Many athletes who are new to baseball may ask about using wooden bats and the right way to maintain them. Know more about baseball on this site: https://www.rulesofsport.com/sports/baseball.html. Hopefully, this article answers some of those questions. There are also other blogs, forums, and community threads that you can refer to if you want to know about the best bats available out there.
You may hear others saying about hitting with the label up. This means that you should hit the ball on the correct part of your bat. Many companies place their logos and labels on the weakest part of the wood, and you need to hit the ball where the grains are more substantial and straighter.
You can always take a swing, but it’s essential to stop at the contact points. Ensure that the label is facing down or up, and this is it.
Making the Ash Last Longer
There’s always the reality that the bats made from ash may flake away if it does not receive proper maintenance. The flaking can start at the barrel, and in the end, you may see that everything is virtually unusable. This can happen if you frequently use the same spot for hitting repeatedly.
It can be hard to compare each ash wood. Others will start to flake after just a session, and some can harden up, and this can last for weeks.
What you can do to ensure durability is to add “bone” to the ash wood. This can mean that you take it to a very hard surface. Compress the wood by rubbing it back and forth and make sure to apply a lot of force. If possible, use porcelain sinks, steel poles, or dried-out bones.
Never use glass bottles because you may accidentally break them and end up with a mess. Compressing the baseball bats wood will make it last for a long time, and you avoid the quick flaking process as well. It’s important to know that there are coatings available nowadays that make bone rubbing an unnecessary procedure.
Putting a Grip
The grip can be a personal preference that will depend on you. You may have heard people considering this as the extra grip on aluminum bats may take some sting or additional shock. Whatever the case may be, you have three options when it comes to grips, and these are pine tar, lizard skins, and athletic tapes. Here’s more information about them.
1. Lizard Skins
This is becoming popular because of the unique feeling that it offers. Others are engineering their bats for more non-slip performance and consistent swings. For the world’s most competitive athletes, a 0.5mm thickness may be sufficient to meet their demands. You have various color options as well, and you won’t have to deal with the messy pine tar in the process.
2. Athletic Tapes
These tapes may still be slippery and won’t give you a better grip. Instead, it enables you to customize the grip the way you want it to and get that sweet spot. Learn more about the sweet spots on this page here. The tapes will allow you to have a thicker handle if you feel like the bat is too thin for you.
The tapers can let you hold the knob in any way you feel comfortable. Many people may even add lots of tapes to give the knob extra weight and make the barrel lighter. With these kinds of tapes, you can customize and play around and see which ones are ideal for you.
3. Pine Tar
This is one of the best ways to get a better grip. When you feel that the handle is too slippery, you can put a tape around, and the pine tar will give you that tacky feel that you may want.
One of the things that you should know about pine tar is that it can be slick on your first application. You can try to put rosin bags at the top where you first applied the tar to give it extra tackiness. The rosin material is essential to make the tar stickier according to your preferences.
There’s the liquid pine tar that you can apply on a rag and smear it on the baseball bat. This is usually placed just a little above the area where the hands are gripping the wooden bat. There are different pine tar varieties out there, and some are stickier than the others. You can find more reviews on some websites or blogs about them and see which ones will suit you best.
Ink Marks on Maple Bats?
Many companies start their research on why maple bats have different explosions than maple ones upon contact. The reason may be because if the maple breaks, it can result in a barrel flying out of the field or into the stands. Its jagged or sharp ends are more than enough to do damage. This is why the ink mark was invented, even when it seems useless to many consumers’ eyes.
The running ink gives instant insight into the bat’s strength and if a specific wood piece is safe for selling. The companies can usually sell wooden parts that meet the specifications of the ink test. One condition is that the ink should always be visible to the players, umpires, and everyone else. This is a specific test done mostly on birch and maple wood but not ash.
Storage and Maintenance
Since the wooden bats are made from natural materials, it is important to wipe them with alcohol after every game. Dirt, grime, and bacteria can be removed, and they can be in the way during your game. It would be best if you had a cleaner bat for better grip.
It’s essential to keep the bats in a dry and cool place. Avoid dark and damp storage rooms that have extreme temperatures. If the bat comes in contact with wet spaces and surface areas, you need to dry it with a soft cloth immediately. You can also use linseed oil for rubbing to keep it in good shape.
