Sugar Maple vs. White Ash: Top two species of wood in baseball today

Research has found Sugar Maple to be 10% harder, stiffer, and stronger than White Ash. Recent changes increased its safety factor in reference to bat breakage. Those changes include enhancing the initial selection process, and rotating the hitting surface of the wooden bat (the grain of the wood) by 90 degrees. In doing so, the contact point for a Maple bat is the face grain instead of the edge grain. It has been suggested that the new orientation is a much stronger position, proper for this sugar maple species. Players are still instructed to swing the wooden baseball bat with the label up.

White Ash continues to play a big role on the wooden bat front. Its 150 plus year history in baseball is hard to beat, and there is good reason. White Ash wooden bats are a reliable overall contender, can easily be made into various wooden bat models that players demand, and there is good availability of stock.

New rules governing the manufacture and selection processes of wooden bats sold to professional baseball have been introduced and implemented. And research continues on Maple vs Ash bats and other species of wood. Our company, at the current time, is not involved with MLB or sales of that nature. However, for quality and wooden bat safety standards, Annex Baseball receives, reviews, and implements (as we are capable), the same strict selection and manufacturing processes as those organizations suggest. Making the best baseball bat for our clients, and sent out with free shipping! Maple vs Ash bats will always be a on going battle. But what it comes down to, is what the player is comfortable with. Around 65% of players today choose maple over ash bats.