Sam Bat Blog — youth wood bats

Over 28 years in the wood bat business, we have heard many things about wood bats.  Some are more true than others! Here are three common misconceptions about wood bats: MISCONCEPTION #1 : Ash and Birch bats are lighter than Maple bats: A drop-3 is a drop-3.  Put another way, an ash or birch bat that is 30oz is the same weight as a maple bat that weighs 30oz.  The confusion probably lies in the feel. Maple is a harder and denser wood than ash or maple.  As a result, when ball contact is made, the wood species feel quite...

The “ink dot test” for wood is not new, in fact it dates as far back as WWI!  The test was developed to measure the straightness of the grain of hardwoods used for airplane propellers and has been used for decades. The straighter the grain the stronger the wood.  Sam Holman the Founder of SAM BAT is very passionate about aviation and was well aware of the cutting properties necessary to cut a great piece of “bat wood”. Sam took this into consideration when he was creating the first professionally approved maple bat. This special cutting, coupled with the drying process...

We often get asked ‘What Custom bat is best for me?’ or ‘What Custom bat is best for my kid?’ Although it is a fair question to those new to wood bats, it is not a cookie cutter answer! Each player will have many different preferences on a number of things including length, weight, knob, handle, and more.  Every Pro Player that has ordered from us has customized something special to themselves. What works best for one player won’t work for another it should be an extension of yourself, to transfer energy to the ball. So here is how to...

Continued from our previous blog post! WHY DID SAM CHOOSE MAPLE? When Sam was first tasked to find a better wood than ash for baseball bats by then Rockies scout Bill McKenzie, he wasn’t quite sure what wood could be better. He was great at working with wood and knew the different characteristics of a lot of wood, but had never tried to make a baseball bat. Sam spent countless hours in the library researching different types of wood from oak, to hickory, to beech, to walnut, and finally to maple.  You cannot just use any type of wood to...

This is a question at SAM BAT we get every day and frankly it is a great question! Many people think these  maple bats must be ‘better’ or give you some advantage. When Sam created the first pro approved maple bat back in 1997, changing the bat industry, he did a lot of research on the properties of maple. Wood is a natural biomaterial. Mother Nature does not make two maple trees exactly the same. Even within each maple tree there is variation, they may be similar but not exactly the same. Every piece of wood is not the same weight....