Introduction
Baseball is the national game of America. Unlike football or basketball, baseball needs a lot of equipment to play. Along with the gloves, baseball bats are the most important equipment of baseball.
Baseball bats are found in two forms, wooden bats, and metal bats. The question is, which one is good for wooden vs metal bats?
Here is the question to explain. Choosing the right bat is crucial for your game. So, how do you choose the bat from these two types?
Between the wooden and metals bats, there are various differences including durability, performance, and so on. Also, the approval for the wooden bats and metals are different too.
So, let’s check how could be wooden vs metal bats compared.
Metal Baseball Bats
Metal baseball bats are made from metal like composite carbon fiber or aluminum. Metal bats come into the market in the 1970s. Before that, wooden bats were the only bats that were used in baseball.
Figure 01- Metal Baseball Bats Are Made Of Aluminum And Composite Materials
However, metal bats come simply as an alternative to wooden bats. After being introduced to the market, metal bats got peak level popularity in professional leagues like school and collegiate baseball.
The first metal bats were being made of aluminum. In the 1980s, Louisville Slugger developed a metal bat from composite material. On the other hand, Miken brought a revolution in composite bats in the 1990s.
Consequently, by following the composite footprint, Combat brought composite bats to the market. Combat B3 BBCOR is one of the finest examples of Combat composite bats.
However, metal bats are still prohibited to use in Major League Baseball, because metal bats would facilitate various unfair advantages for the hitters.
However, metal bats have the following advantages.
- The sweet spot of the metal bats is larger which ensures more contact hitting of the bats with the ball.
- Metal bats produce more trampoline effect which creates more power hitting.
- Metal bats are highly durable. They also have a long lifespan as well.
- Along with their durability, metal bats are lightweight, which facilitates faster swings. So, combining the larger sweet spot, durability, lightweight, metal bats produce more power hitting.
Also, aside from such advantages, metal bats have some drawbacks too.
- Metal bats produce solid hitting, which doesn’t help players to improve their batting mechanics.
- Along with more durability and power hit, metal bats also hold the probabilities of injury to the players.
- Metal bats are expensive as well.
Wooden Baseball Bats
As the name reflects, wooden baseball bats are made of wood. Since starting of baseball, wooden baseball had been used singly till the 1970s. Because metal bats first came in the 1970s.
However, wooden bats are the core of baseball bats and allow players to improve their batting mechanics. Because of this, wooden bats are still popular among the youth. On the other hand, MLB only allows wooden bats to play.
Figure 02- Wooden Bats Are Heavier Than Metal Bats
Wooden bats have numerous advantages for playing baseball.
- Wooden bats are precisely balanced in terms of weight and performance.
- Wooden bats help players to improve their batting mechanics because wooden bats don’t allow extra-large sweet spots. Because of this, players try to improve their capability instead of being automated.
- As wooden bats are heavier than metal bats, it helps to develop the players' muscles.
- Because of the lower trampoline effect, wooden bats are less injury-prone.
- Wooden bats are precisely balanced, durable, enthusiast, along with less expense.
However, Wooden bats also have little drawbacks as well.
- In terms of power hitting, wooden bats produce less power because of the comparatively smaller sweet spot.
- With extensive pressure, wooden bats are more crack-prone.
Summing Up of Wooden Vs Metal Bats
If we sum up the things, we can clearly see some differences between wooden vs metal bats. They are as follows.
- Metal bats are more durable than wooden bats.
- Metal bats produce more power in hitting than wooden bats because of the larger sweet spot.
- Metal bats are lightweight, whereas wooden bats are heavy.
- Metal bats are expensive, wooden bats are less expensive than metal bats.
- Wooden bats help to improve batting mechanics more than metal bats.
Conclusion
If you see, the biggest difference between wooden vs metal bats is their league approval. Metal bats are not permitted in Major League Baseball, where you must use wooden bats instead of metal ones. Since metal bats are quite popular among the age group league, we'll talk about them.
As a result, while participating in professional leagues, it is dependent on who you will be playing with. In Major League Baseball, on the other hand, you are required to use wooden bats.