Have you ever been playing baseball and asked; Why Do Bats Sting Your Hands? You’re not alone! A lot of people don’t know why this happens, but today we’re going to find out.
Keep reading to learn more about why baseball bats can hurt your hands and what you can do to avoid the pain.
A baseball bat is generally made of wood, aluminum, or metal alloy. The best material used to make a baseball bat is hickory. It gives the best results in terms of swing speed, durability, and weight.
Baseball bats work by transferring energy between two objects that collide with each other.
What Are the Reasons Why Do Bats Sting Your Hands?
It’s simple: friction! Friction is the force that acts between two objects when they slide or rub across each other. When you swing a bat, it rubs against your hands and causes them to sting.
You can test this by putting your bat in a sock and rubbing it on your shirt sleeve. You’ll feel the force of friction pushing your hands back.
A baseball bat can sting because when you hit the ball improperly or miss it completely, the vibration will travel up the length of the bat to your hands. This vibration can cause discomfort but is not dangerous.
On the other hand, wooden and metal alloy bats have a smaller sweet spot which means you need to hit the ball in a different place each time to avoid the sting.
You will also need a lot of practice hitting the ball if you want to feel comfortable while playing.
What Is the Composition of a Baseball Bat and How Does It Affect Its Performance?
A baseball bat consists of a long cylindrical handle and a round barrel. The handle is where you grip the bat, and the barrel is what you hit the ball with.
There are two major types of bats: aluminum and wood, which both have advantages and disadvantages. Aluminum bats absorb more vibration than wooden bats so they don’t sting your hands as much.
However, the advantage of using a wooden bat is that it has a higher “trampoline effect,” which means there’s more spring in the ball when you hit it.
The Physics Behind Why a Baseball Bat Stings Your Hands When You Hit the Ball
If you’ve ever played baseball, you know that when you hit the ball just right, it feels great. When struck perfectly on the sweet spot, a well-hit baseball can travel nearly 500 feet!
However, if your timing was just a bit off and you mis-hit the ball by even a few inches or missed the bat’s sweet spot by a fraction of an inch, you get an entirely different feeling. In this case, the ball will not travel nearly as far and it feels like you just sand-papered your hands!
Why does this happen?
The answer has to do with what makes a bat vibrate in the first place. When a baseball is hit, the bat bends and vibrates. This vibration is caused by a force called “centrifugal force,” which comes from trying to make something go in a curved path on a curved surface.
The ball feels like it’s coming in slow, so the pitcher starts winding up to throw harder. You try to hold onto the bat but it starts to bend and vibrate in your hands. And when the ball gets hit by the bat, it leaves in a hurry and there is less time to react.
How to Deal With Stinging Baseball Bats?
A baseball bat sting is a common complaint of batters at all levels. It can be caused by many things, most notably an improper grip on the bat. A few simple steps in gripping your bat properly before stepping up to the plate can reduce or even eliminate this problem for good!
If you are experiencing pain when swinging your bat, check these three points first
1. Your grip on the bat. Do you hold it too tight? If so, grip the bat about an inch further down to compensate for your overly-tight grip. Doing this should relieve some of the tension in your hands and arms (just make sure not to move your grip up too much or you will just end up with the same problem again).
2. Your grip on your bat is still too tight! If you have loosened your grip as suggested above and are still experiencing a stinging sensation in your hands, this may be an indication that you need to loosen your fingers more.
This will require bending them at the second knuckle of each finger to keep them from wrapping around the bat too tightly. Just make sure not to bend them too far or you will feel a cramp of tension develop in your forearm muscles!
3. Your grip on your bat is perfect, but this issue is persisting… There are many reasons why a baseball may sting your hands.
A new baseball with a tightly wound cover could be the culprit, as well as a small cut or abrasion on your palm. Perhaps you might just need to give your hands a break and let them rest for a few days!
If this problem does not disappear even after trying all of the above steps, your baseball bat may be too heavy. If this is the case, you should consider purchasing a lighter bat.
If you are not already using a lightweight baseball bat, even one that is 2 or 3 ounces less than your current model can make a huge difference and greatly reduce any stinging sensation in your hands.
How to Prevent Sting in Your Hands by Wearing Batting Gloves or Using an Aluminum Bat?
Batting gloves or an aluminum bat are designed for protecting your hands from any kind of sting. They are great at this but there are a few considerations you should know about them.
First, just because the glove has padding does not mean that it is completely protected against the sting. Gloves can be too thick and limit your sense of feeling the ball as you hit it. So you may feel a sting even though the glove is designed to protect your hands from that sting. Also, using a baseball bat that has been wrapped with batting tape can tear up the inside of your new, expensive batting gloves in no time!
The second choice would be an aluminum bat as they are less likely to produce any stinging sensation. A good aluminum baseball bat can last for years with proper use and care. Even though they are generally heavier than a wooden baseball bat, if you hit the ball squarely they will feel lighter.
Some Other Methods for Preventing Hand Pain, Such as Wrapping Grip Tape Around the Handle of the Bat or Adding More Padding on Top of the Handle?
Many products claim to help prevent stings in baseball bats. One, called Bat Saver, is a rubber sleeve that fits over your bat handle. It has small balls inside the sleeve which act as shock absorbers for any vibration coming from impact with the ball. This might work to reduce some of the stings but does not eliminate them.
Bat Grip can be used to cover the handle of your bat. It is a cloth-like substance that you wrap around the handle and it helps provide you with a better grip, thus reducing or eliminating any stinging sensation in your hands. It has good reviews on Amazon so it might be worth trying!
Lastly are other ways, such as simply getting used to the discomfort or taping up your bat handle to make it thicker. Make sure you clean off any tape before hitting the ball! Batting gloves are also great for reducing sting in your hands, but these often need replacing after a few months of use (since they start falling apart pretty quickly).
How to Reduce Stinging in Your Hands?
2 factors contribute greatly to stinging hands when hitting the ball: speed of the pitch and the location of the pitch.
For the first problem, you should always be aware of how fast a pitcher can throw. If he is throwing 90+ mph regularly, you will need to adjust your swing accordingly to avoid any sting in your hands. A 90-mph fastball thrown by a high school or college player really should be hit with an uppercut swing to drive the ball. And if you are facing a professional pitcher who can throw 100+ mph, your bat speed should be just as quick and you will need to hit the ball right out of the park!
Final Thought
The best way to avoid any stinging sensation in your hands when hitting the ball is to use an aluminum bat or batting gloves. The bat will absorb most of the shock coming from impact with the ball, while batting gloves are just thick enough to cushion against any sting that may come. Also, be sure to watch how fast a pitcher is throwing so you can adjust your swing accordingly.
