Don Mattingly Bats

You can hold the bat in three different ways. The handle is in the shape of a triangle, so you can grip it with either side in the palm of your hand.

My friend had a Mattingly bat and his senior year hit .500 and was all-state. His bat lasted him all year and is still going strong another year later.

My son always pulls the original grip off and then retapes his own.

quote:

Originally posted by J.Weaver #5:
You can hold the bat in three different ways. \

I was not aware there was more than one way to hold the bat. Thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by biggerpapi:
I was not aware there was more than one way to hold the bat. Thanks.

Well, yeah. There's the regular grip, then choke-up, and finally the bunt grip.

I think J.Weaver #5 means that you can rotate the bat 120 degrees and have a fresh surface to hit with.

quote:

Originally posted by infidel_08:

quote:

Originally posted by biggerpapi:
I was not aware there was more than one way to hold the bat. Thanks.

Well, yeah. There's the regular grip, then choke-up, and finally the bunt grip.

I think J.Weaver #5 means that you can rotate the bat 120 degrees and have a fresh surface to hit with.

Exactly. I didn't know how to word it, but that is spot-on.

Of course, that's what I meant, being able to rotate the bat so as to not hit the exact same surface every time.

!!!

Okay, I've still been thinking about this and I finally looked it up.

The handle is not triangular. It's rounded on one side. There's only one way to hold the bat.

I'm not here to say that Donnie Baseball doesn't know about bats, but it sure looks like this bat will wear out faster since you'll only hit on one side.

Of course, he was a Yankee....

BiggerPapi, I am with you, I was thinking the same thing, if the grip is not round, then you cannot rotate it to hope the bat would last longer. Right now the bats are only lasting a couple of weeks (thank God for college baseball), if that, before they go out of round, I can imagine how quickly it would be if only hitting on one side....

Mattingly's grip is more or less on the right track (for training, not longevity) since hitting the exact same surface every time is the result of proper wrist action and is the correct way to swing a wood bat...pros always make contact along the edge grain (very narrow area).

Here's an even better tool (IMHO) for developing swing mechanics:

http://www.prohammerbats.com/

just to be clear...for HS baseball... the NFHS rules prohibit molded grips....

quote:

Originally posted by piaa_ump:
just to be clear...for HS baseball... the NFHS rules prohibit molded grips....

Piaa_ump, you might want to give Mattingly a call...his website says these are approved for high school use.

I can maybe understand this as a training aid, but not for everyday game use.

How about this bat? Seems like a gimmick to me:

http://www.footlocker.com/catalog/productdetail.cfm?mod...eds-_-Froogle-_-null

A question on another board came up about these bats with different handles (Mattingly with triangle shape, Reebok with the holes in the handle, etc) and USSSA's rules related to bat specifications.

Here is the rule:

8.02.F.1 Shall be round in cross section for its entire length, straight from end to end for its entire length and smooth surfaced in the hitting area;


Based on this, the Mattingly bat, and the new Reebok, are not legal for use in USSSA events.

Any thoughts or comments?

Hi Guys,
I do not want to come across as "spamming" here - but thought I could shed some light on this topic as I am the CEO of Mattingly Sports and Don's partner. The topic of hitting on one side is one we get all the time and is a logical question. I do not want to clog up this area with a lot of text so here is a link to the answer about durability. V-Grip durability
The bottom line is that the durability being experienced on the field is at least as good as our leading competitors and our warranty returns are below the industry average. We maintain the same warranty as everyone else in the industry which we could not afford to do if our bats did not hold up.

On the second point of being legal, before we launched our business, we spent a lot of time meeting with all of the regulatory agencies including NCAA, NFHS, USSSA, ASA, Little League, Pony, Dixie, Babe Ruth including Cal Ripken, and AABC and have received official confirmation that the V-Grip bats are approved for game play for all games sanctioned by those bodies.

Thanks for your interest in the V-Grip and feel free to let me know if I can provide any more detail and again, I hope this did not come across as spam.

Skip Shaw

quote:

Originally posted by V-Grip Skip:
I hope this did not come across as spam.

Skip Shaw

Skip,

I sure don't take this as spam and I hope the board doesn't either.

I appreciate the clarification. I guess it's something that I'd have to see to believe but far be it from me to tell Donny Baseball that his bats are no good!!!

Good luck with the new bat!