Over the past decade, maple baseball bats have come to be very popular with pros and amateurs alike -- especially after Barry Bonds set all his records using now renowned Sam Bats composed exclusively of maple. The ideas is that maple is harder than ash and it doesn't flex and bend as much while the power change to the ball the way ash does. In fact, discerning fans can hear the inequity between balls hit with ash and maple. Maple has more of a dull popping sound. Ash has that excellent Crack sound that old-school fans revere.
But is maple better? It depends on whom you ask. Agreeing to officials with Louisville Slugger, the bats they make for Derek Jeter are all ash, while the bats they make for Alex Rodriguez are maple. Louisville Slugger says that the breakdown between the two woods in Major League Baseball is really about 50:50.
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For those who believe in maple, the idea is that it's stronger and will therefore flex less and last longer. Ash proponents indicate that they think the flex and bend asset of ash is really useful to the hitter (this is also why strong hands are so foremost for hitters).
Maple is typically more expensive than ash. Some of this has to do with supply and demand, but some also naturally has to do with the need to field maple to more stringent drying processes so as to reduce moisture content. Raw maple lumber for bat makers will ordinarily cost about 15-25% more than ash. Obviously, these costs are passed on to the customer.
Bats are also made out of other hard woods. Birch is gaining some popularity, as are hickory and oak now that drying kilns have come to be more advanced. Bamboo bats are also popular -- especially in Southeast Asia. These bats are really laminated strips of bamboo held together by a sophisticated adhesive technique. Many baseball junkies believe that birch and bamboo are really a sort of middle ground between maple and ash. And some habitancy swear by hickory (which is the wood Babe Ruth's bats were made of).
Hybrid bats combining wood with metal, plastic, or bamboo are now being used by amateur players to help them make the switch from metal to wood.
In the end, it's probably fair to say that each player is going to have to rule what type of bat he or she wants to use. Some young players will buy the exact same model bat from a bat maker in both maple and ash, then experiment. Others say they like to use ash in the summer and maple while colder months. Anything the choice, maybe one of the more fun things about wood bats is that they keep hitters reasoning and tinkering with the main tool of their trade.
Baseball Bats - What's the Best Wood?