MLB ruling for a legal wood bat
1.10
(a) The bat shall be a smooth, round stick not more than 2.61 inches in diameter at the thickest part and not more than 42 inches 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 exhibition 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 one inch 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, which extends past the 18 inch limitation, shall cause the bat to be removed from the game.
NOTE: If the umpire discovers that the bat does not conform to (c) above until a time during or after which the bat has been used in play, it shall not be grounds for declaring the batter out, or ejected from the game.
(d) No colored bat may be used in a professional game unless approved by the Rules Committee.
1.10
(a) The bat shall be a smooth, round stick not more than 2.61 inches in diameter at the thickest part and not more than 42 inches 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 exhibition 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 one inch 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, which extends past the 18 inch limitation, shall cause the bat to be removed from the game.
NOTE: If the umpire discovers that the bat does not conform to (c) above until a time during or after which the bat has been used in play, it shall not be grounds for declaring the batter out, or ejected from the game.
(d) No colored bat may be used in a professional game unless approved by the Rules Committee.
MLB Maple bat controversy
In 2009, MLB conducted a study due to the amount of broken Maple bats. After 6 months of research done by wood professionals and scientists, they concluded that Maple bats were breaking because Maple is a Diffuse-porous wood and that maple bats would be stronger if contact was made on the face grain instead of the end grain. The study did not recommend any changes to Ash bats.
The results of this study have led to controversy among players and Maple bat companies. Many players believe the study should have involved testing from actual contact by players as opposed to in a laboratory. Also the players can hold the bat however they want regardless of where the logo is located on the bat, regardless of the conclusions of the study.
Please check out the links about the new regulations and articles from very frustrated maple bat producers.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-maplecontroversy011809&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
http://ezinearticles.com/?Maple-Bat-Regulations-and-Major-League-Baseball&id=2059763
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20081209&content_id=3708345&vkey=pr_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
www.woodbat.org
LaCasse Bat's opinion
I still believe Ash Bats are a superior product, and as a player, I prefer to swing Ash for the weight, balance and flex. When I first started making bats 5 years ago, my biggest challenge was finding good quality wood. I now have multiple sources for top quality Ash trees, as well as a sawyer who extracts the best 3x3x40 inch billets out of each tree.
I also make Rock Maple and Birch bats but have found that getting good straight grain from maple trees is much tougher. I come from the biggest maple syrup producing area in the country, so maples trees are primarily used to produce syrup and most are filled with old sap holes. I believe Birch will be a commonly used wood in the future for MLB. Birch grows very straight just like ash and is very flexible. It is a diffuse-porous wood just like Maple, but it is lighter than maple.
As far as putting the logo on the end grain instead of the face grain, only time will tell whether this catches on, or players will simply start lining up the logo side of the bat with the ball. This could be a controversial study, but one thing for sure is that bats will continue to break.
