Have you ever wondered how we can make a bat weigh -1, or -4, without changing the design of the bat?  Ever wondered what the real difference is between Maple and Ash?  The biggest part of sales is to make your product appear to be the best out there.  Unfortunately, that makes it difficult for you the customer to really be able to tell what bats are better than others.  Most often it comes down to who has the best sales pitch.  The price of a bat can be an indicator of quality, but not always.  It is a well known fact that the higher the price of a product is, the higher the quality of the product is assumed to be.  With wood bats especially, that is not always the case.  Many times with maple bats, the less expensive bats are actually stronger.  This is because in the last several years more and more players are switching from aluminum to wood bats.  They want the same big barrels that the aluminum bats provide, but still want the bat to be easy to swing.  The combination of a big barrel and light weight make for a pretty weak maple bat.

     I'm sure you have seen it even at the pro level.  Years ago, the pro's swung very heavy bats.  The thought back then was the bigger and heavier the bat was, the farther the ball would go.  Bats very rarely broke back than.  In fact, it was not uncommon for a pro to go a whole season without breaking his bat!  Fast forward to today.  In the pro ranks, and just about everywhere else, the magic word is bat speed!  The faster you can swing your bat the better!  Bats started getting lighter, and shorter as the years passed.  As the bats got lighter, they started breaking more.  Today it is not uncommon for the average pro to go through 7 or 8 dozen bats in a single season!  With the trend of bigger barrels, lighter bats, this has caused a sort of shortage of wood that is light enough to make those big barreled bats, and that is why you see many manufacturers with different prices for different models.  They have to charge more for the bigger barreled bat, because everyone wants them so they run out of them faster.  Coincidently, those bigger barreled bats are not as strong than their smaller barrel counterparts!  Of course that is if the weight is the same.  With the wood baseball bats of today, it is even more important than ever to choose a bat that fits you the best.  Otherwise it can be a very expensive endeavor.