Why Does The MLB Still Use Wood Bats?

Baseball bats by PMillera4 is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

“Baseball bats” by PMillera4 is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

By: David Katsanis, Reporter

Why does the MLB still use wood bats even though aluminum bats are way better? First of all aluminum bats are easier to hit with because they don’t break and aluminum bats are usually hollow. That means that there is less weight and therefore a faster swing. Because of the Trampoline Effect when you hit a ball with an aluminum bat the ball is hit wit more energy with means it has a bigger higher initial speed than when you hit it with a wood bat.

Jackie Robinson's bat
“Jackie Robinson’s bat” by ewen and donabel is licensed under CC BY 2.0

So the wood bat takes more skill to hit with. Another reason that  aluminum bats are illegal in the MLB is because if they started using them then all the old stats and records would be destroyed. Switching to metal bats would also make it way harder for the defense to stop the offence. Overall wood bats are beater to practice with because it is harder to hit the sweet spot and that forces you to only swing at pitches that are in the strike zone. I don’t see the MLB switching to aluminum bats any time soon due to safety and the sake of all the old stats.

 

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