Putting Your Bat Away for the Winter

The first thing to do before putting your bat away for the winter is to give it the once over. If there is anything you want to seek advice about, visit a batmaker or send photos to one showing any damage you may be concerned about - and they will handle things from there.

If you have no real damage but want a refurbishment, new scuff sheet, toe guard etc - then the winter is the best time for the batmaker as they will have much more time back after the hustle and bustle of the summer season, and you have less requirement to receive the bat back in a hasty fashion. Furthermore, it makes sense to get your bat cleaned, refurbished, and ready for next year - or whenever your next net may be!

Contrary to what a certain bat repairer with quite a substantial following said last winter, do not leave your bat in a garage or shed to ‘add some moisture back in’. This is the polar opposite of what you should do. Always keep your bat, all year round, at room temperature - away from heat sources like radiators or airing boards. Put them in a bat sleeve, case, or even wrap them in a towel to keep the air away, and store them somewhere like a cupboard or under the stairs.

With a fair degree of certainty, I can say that doing this will keep your bat exactly as it was when you put it away. If you were to put your bat in the garage or the shed, this will cause it to soak up moisture from the air, become wet in the exposed surface (where there are no stickers), and potentially ruin your bat for good. I’ve seen bats come out of sheds and garages with a black tinge across all the exposed wood and completely dead faces.

Like in the summer, where leaving your bat in your car all season can be fatal, the same applies to leaving it in a shed or garage. If you were to leave a pressed bat out in the rain for a number of days, when you go to check the bat you’ll notice it has basically returned to its cleft form - at least where material hasn’t been removed - and the depth of the press has completely come out of the bat. This is delamination. Leaving your bat exposed to the elements in a shed or garage is the beginning of that process.

Couple this with a warm summer the following year and the moisture that your bat has soaked up in the surface of the exposed wood will start doing the limbo. At that point, you’re almost certain to be destined for a new bat.