Baseball Bats
Baseball bats comes in many different sizes and two major types of material: the wooden baseball bat and the aluminum baseball bat. Major League baseball players can only use wooden bats, which is the way America's pastime has been played since the game was invented. Aluminum bats are used by most athletes below the professional level, because aluminum bats have bigger "sweet spots" and generally hit the ball harder and faster.
That being said, different players have different hitting needs, so no one bat is going to fit every player on the roster. Some batters prefer bats with smaller handles, so they can get a better grip when they swing. Others prefer longer bats or thicker bats, which gives them a longer reach over the plate, a better sweet spot or more overall power when hitting. Other hitters prefer a lighter bat, assuming they can swing the bat faster, pull the ball by "getting around" on a pitch quicker and generating more power, by generating greater speed.
Even in the little leagues and high school, some baseball players prefer to use wooden bats, because they either like the feel of a wood bat better, or they want to emulate the hitting style of their favorite pro athletes. This means that there are a hundred different kinds of baseball bats out there, for your preference.
Baseball Bat Manufacturers
There's are a number of major baseball bat manufacturers, as well as a whole string of lesser known baseball bat brands. Among the most famous and widespread - and the bats you're more likely to see at the sporting goods store - are Louisville Slugger, Easton, Worth, Wilson, Rawlings and Mizuno.
Louisville Slugger Baseball Bats
The Hillerich family, who owned a woodworking shop in Louisville from 1855 to the early 1900's, began supplying baseball bats for the Louisville Eclipse, in the 1880's. When the younger Hillerich generation took over the company in 1894, they changed the name from the Falls City Slugger bat company to "Louisville Slugger". In 1905, Louisville Slugger signed a deal with Honus Wagner, which became the first official endorsement by a profession athlete for a baseball bat.
These days, a 6th generation of the Hillerich family sits as the CEO of Hillerich & Bradsby, the company which markets Louisville Slugger. Baseball and softball equipment still makes up some 60% of their revenue.
Easton Baseball Bats
Easton began as an archery equipment company in the 1920's, but has evolved into a major competitor in the aluminum baseball bat and softball equipment market. There two most prominent bats are the Easton Stealth and the Easton Synergy bats.
Demarini Baseball Bat
Demarini is a bat manufacturing company out of Hillsboro, Oregon, which produces bats for over 150 different college baseball programs. Demarini was bought by Wilson Sporting Goods in 2000, but continues to produce bats and other baseball equipment from their facilities in Hillsboro.
Mizuno Baseball Bats
Mizuno is a Japanese sports equipment company which was founded in Osaka, Japan in 1906, and which continues to market sports equipment worldwide today. Mizuno has an endorsement deal with Ichiro Susuki of the Seattle Mariners, and supplies all his bats.
Worth Baseball Bats
Worth is a Tennessee baseball equipment company that's been producing bats and balls since the 1920's. Among Worth's pro baseball endorsers are Bobby Abreu and Alex Rios. One of their prominent current lines of baseball equipment includes "Team Resmondo".
Wood vs Aluminum
When players have the choice, they tend to prefer aluminium bats to wooden bats. Aluminum baseball bats are a lot like graphite golf clubs in golf, with a bigger sweet spot, and therefore a larger room for error. A "sweet spot" on a baseball bat is where you're going to get maximum power and speed off the bat head.
Hitting with an aluminum bat means you're going to be hitting the ball hard more often. This tends to mean more hits and more multiple base hits, over the course of a season. Aluminum baseball bats might get dinged up, but they aren't going to break, like a wooden baseball bat.
On the other hand, wooden bats are how baseball was meant to be played. Also, aluminum bats are more dangerous for the pitcher, because when a hitter makes contact with the ball and it's a line drive back to the pitcher, that pitcher is going to have less time to react. Especially at the higher levels in college and high school, some coaches and commentators have suggested that aluminum bats are dangerous for the competitors.
Composite Baseball Bats
A "composite baseball bat" has an aluminum outer casing, but is reinforced with graphite in the inner shell. Composite bats are shown to have superior performance to standard aluminum bats, though composite bats are damaged if used in temperatures below a certain degree.
Because the rules committee of college baseball tested and found that 80% of the composite bats they tested did not pass the "Ball Exit Speed Ratio" or BESR Test. If balls come off the bats too fast, the bats aren't considered safe for play. Though the composite bats test safely at the factory, they don't after repeated uses. This indicates the bats either get "faster" with repeated uses, or players have learned to alter their speed with "bat rolling" techniques.
In either case, the future of composite baseball bats in college level competitive play is in doubt, at the moment.