A lot of people have asked my opinion about the rash of broken bats at the Big League level.  More specifically, the high incidence of maple bats that are breaking.  There are several factors involved.  First, let me say, in my opinion, maple is a much more durable wood than ash.   I also think the ball jumps more off maple.  It is much denser and my experience has shown that over the long haul you will get much more use out of a maple bat as opposed to ash.  Having said that, maple does have some unique characteristics.  It is a very dense wood that tends to have less flex than ash.  When it does break it tends to snap quickly at times times sending the barrel flying across the diamond.  This mainly happens on hits right off the very end of the bat.  So if maple is stronger than ash why are so many breaking?  As a general rule, the pros like big barrel bats and very thin handles.  In fact many of them shave down the handles to make them even thinner.  Take a big barrel bat with a very thin handle, put it up against a 90 mph slider and some bats are going to break.  That is only half the answer however.  In fact it is the smaller part of the equation.  The bigger reason is that a lot of Major League approved bats are just not very good when it comes to quality.  A little twist in the grain or a blemish in the wood is a broken bat waiting to happen.  There are an awful lot of inferior quality bats coming to the plate in the Big Leagues.  This fact is being recognized by Major League Baseball.  They have instituted new standards for all professionally approved bats.  Some grain must be visible, and a dye is now being placed on the bats during the manufacturing process to track the grain and make sure that it is stratight and true.  I am willing to bet that the number broken bats is reduced significantly now that these standards are in place.  Quite honestly I think the number of broken bats is not significantly higher than years past, there just seems to be much more media attention since a couple of people have be hit by pieces of broken bats.  I have stated many times that in order to make quality wood bats you must be willing to throw out an awful lot of lumber.  Although my bats are not pro approved, (much too expensive for my taste) they do meet all Major League specifications.  Virtually nothing has changed as far as the manufacturing process here at Pro Bats because we have always thrown out all the bad lumber.  Only top of the line bats make it through our production process.  So there it is.  Just my opinion based on my six years in the business.  I would like to hear any thoughts you might have on the topic.

Charlie LaDuca

Pro Bats