Hirez fucked around with this message at 02:36 on Mar 7, 2021

• BESR 1998-2011: Ball Exit Speed Ratio or BESR was a former standard that people usually mean when they say metal bats are insanely juiced. BESR is really just a formula for a balls exit speed based on the balls pitched velocity and it must be under a certain limit for a bat to be certified. A lot of the controversy surrounding BESR was around composite metal bats (not the same as wood composite!), we'll get into what composite bats are later but the idea is the more you hit with a composite bat the more responsive the barrel becomes and the bat gets "hotter". This allowed manufacturers to make bats that passed the BESR standard when brand new but would exceed these standards the more you hit with them. This started to get dangerous and the NCAA eventually banned composite bats leading to the formation of the BBCOR standard.
  
  
• BBCOR 2012-present: BBCOR isn't too disimilar to BESR, it sets standards for both wood and metal bats including length, weight and responsiveness of the barrel. One major change was the BBCOR tests "break in" bats prior to testing, manufacturers have to ensure their bats won't get too hot over time or their bats can be banned. This actually happened with the 2020 Louisville Slugger Meta 33" in 2020 and it was banned from NCAA baseball.
  
  
  Note: BBCOR is the defacto standard outside professional leagues. Most high school/amateur leagues follow NCAA rules and bat bans and require a bat to be BBCOR certified.
  
  
• USSSA: This is for little league and senior leagues, it allows for greater barrel performance and bats of greater drop than BESR/BBCOR which limit to only -3. USSSA bats can go down to -8 which allows for some insanely light bats that would be dangerous to use for adults.
  
  
  
  
• MLB: I'll just post the rules below, but the gist of it is Major League bats must be no lower than -3 drop and have to be one solid piece of wood, this rules out any composite or bamboo bats that are allowed in BBCOR.
  
  

  quote:

  (a) The bat shall be a smooth, round stick not more than 2.61inches in diameter at the thickest part and not more than 42inches in length.
  The bat shall be one piece of solid wood. NOTE: No laminated or experimental bats shall be used in a professional game (either championship season or exhi-bition games)
  until the manufacturer has secured approval from the Rules Committee of his design and methods of manufacture.
  (b) Cupped Bats. An indentation in the end of the bat up to 1¼ inches in depth is permitted and may be no wider than two inches and no less than one inch in diameter.
  The indentation must be curved with no foreign substance added.
  (c) The bat handle, for not more than 18 inches from its end, may be covered or treated with any material or substance to improve the grip.
  Any such material or substance that extends past the 18-inch limitation shall cause the bat to be removed from the game.
  

  
  Note: (c) you'll notice does not specifically refer to pine tar but allows for "any material or substance to improve the grip". Most of what you see these days are pine tar alternatives like Tiger Stick, which are those push pop things you see guys using on deck. Actual pine tar is really messy and stains everything, such as Justin Turners jersey.
  
  MLB bats must also pass an ink dot test for maple wood bats. With the growing popularity of maple and their propensity to explode in dramatic and dangerous fashion MLB introduced the ink dot test in 2009, a dot of ink is placed 12" from the knob which is considered the most fragile point of the bat and the woods fibers must run no more than 3 degrees off parallel with the bat as seen by the ink dot. This is mostly a safety selection test so that only the highest quality maple wood which is less likely to shatter is used in MLB bats.
  
  
  

• Knob: This is really all about "feel" and comfort. Power hitters who like to hold the bat with the bottom hand pinky hanging off the end might prefer a cone knob. But again there are no rules here, just whatever an individual is most comfortable with. Me personally, I like a traditional knob. Here is an image of 3 common knobs; a cone, traditional and tapered another common knob which I don't own is the bell knob which is like a fatter tapered knob.
  
  
  
  Today bat makers are experimenting with knobs such as the Axe handle, you've probably seen this in recent years as guys like Mookie Betts have really helped drive it's popularity. As the name suggests it's shaped like an axe handle, the manufacturer Axe Bat claims it improves range of motion in the swing and extra comfort. I've swung Axe bats and think they're perfectly fine, I know other people don't like the feel and some people swear by them. Can't say I personally have a strong preference either way and since bats have to license the knob from Axe you don't have a lot of options for bats with this knob. Another new competitor to the Axe handle is the ProRX
  
  Axe Handle
  
  
  ProXR
  
  
  
• Handle: This is the part you hold in your hands and is usually dictated by the turn model for wood bats. A thicker handle is more durable and usually preferred by contact hitters who find it gives them more control as well as less end load making the bat feel lighter. Power hitters usually like a thin handle which shifts the weight towards the barrel.
  
  
• Barrel: For wood bats a bigger barrel means more mass towards the end of the bat (end loaded) versus a smaller barrel with a thicker handle (balanced). Power hitters want end load, contact hitters usually prefer a more balanced bat that is easier to control.
  

• Ash: This used to be THE wood of the MLB, until one day a guy named Barry Bonds came along swinging maple and everyone decided they should probably swing that too. Ash is a porous grain wood, meaning it is less dense and slightly more flexible and is more forgiving on mishits off the sweet spot which are usually characteristics favoured by contact hitters. You can recognize ash bats by their very pronounced grain patterns (Ben Zobrist bat is a good example).
  
  
  
  
• Maple: Barry Bonds pretty much single handedly made maple the standard wood baseball bat today. Maple is a very dense and rigid wood, it's favoured by power hitters for the extra mass in the barrel as well as a rigid handle that allows for maximum pop. Maple also shatters when it breaks and was almost banned because they posed such an injury risk (Welington Castillos maple bat speared Tyler Colvin in the chest in 2010). MLB eventually limited the density and species of maple wood that can be used in bats along with the ink dot test described above but it's still very much the preferred wood bat species today.
  
  
  
  
• Birch: Birch is a relative new comer, it's sort of a hybrid between ash and maple as it's denser than ash but has more flexibility than maple. It's not as popular as maple but more players appear to be swinging it.
  
  
  
  
• Bamboo: Bamboo is not approved by MLB as it is not a single piece of wood (also it's a grass) but a bunch of compressed bamboos strips. It's allowed under BBCOR standards so you will see it occasionally in amateur leagues as it's very durable. Often used for batting practice or the more budget conscious hitter.
  
  
  
  
  
• Wood Composite: This means different things depending on the manufacturer, but generally a wood composite bat is some kind of composite core (bamboo, carbon fiber) surrounded with a wood shell often maple. The handle will also usually be made of the composite material for additional strength. Composite bats are very durable and will last for multiple seasons but have similar performance to traditional single piece wood bats. Again these are only allowed in BBCOR, so you won't see these in MLB.
  
  
  

• 110: This is usually a contact hitter bat, it's a smaller barrel with a long taper to a thick handle. This provides more mass towards the handle and is easier to control with less pop because of a lighter barrel.
  
  
• 271: Slightly more end loaded than a 110 but still a pretty balanced bat. A shorter taper to the barrel with a slightly thinner handle. Good all around bat.
  
  
• 243: This is a very end loaded fat barrel bat with a very thin handle. Big among power hitters it provides a lot of mass for mashing dongs but can be a lot to handle compared to a more balanced bat like a 110.
  

Inspector_666 fucked around with this message at 19:55 on Mar 7, 2021