There is one best way to use the bat as a weapon and that is with one-hand, your strong hand, for most men your right hand.
The off-hand, empty hand or left hand should be used to keep your foes from grappling you.
The off hand can also be used for navigating a standing casualty. Rather than turn the skull of the first man into a mess and get World-Starred into arrest and persecution, just split his head upon, and leave him standing in a daze to serve as a post against a second foe and/or a starting block to shove off of or at a third in order to expand the contact.
The best weapon to pare with a bat in one hand is a blade in the other.
Unlike most clubbing or blunt extension weapons, the wide end of the barrel of the bat can make a good stabbing surface, not to finish a foe, but to fix their position and shove off before hitting the head.
If the weapon must be used two-handed, for whatever circumstances, do not use it like a bat swung at a ball, but like an empty shoulder-gun that is being used to butt stroke and muzzle rake a foe at close quarters.
Circumstances where the bat might be used two handed are:
-1. A full-size bat in extreme close quarters,
-2. An oversized bat,
-3. If you are injured.
-4. if You are taking a bat from a foe, best done with both hands on the bat and a twist against his wrists,
-5. If you are wrecking a car or door or window as part of a clash or counterattack
The bat is best used for your access denial weapon, one by the front door, one by the back door and a shorter one at the top of the sleeping floor stairs.
For safe rooms I suggest edged weapons and firearms for the last ditch defense. Generally less lethal, and plausible improvised weapons should be used for perimeter interior. The 2nd Amendment is a sham. Rights are fantasies. There are few places in this nation where a paleface will not persecuted for using a firearm, especially against the Saintly Folk of Perpetual Martyrdom.
When possible, keep your bat with athletic equipment. A bat kept in your car should be stowed with a ball and glove. Hardballs are great for close range face throws. And actually, though I have not tried it with a baseball glove, small hand shield and club work great against a knife and I doubt if most street knives would get through a leather first-basemans mitt.
Doctrine for bat use:
-1. Two handed works only in grappling and extreme close situations,
-2. Anti-grappling must include checking the foe with empty hand while stabbing the body and fanning the head with the bat,
-3. Any and all power strokes with the bat should keep the elbow of the weapon hand close to the body and follow all the way through, ending either in a power backhand position or loping the bat back up to guard with a redendo rotation of the wrist.
-4. The best position for stroking with the bat is to have it resting on the shoulder.
-5. Always keep the empty hand high and at the ready.
-6. An absolute commitment to move your feet after every stroke, always seeking a better angle against your attackers.
Training should include:
-1. Forward and reverse figure-eight nunchuka patterns with the bat
-2. Redondo exercises [see the Modern Agonistics videos and the book Twerps, Goons and Meatshields]
-3. Triangle stepping drills are a must. The footwork needed to prevail with a bat or other club against 2-5 men of comparable physicality, is that required in stick-fighting competition.
-4. General and wide ranging forearm conditioning exercises should be used to increase your one-handed wielding ability.
-6. The propensity for the front-heavy bat to fall should be used always to generate rotational momentum to return the bat to a high guard, rotating on the axis of a strong and supple wrist.
This is all very interesting material, and I thank you for it.
But. I would suggest that the most effective use of a bat is as a transmission vector. With proper use, a bat can bring the world to its knees. Or so 2020 has taught us.