Patent 8480519 was granted and assigned to Easton Sports on July, 2013 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A ball bat includes a barrel in which one or more stiffening elements or damping elements, or both, are located. The stiffening or damping elements may be positioned at a variety of locations, and may have a variety of configurations, for selectively reducing the barrel's performance without appreciably increasing the bat's moment of inertia.