Wood Bats

Sam bat.  Online.  Can customize.  

There are lots of great bats out there - Marucci, Old Hickory, Sam, etc.  Honestly, pro maple being pro maple, I'm not sure what the difference is except for the color.  I'm interested in thoughts on differences people see.

I've bought bats at the local Monkey Sports retailer and they have a good selection of various brands.  I learned that I need to bring a kitchen scale with me to the store.  Most of these bats vary between -2 and -3, but I've seen bats as light as -4 and as heavy as -1.  This seems odd given the drying process the wood billets go through and repeatability of the computer controlled lathes.  This is something to consider when buying on line.  My son seems to care so I now weigh the bats he buys.

You've touched on the actual "truth" about wood bats Smitty.  The brands you mentioned are all "generally" good bats but there are lots of others that are just as good but you don't see them on TV because the makers choose not to pay MLB a bajillion dollars every year for what is essentially promotional value (which is real).

The differences in "quality" are really just differences in selection of the billets they buy.  No bat maker has a magic forest with magic wood that is any different from what all the other bat makers have access to.  So, as long as they bat makers are competent and have the knowledge and ability to select sound wood with as straight of grain as possible, there is no difference between them, no matter what they would like you to believe.

Taking a scale to the store is only valid if you are comparing the exact same turning model turned to the same dimensions.  Overall weight is only part of the equation in determining how fast you will be able to swing a bat, and how it will "feel".  Different turning models have a different location for the balance point, or center of mass.  You can have two 33" bats that both weigh exactly 31 ounces but one can take more effort to swing (slower bat speed) than the other if more of the weight (because of the shape) is located further from the hands. This increases the Moment of Inertia, or MOI. Bats range from very balanced (i.e a 110 turning) to very "end loaded" (i.e a 243) More end loading means higher MOI means slower bat speed for a given player.

Performance differences DO NOT come from different species of wood because of their hardness at the point of impact.  Wood is dead mass there is no difference in "pop" because of this.  Maple is perceived to have more pop than say, ash, becuase maple has greater stiffness than ash.  The differences are nil, all things being equal, if contact is made dead on the sweet spot.  The difference show up as soon as contact moves away from the sweet spot.  The more flexible the bat, more of the energy of the bat/ball collision will be absorbed into the bat and exit speed of the ball will decrease.  This energy goes into vibrations in the bat instead of into the ball.  This is what the batter feels when he "misses".

This is where turning model comes into play in performance.  If a player makes contact dead on the sweet spot 1 time in 20, that's pretty good.  The fact is, the vast majority of contact is made away from the sweet spot (even 1/2" makes a difference).  Bats with thin handles and thin tapers will have worse performance away from the sweet spot.  Not to mention that they also break easier.  There is a direct correlation between durability and performance.  The "stiffer" the bat, the better performance it has away from the sweet spot and the more durable it is.

I know I've thrown out a lot of stuff here but I only tried to hit the bullet points.  There is so much mythology and misunderstanding about baseball bats out there that I feel compelled to put out the science and facts when I can.  Baseball players can become better when they are armed with facts.  Cheers.

One of our old timers owns a bat company, its OTW BAT COMPANY.

You maybe interested in the SSK bats. Robinson Cano is a client.

Please review our web site <www.goodwillseries.org> for detailed information.

Bob