How about a GU Bat Use Thread..

[Rob L]

After purchasing a 34 inch Jax bat, I thought it would be cool to have a thread that describes the typical use traits of a bat from an individual player. This thread could help with the use characteristics that would be seen from individual players. If you are well versed with the characteristics of a game used bat, please add info. Traits would include length ranges, weight ranges, tar use, ball mark locations, cleat marks, wear on the upper edges/cup, etc.. If you have good knowledge on this info., please list what you know. Lets see what happens here!!

[zookerman182]

I own and have owned many Alfonso Soriano bats and 99% of them are blonde natural finish SAM bats. He uses MAX bats once or twice a season.

The top half of the barrel on the backside of the bat usually contains a concentrated area of cleat marks and dirt and the majority of the ball marks, ink transfers, and seam impressions are not on the front barrel but right above it running back about a third of the bat.

The typical length is 35 or 34.5 inches and weight is usually 33 oz. All of his SAM model numbers are AS12 and i have seen his number 12 written on both the bottom and top ends of the bat in black sharpie.

Soriano has a signature criss cross tape job that runs about 16 inches up the bat. Black marks are most of the time present on the tape from his always black batting gloves, and i have seen the tape job torn on a few occasions from gripping the bat during the swing.

Also Soriano uses HEAVY pine tar on 95% of his bats. The only reason a bat wouldnt have heavy tar is if he broke it in his first couple at bats with the new bat. He layers the tar on before most at bats so the longer the bat stays uncracked the more tar.

I have also watched hundreds of Soriano's at bats on video and noticed he uses his bats until they break. If you have a Soriano bat that you think is uncracked, look harder because there is probably a small one somewhere. The only bats i see him pull that arent cracked are HR bats and even the majority of his HR bats are still cracked.

He has used SAM bats as his main bat of choice his entire career (NYY, TEX, WAS, CHC) and i have seen M9 louisville sluggers and MAX bats used by him during BP.

I have followed Soriano's carrer closely from the get go and i hope these use characteristics will be helpful to someone who wants to smartly purchase a Soriano bat in the future.

[W_EISENHUTH]

I agree with Zook, I have a Soriano GU bat that I had signed at this years' Cubs Convention. When I gave the bat to him, Soriano and the person sitting with him, went over the bat with a fine tooth comb until they found a hairline crack just above the handle tape. Thanks for the info on his use characteristics.