So the only thing we look for in a broken bat is HOW it breaks.
Conversely, any bat may break because the ball hit significantly away from the sweet spot. In the video below, a bat with extremely BAD slope-of-grain was hit on the sweet spot - and it did NOT break. The hit was then shifted down a few inches (about 5") - and the bat with extremely BAD slope-of-grain wood does break by the classic OVAL-SHAPE. Be sure to also watch the stress videos at the bottom of this page... it explains stresses in the bat handle due to hits ON the sweet spot, and AWAY from the sweet spot.
The
following 3 videos show the stresses in the bat handle,
due to ball contact on the barrel. Note that mis-hits
away from the sweet spot cause high stresses in the
handle - this is what breaks wood bats in the handle.
To meet "professional-quality", the wood grain in the 18" handle region must be straight grain at an angle of no more than 1" in 20" of length. The graphic below shows that 1" in 20" (1:20) calculates out to be 2.86-degrees, which is approximately 3-degrees.
What if I did not pay MSRP? (what if I got a discount price on my RockBat?)
If you purchased your bat at a discount price, and you did get the OVAL-SHAPE break - simply pay the difference between your discount price, and the full MSRP - and you will get a replacement.
What if I did not buy my bat from RockBats.COM?
All RockBats fall under the quality assurance, but we do need to see proof of purchase. There will also be a $20 processing fee, and customer pays for shipping of a replacement bat - IF it is determined that the break is a replaceble bat.
Finally, here are some examples of bat breaks that did NOT get replaced...
Cracked and split toward the center... see the stair-step break... this is NOT OVAL SHAPE.
Shattered/Spintery - this is the classic "rupture" break and can only happen if the wood is straight-grained
Shattered/Spintery - even if the bat is further broken into multiple pieces, the shattered portions indicate straight-grain wood.
Softball bat: the next batter picked up the player's bat at home plate, and tossed it back to the dugout - the bat landed on it's knob.
See the ink spot - that indicates straight-grain. Breaks can shoot up into the barrel, but that is not the OVAL-SHAPE in the handle.
