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[Cover_Drive]

Hello Guys,

Hope you all are doing well.

To be clear first and foremost, this is not intended towards anyone rather a general thought which has been buzzing in my mind for past few months.

Isn't it strange to see how much of the term "pro-bats, players bat" etc is used nowadays? How come players bats became readily accessible to general public? I thought they were scarce? I see a lot of retailers flogging bats by citing them as a "players bat.'' Are they deceiving the public to make maximum amount of money or they are legitimate? I have bought 2-3 bats from retailers which were "players reject" but I am skeptical on them. Apart from that I have 5-8 which I actually got from player's kit bags.

By the way, I believe in sharpie to an extent as I have seen Canadian players bat (who is sponsored by SS) and they had sharpie writing.

Your thoughts?

[uknsaunders]

Firstly, if a player rejects a bat it was never a players bat to start with. If he uses it and then rejects it or gives it away, then it obviously didn't cut the mustard. Players keep the bats that work for them, it's tools of the trade and we do the same. They will I imagine reject bats that don't feel right, wrong weight, pickup and there may be nothing wrong with them performance wise.

What am I getting at? Simply, unless the player has told you why they rejected it treat any claim with a pinch of salt.

[dcullen8]

If i remember rightly a piece Ben Stokes did during the ashes, something like 5 bats out of every set of 12 he recieves are rejected as theyre not up to his standards.

Plenty of his pro bats floating around then!!

Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk

[ppccopener]

I would bear in mind as well all the sponsor cares about is their branding on the bat so nowadays, unlike back-in-the-day, anyone can make a bat for a Pro,and they use what they like-just sticker them up.

So unless the pro physically handed me his bat and said 'you need it more than I do it's yours' I wouldn't personally believe anyone when it comes to pro-bats

If your also referring to some manufacturers-they all do it it's not one in particular-starting to sell higher grade bats to the general public I've said it before or here and i'll say it again.... marketing...
and it almost certainly works, so from that point of view-successful selling.

[roco]

I concur with thoughts here

the term "pro" or "players" is generally used by retailors or manufacturers to help sell the bat for more

As soon as a bat is labelled it was for X player the price goes up 15%

For me unless its match used by the player its not one of their bats as they may have just looked at it or it was a failed attempt by a maker

Its all spin but loads on here fall for "it was made for x player so its better than Joe Public can get, but I can so I can sell it for a special price just for you"

[tushar sehgal]

Here is how I categorize them.

Pro Bats - Bats made for Pro's and actually used by them, very rare to come across as the Pros are using them, if they give it away then it is either in bad shape (broken, falling apart) or you are a very good friend or does not fully meet their specs - These are the only pro bats that I want to get.

Pro rejects - bats made by brands for Pros they pick x out of total and rest are left behind. Probably very good bats and designed in accordance to the Pro's, they are not pro bats as he/she never used it but was meant for them. No way of validating unless you were the one who drove down with bats and he/she picked a few and left the rest. So could be true or could be just a way to make more money.

everything else is a branding/marketing exercise, to some extent so are pro rejects.

[procricket]

They reject because it is deemed not pro enough for the pro maybe !!!!

But each to there own I have a few "pro bats" and my bats are just as good as so will many of yours

[mad_abt_cricket]

It doesn't matter how we name it, whether pro or players, for me in the past one year there has been a spike with some incredibly big bats for the weights available not only for pro players but also to the end users.
50 mm edge with weight around 2.10 was unheard of. Now 40 - 45 mm is getting common that too without concaving for a decent weight bat.
Would love to know from forum experts/ bat manufacturers like B3 what exactly changed which has led to such big bats. Is this a sudden spurge of light weight clefts available in this period or there has been a change in the technology.

[InternalTraining]

^ The lumber sellers are (probably) cutting the clefts differently resulting in bigger clefts /fewer clefts per tree. Smaller clefts meant more clefts per tree hence more bats for the bat manufacturers.

[InternalTraining]

I have bats that came from the player's kit bag and autographed but unused (no ball marks). These bats have amazing ping. Some of the high end bats purchased from retailers perform extremely well after the break-in period but my players bats are still my match bats, they have incredible rebound and handles feel great too.

I also think it depends on the bat manufacturer and their method of selecting what they consider are "player" bats. I have seen bats picked for the national sides and, again, they perform like trampolines!

[Cover_Drive]

^ The lumber sellers are (probably) cutting the clefts differently resulting in bigger clefts /fewer clefts per tree. Smaller clefts meant more clefts per tree hence more bats for the bat manufacturers.

In addition to price relationship, bigger the cleft means lower quantity with higher demand, thus, higher price.

[Cover_Drive]

I agree with everyone, however, don't you notice that the number of pro-reject/bats/gift has drastically increased?

I can understand dryer bats lead to more breakage which means more replacement bats. As a manufacturer would make few bats for a player at time while he can only take X number of bats excess being reject.

[CrickFreak]

I have bats that came from the player's kit bag and autographed but unused (no ball marks). These bats have amazing ping. Some of the high end bats purchased from retailers perform extremely well after the break-in period but my players bats are still my match bats, they have incredible rebound and handles feel great too.

I also think it depends on the bat manufacturer and their method of selecting what they consider are "player" bats. I have seen bats picked for the national sides and, again, they perform like trampolines!

I have noticed that too. Not just they are big, they ping much better right out of the box.
But whether its used by a pro or rejected doesnt matter becasue the cleft used is different in my opinion. Even if its rejected by a pro you are still getting a better bat and might suit you more than the pro. I lost the pic showing Rahane's bat, was ugly as hell but was massive and ball flying off the bat.

[Cover_Drive]

I have bats that came from the player's kit bag and autographed but unused (no ball marks). These bats have amazing ping. Some of the high end bats purchased from retailers perform extremely well after the break-in period but my players bats are still my match bats, they have incredible rebound and handles feel great too.

I also think it depends on the bat manufacturer and their method of selecting what they consider are "player" bats. I have seen bats picked for the national sides and, again, they perform like trampolines!

I have noticed this too! I have received bats which were used by them and then gifted to me while some which were in their kit-bag until I got them. So, they do perform better than standard bat(s) but latter bats do reach to that point at one stage.

[kaartman]

It doesn't take a rocket scientist...most of the over sized bats are either over dried or under pressed or a combination of both.
IMO, people just forgot about the longevity factor lately.  Most of us are more than happy if a bat lasts just one season.