Wood bat showcases

afew things here---scouts like to see prospects swing wood because they can better evaluate the ability as hitter

our team plays wood all the time and even though we supply the bats many on the roster bring their own wood bats

The largest cost, by far, is the travel. If you are from Florida, a wood bat tournament in your area is much less expensive than a metal bat tournament out of state. The top players seem to want wood. The best collegiate summer leagues use wood. Professional baseball is wood. BBCOR is an improvement, but it is not wood. There is a big difference among wood bats. Not always, buy usually the better wood is more expensive. You don't want to bring a BB gun to a gun fight. Many of the top travel programs have deals with wood bat companies, so there is no additional cost. It's a very competitive market these days. The wood bat people want the best players (teams) swinging their bat.

There are many metal bat tournaments. In comparison wood is a small percentage. However the biggest and best tournaments are wood. Obviously that is because the players want it that way. Also this is where you will see the most college coaches and pro scouts. If a player has talent, I would save money in some other way rather than thinking wood making anything cost prohibitive.

You are correct about the cost in the overall scheme of things. It really is nil, but man, I hate seeing an expensive wood bat break.

As far as the difference, yes, there is a big difference between the $29 ash bat that you can buy retail or maybe on sale for $19 and the $50-$65 maple models. Don't know about the $100-120 model maples as I've yet to buy one for my son. I just cringe at the thought of buying one at that amount only to see it break.

Although.... we do spend $100 easily on fuel that we never see again when we travel to weekend tournaments. So, I guess I shouldn't cry about a piece of timber.

Well said PG and TR

Stafford, You might cringe when the wood bat breaks, but the pitchers love it. I understand where you are coming from.

Our goal from day one was to help MLB scouts and college recruiters. We also use a special ball that replicates the MLB ball. It has flat seams. The reason for this is it gives evaluators a better idea of the pitchers ability to throw the breaking balls. The flat seams show the true ability to naturally spin the baseball. A good curve ball with flat seams only gets better with the high seams used in college and high school. But a good high seam curve doesn't always translate to a good one with the professional ball.

Anyway, my point is that some things are done for scouting purposes and not to raise the cost.

stafford


totally incorrect

TRhit: please expand....which part is totally incorrect. I agreed after consideration about the cost being nil in the grand scheme.

Or am I incorrect about the differences between the cheap bats and the more expensive ones?

Safford, I will take the "blame" for your concern.
When we started the Area Code games in 1987, the pro scouts and I without question desired wood bats.

The scouts, college coaches and players love wood.

Each year we transport 4 dozen SSK ash and maple to Australia for the 36 game schedule.

Our "breakage" is 10% and the remainder we give to the Aussies.

You may wish to research the difference between pro ash and store bought ash and maple.

Bob