There are few options as critical as selecting the best bat for baseball and softball teams. Even concentrating on wood bats — Who would have thought there were so many different ways to strike a stickball? Don’t worry, though; we’ve protected you with this simple overview guide to the world of wooden bats. How to choose them and how to protect your bats in bat box. Below is the detailed information about different kind of bat.
Types of wood used for a bat baseball bat and softball bat manufacturing:
There are three types of wood used in the modern game by most baseball bats: oak, ash, and birch. A kind of wood has its own benefits and disadvantages when it comes to hitting baseballs around, and various players choose different bats based on their hitting style and tastes.
Maple Bats :
Maple bats are notable for their strength and are common in major leagues. They are generally made from rock maple wood (also known as sugar maple or rough maple), rough and thick wood ideal for beating. Besides baseball bats, maple wood is also used for bowling pins, bowling alleys, basketball courts, and even musical instruments.
As the wood itself is hard and thick with a strong grain pattern, the maple bats do not bend, and they have a slight sweet spot; instead, they smash right into the baseball, compressing it around the bat before taking the yard. There are, though, two sides of each coin: the same characteristics that make the maple bat a powerhouse also demand higher swinging pace and make it unforgiving — there’s a reason it’s more common in the big leagues.
ASH Bats :
Of the existing common bats, ash bats have been around for the longest — and for a good reason. Replacing hickory bats a few decades back, ash bats are all about maple bats’ exact opposite. Ash is a comparatively smooth, light wood with unique qualities that lends itself well to hitting baseballs.
While the maple bat bursts through the ball, the ash bats are more elastic. Their flex causes a “trampoline reaction,” The bat’s more cork-like grain structure compresses down around the ball (again opposite the maple bat) before extending out again and sending the ball soaring.
Birch Bats :
Ash bats are lighter and easier to swing, provide more stability, and are much more forgiving than maple bats, making them a better alternative for players heading to more competitive leagues.
As one would imagine, the birch bats fill the void between the strength of the maple bats and the ash bats’ bend. Birch bats are the newest wooden bats, and their consistency stretches way beyond, merely because they are not maple or ash.
Birchwood is much less solid than maple, which means that it is not deemed hardwood; however, unlike maple, birch bats have some bend and create a similar (albeit less pronounced) trampoline effect on ash bats. The combination of toughness and bend is the right wedding for a lot of players looking for a bit more power and mercy on their long bombs.
