Originally Posted by
Fred Perreault
Maple has a shorter grain structure than ash, hickory, black locust and such. Decades ago, players used those woods because they were strong. If one was to make steam bent chair parts, it probably would not be maple that we reached for first. Maple is lighter than ash, but does not take the inside pitches as well, nor the outside pitches off of the end. When an ash bat "breaks", it tends to splinter, but a maple bat fractures in such a way it looks like it got sawed off usually. Rarely does a maple bat have a long fracture. I modified ash Louisville Sluggers for the Cape Cod baseball League players through the 80's and 90's. All they wanted was the right length, and as light as possible. Maple is supposed to feel lighter. Eventually, MLB will ban maple bats, it is on the agenda.