How to pick the type of baseball bat wood that’s good for you?

First and foremost, it's got to feel good when you hit the ball!

In general, and based on feedback from many players, the type of wood you should pick for your bat goes like this: if you tend to get jammed, go with a maple bat. If you tend to take balls off the barrel end, choose an ash bat. And if you tend to hit it all over the bat, go with our all-wood hybrid bat for extra durability. Want more distance? Both the maple bat and the composite bat give you a little more distance, typically 10-15 feet over an ash bat. 

Maple

Maple bats have become very popular over the past ten years. Maple is a very hard, dense wood. The surface hardness is about 20% greater than ash. The harder the surface, the faster the ball will jump off the bat. Maple is a closer grained hard wood, more so than ash. The grain is not as easy to see as it is with ash. The straightness of the grain does not matter as it does with ash. Maple will not splinter. The grain will not separate. The hardness of maple makes a bat with less flex.  Click here to shop for maple bats.

Ash

Ash has traditionally been the choice wood of most baseball players due to its characteristics. Ash is unlike any other wood bat in the way that the bat flexes when it hits the ball, letting the ball carry further. When a ball is hit with an ash bat, there is a trampoline effect. The ball first compresses the wood, then like a spring board it leaves with much more force than maple. This spring board effect is one of ash's greatest strengths and weaknesses. The spring board and compression traits of an ash bat will cause the grains to separate over time. The flex of an ash bat will appear to have a larger sweet spot. Ash bats do not snap the way a maple bat does. Ash bats will break just as easy, but usually they just wear out. The grain of an ash bat will delaminate over many uses. Click here to shop for ash bats.

Birch

Birch is a relatively new wood used for making bats. Birch is tougher than ash, and more flexible than maple. This hard hitting imported wood does not flake like ash and out-performs maple. A lighter wood, birch allows athletes to swing larger barreled bats through the hitting zone. Click here to shop for birch bats.

Wood hybrids

All-wood hybrids bats (sometime called composites or laminates) are usually made from more than one piece of natural wood of the same species. They can also be made from the wood of different species to combine the best properties of each to produce a superior product. The simple idea behind wood hybrids is to produce a product that feels that same as solid wood but lasts longer and hits the ball further. Hybrids are a very good choice for players new to swinging a wood baseball bat, pre-season hitting practice, batting cage practice, in season batting practice and anyone having a tough time hitting the sweet spot consistently. Vampire Bat does not offer hybrid bats at this time.