At Baseball Outlet we have a variety of different baseball bat materials available, these are Ash, Maple, Birch and Wood Composite.
Ash: Ash is still very popular among the big leaguers as it provides great flexibility due to the unique grain structure. You will see less fractured breakages with ash bats because of this flexibility and the visible grain lines allow for noticeable quality.
Maple: This is the species that most pro players prefer as it features the best surface hardness and provides an unmatched sound and feel at contact. Maple is naturally harder than other bats and offers added strength at impact. The closed grains eliminate flaking which is more commonly seen with ash and this allow superior durability.
Birch: This is the fastest growing species in professional baseball. It features the ideal combination of surface hardness and flexibility for increased durability. Birch has a hardness that is similar to maple and provides a great sound and feel at contact. This is balanced with a flexibility closer to ash that allows for more forgiveness on any non-barrel contact and helps to decrease the chance of fractured breakage. Pound for pound birch bats are lighter than maple giving you a lighter swing weights again comparable turning models. Birch bats require a small break in period of around 30 - 50 contacts to compress the wood and optimise it's performance by reaching the maximum hardness.
Wood Composite: Made up of different wood blends. This means that composite wood bats are more durable and last longer than traditional wood bats.
