One-Piece vs. Two-Piece Bats

When shopping for your next baseball bat or softball bat, you'll want to have all the knowledge you can before you make your final selection. This can include knowing information such as: the certification stamp you need for your league, the swing weight you wish to use, or even the ideal construction style of your bat. We'll be touching on the latter of these three variables in detail today. Let's dive into the difference between one-piece bats and two-piece bats. 

One-Piece vs Two-Piece | What You Need to Know

The two main styles of bat construction include one-piece and two (or multi) piece bats.  One-piece bats are made from one continuous piece of alluminum alloy or composite materials. You'll see common models like the Marucci Cat, Louisville Slugger Omaha, and Easton Alpha take advantage of the traditional one-piece style.

Two-piece bats are developed and manufactured as separate pieces before being fused together at the end of the manufacturing process. Typically, two-piece bats are joined by a connection point that attaches the handle of the bat to the barrel. Common models that feature the two-piece construction style include DeMarini's The Goods, Louisville Slugger's Select, and Marucci's Cat Connect. 

To help you with the selection process, we have laid out the general pros and cons of both one-piece, and two-piece bats.

One-Piece Bats

Pros

+Stiffer to generate more power
+More energy transfer on contact
+Less expensive to make

Cons

-No grounding point = More vibrations
-Fewer composite options
-Typically heavier swing weights

Two-Piece Bats

Pros

+Create more whip (or flex) with each swing
+Generally offer lighter swing weights
+Built-in grounding point = Minimal vibrations

Cons

-Hitters lose the feel on contact
-Less power for bigger, stronger hitters
-More expensive to produce

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Who should swing what?

It's always tricky to write bat recommendations for a group of players, so take the following with a grain of salt. Every hitter has different preferences with their bats. That being said, contact hitters tend to gravitate more towards multi-piece bats compared to one-piece models. The reasoning for this comes from a couple different angles. First, contact hitters aren't trying to squeeze every extra ounce of distance out of each hit. Instead, they are looking for a bat they can comfortably control through the zone as they try to shoot line drives all over the diamond. Furthermore, when they battle at the plate to fight off borderline pitches with two strikes, they aren't going to want to take the brunt force of vibrations on every swing. It's not an exact science, but generally speaking contact hitters will tend to prefer two-piece bats over one-piece bats.

On the inverse, as you may have already guessed, power hitters tend to gravitate towards one-piece bats when making their bat rack selection. One-piece bat allow hitters to maximize the energy transferred on contact and drive the ball deep into the outfield. These same types of hitters are likely to be more physically developed which enables them to control a slightly or fully end-loaded baseball bat with more ease. In doing so, they generate even more power by swinging a one-piece, end-loaded aluminum alloy bat.

We always recommend that hitters try out both style of bats before making their decision. And the best way to try out a new baseball or softball bat? The Bat Assurance Program from JustBats. It's a 30-day, risk-free bat trial program that gives you the opportunity to swing your new bat before you have to make you decision. If you like it, keep it and we'll send you a gift card for the price you paid for Bat Assurance. If you don't lik eit, send it back for a full refund on the cost of you bat. No questions asked. It's that simple, so what you are waiting for?

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Now we want to hear from YOU. What feels better to you: one-piece or two-piece? What do you make better contact with? Which helps you drive a ball? Take some cuts, see what is most comfortable for you, and then hit us up on social media. And if you have any questions or concerns when shopping for a new bat, contact our team of Bat Experts. Call us at 1-866-321-2287, Email us at experts@justbats.com, or LIVE CHAT with us at anytime. We're JustBats, and we're with you from Click to Hit!