I hear questions all the time about how to use a wood bat and how to care for it properly.  Hopefully this will give you all the answers to your questions.  If it doesn’t, please feel free to ask your question in the comments section below.

I hear people say, “hit with the label up,” what does that mean and why.

The bat companies label is placed on the weakest part of the bat. The reason you hear “hit with the label up” or “hit with the label down” is because that will put your wood baseball bat in the correct place to hit the baseball on the side of the bat where the grains are straight and the strongest.

So take your swing but stop at the contact point.  Make sure your bat label is facing up or down.  And that’s it!  Pretty simple.

How can I make my ash bat last longer?

The sad reality about ash bats are that they will flake away at the barrel until they basically are unusable. This happens if you hit the ball repeatedly in the same spot over and over again without breaking the bat.

It is hard to determine exactly how good each ash bat will be. Some start flaking after one batting practice session and some seem to harden up and last many weeks.

One way to make the wood more durable is to “bone” your ash bat. This means to take your bat to a hard surface and rub it back and forth with some force to compress the wood. Using a steel pole, porcelain sinks, or even an old dried out bone.

Do NOT use glass bottles, I have seen people try to use them and if they break your hands will be a bloody mess. Compressing the wood will give it the best chance to last as long as possible by not flaking too quickly. 

Also, Louisville’s new Prime model bats come with a coating that makes bone rubbing unnecessary.

 

Should I put a grip on my bat or not, if so what kind?

This is all personal preference. I hear some parents talk about using a grip similar to what you would find on an aluminum bat because it will take away some of the shock or sting. True or not I don’t know, I have stung my hands with and without grip.

There are 3 basic options for grip (1) athletic tape (2) Lizard skins and (3) Pine tar.

I personally prefer pine tar, because I like to feel the wood. Below we’ll talk more about all those options.

1. Athletic Tape – This actually doesn’t give you any better grip (it’s still slippery) but it allows you to customize your grip to the exact way you want it. Tape will allow your handle to be a little thicker if the handle feels a little thin in your hands. You can taper the knob any way you like. Some people even add a lot of tape to the knob to give a little extra weight at the hands to make the barrel feel a little lighter. Play around with it to see what you like.

2. Lizard Skins – These are a grip for your bat that have gotten very popular.  They eliminate the need for messy pine tar, and you can add all sorts of color options.  You can use our 10% off coupon code ” insider10 “ to get yours from Phoenix bats (yes the code works on bats too), or Amazon has Lizard Skin grips on prime.

3. Pine tar is the best way to get a grip. When you first get a bat the handle is slippery even if you put tape on it. Pine tar will give you the tacky feel that keeps it in your hands.

The first thing to know about pine tar is that when applied it may be slick. Smack a rosin bag on top of where you applied the pine tar to give it tackiness. Rosin is essential to making the pine tar the type of sticky you want.  (see the video below)

Liquid pine tar is applied to a pine tar rag and then smeared on the baseball bat. Usually pine tar is placed above where the hands grip the bat so you can grab for tackiness and then apply to the handle.

Pine tar sticks are a great option, it is less messy and very easy to keep in your equipment bag. The stick is applied to the handle or just above the handle, but again rosin helps to give it more tackiness. Some pine tar sticks are better than others. I have done some reviews on pine tar and pine tar sticks.  

 

Why is there an ink mark just above the handle on my maple bat?

Starting a few years ago (end of 2008) bat companies did a lot of research to see why maple bats were exploding differently from ash.

Maple bats breaking would usually lead to a bat barrel that would be flying into the stands or out on the field. The sharp, jagged end would be enough to really do some damage. The ink mark is a result of the research that was done and even though it is really useless to the consumer it means something to the bat maker.

The way the ink runs gives insight to the strength of the bat and if that piece of wood can be sold or not. Bat companies can only sell maple that meets or exceeds the ink test. This ink mark must be visible so umpires, players, and anyone else can see that the ink test was done of that bat. This test is only done on maple and birch bats, not on ash.  Click here to see our recommendations for best wood bats.

 

 

Source: Bernier, D. (2017, November 3). Everything you need to know about how to use a wood bat. Pro Baseball Insider. https://probaseballinsider.com/how-to-use-a-wood-bat/