Bat Rattle – Is It Broke?

One question or complaint we hear a lot is about bat rattle. That is, when you shake the bat, it sounds like a small piece of plastic or metal is shaking around in the bat’s barrel, and, as such, it sounds like a rattle.

The vast majority of the time, the bat is fine. A small piece of glue (used in the endcap or connection piece–if it’s a two-piece bat) has come loose and is moving around in the bat. The bat works fine and isn’t broke.

You can be sure it is NOT a piece of the barrel’s inside. Composite bats don’t come apart like that, and aluminum bats dent—not fall apart.

That said, there are some infrequent times when a rattle in a bat means something inside has broken. For example, a piece of the end cap may have died inside. However, if that is the case, the rattle would be substantial, and the end cap would likely be loose.

Warranty Claims

Most bat companies will honor a warranty if there is a rattle in the bat. In truth, we think they are nice. When you spend $400 on a bat, is it too much to ask that the pieces of glue on the end cap stay in place?

Probably.

We aren’t suggesting bat companies should deny warranty claims for bat rattles. But, we suggest that retiring your bat for a rattle might be an attempt to take advantage of the process because you can. That isn’t bad; a voucher on a bat you don’t like is always a good thing.

My Used Bats Rattle

Again, most of the time, it’s nothing to worry about when a bat rattles. A small piece of glue from the end cap or connection piece has fallen into the barrel and shakes around when you shake the bat. The barrel’s integrity and the connection piece (if there is one) are likely fine. The bat will hit the ball just as well as without the rattle.

Some bats tend to have more rattling going on than others. Bats like the Quatro and The Goods tend to do this more often than others, or at least that is our guess based on the feedback we’ve gathered.

See the best BBCOR Bats here.

What To Do If Your Bat Rattles?

Most of the time, when we have a bat that rattles, we don’t care. We keep using our bats that rattle.

Many use it as a reason to issue a warranty claim. That’s usually not our play. But, if we hated the bat and felt something was wrong with it (like it didn’t feel right and/or the rattle was substantial), we’d go the warranty route.

If the bat were used and/or we were out of the warranty period, then, again, we’d keep using the bat. If the rattle bothered us or we thought it was affecting performance, then there is a chance we might take off the end cap and see if we couldn’t see what was going on. However, replacing the endcap isn’t something we like to do, and it increases the chances we cause more problems than we solve.