Posted by: tbone (baseballtommy29@yahoo.com) on Sun Nov 4 20:32:05 2007

> I've never used the new composite bats so I cannot comment on those. I have used Ash, Maple, and Bamboo and I'll give my opinions on all of them from personal experience. All bats last longer when most if not all of the batting is done at the end of the bat (sweet spot), but it goes without saying that all wood bats will break at some point, especially in the spring and fall if you do batting practice while the grass is still wet and the balls get heavy. That said, here's my opinion:
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> Ash - Good, light-weight bats, but weaker than Maple and Bamboo with the same swing and bat speed - the ball goes less further with Ash than with Maple or Bamboo.
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> Maple (Rock Maple) - Durable bats that make for solid contact that drives the ball further than Ash. I use both Akadema M629 & M610 and also the Mizuno MZM331 and all are durable bats and I love using them all. The Mizuno bat I have had for three years so far. My Sunday league teams uses the Akadema bats for batting practice and they've lasted an entire year before the M629 finally broke because of the wet grass and a fastball of the handle. But if you consider that this bat lasted an entire year of batting practice at 4 hours of constant solid hitting every Sunday - that's a lot of use! I love the Rock Maples and I would buy them without worry. You can achieve great bat speed and make solid, durable contact and drive balls further than Ash. I would love to try the Nokona Wrecking Crew bats, but I don't have that kind of cash to spend on a bat.
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> Bamboo - I don't own a bamboo bat, but one of my teammates let me try BP with his Bamboo bat and I would say it was comparable to Maple and from what I hear, they're suppose to be harder and last longer than Maple. I was batting 320 foot shots with it and not vibration at all on a cold New England morning (50 degrees).
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> I hope this helps.
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> > Are there real discernable differences between the wood bats on the market today beyond the type of wood (white ash, maple, bamboo)?
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> > Also, what about composite-coated bats? Do they provide similar distance as their 'uncoated' counterparts? I know that they are more durable, but what about pop?
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> > Louisville Slugger has had the market for the better part of the 20th century, but there are a number of other companies who have recently gotten MLB endorsements (Carolina Clubs, SamBats, Tuff Bats/Xbat, etc)--how do these companies stack up against Louisville Slugger's line of wood bats?
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> > Our league just went to wood this year and I want to buy the best quality wood bat available--thanks for any insight.

I cant beleive you hit a whopping 320!What bat was that bamboo. Do you use the torque technique