4-6-3-DP??????

If HS's decided to go to wood bats, what kind of bat would you recommend?

What all is involved in making wood bats? Can you tell if the wood is defective before making one?

I grew up with wood bats and 02-04 brought up the point of the correct way of holding a bat; is it still recommended to have the label up or down?

 

Wood Bats

Braves, it's been so long since I held a wood bat in my hands. Thinking way back to my ball playing days, I don't remember anything other than the H&B Louisville Slugger. I was taught to keep the label facing the catcher.

I'm all for high schools going back to wood.

 

I would recommend maple for high school and college players. Its a little more durable than ash. The problem that I run into with ash is that it is tough to get good wood this time of the year. MLB players get most of the quality ash. This is the case with other bat company owners that I have talked with as well as minor league players. To add to that, there was recently some kind of Japanese Beetle that was destroying ash which made it even tougher to get.

I get asked all the time about which way the label should face. If you are using maple, it doesn't really matter. The wood grain on maple actually compacts which makes the bat harder the more you use it. If you ever see a maple bat break, it explodes. With ash, the wood grains start to seperate. That is why you want to hit them on the big grains. The more you use an ash bat, it gets a "soft" feel to it because of the wood grain seperating and weakening. You will notice that coaches tape the barrell on their fungos if they are ash whereas they won't with maple.

I turn all of my bats by hand. The process starts by putting a 37" round piece of wood which is called a billet onto the lathe. I then just turn it down until I get the model that I want. Most of the time, I can see defects on the wood if there are any. If there is a defect on the surface of the wood, I will use it as a "trophy bat" which I believe is what TJ got for you. The bats still look good, I would just be worried about the performance of it. There is no way for me to see inside the wood, so I'm not going to say that I haven't sent out a bat with a bad spot inside or that I may not do it at some point.

I see the bat through ever step of the process. My dad will help me out on occasions because he enjoys turning them as well. I have a small shop set up behind his house where I do all of my work. If anyone is ever interested in checking it out, let me know. I have people stop in all the time to see a bat being made. Its been a blast for me. I always wanted some way to be sure that I could aways stay in baseball and this business has done that for me.

 

where is your shop located???

 

I'm in Mount Pleasant, NC.