When it comes to learning how to grip, swing, and maximize your baseball playability, your best option is to get a wooden baseball bat. Compared to aluminum bats, there is nothing like having a more natural feel of a baseball bat made of wood. Wooden bats have more shock absorbency, they are often easier to handle, and get a grip on as well. You can click here to find the best of the best.
Other Reasons to Use a Wood Bat
As mentioned above, using a wood bat first helps players develop their technique better than using a synthetic aluminum bat. Of course in most games and leagues, they use aluminum alloy bats; the best practice bat is actually wood. If you can perfect swinging with a wood bat, then you can master aluminum bats easier. Wood bats are more solid, so they are generally heavier than hollow aluminum bats. That sweet spot is also harder to perfect hitting on, because it’s not as big on wooden bats as it is on aluminum. And if you hit the ball wrong with a wooden bat, your swing, your hand, or the bat will surely pay for it. You can learn better tactics at hitting and power hitting as a result so you can save one, or all of the three things that can suffer from swinging mistakes.
Proper Grip of Wood
Some bats have pine tar, or tack on added onto the handle. In the early days, you usually had to spray or brush your bat. You can apply the tar, and then put it in your bag. If you make your bat too sticky though (you don’t want your hands to stick to the bat), then you can add rosin to reduce the grip a little bit. But pine tar isn’t even necessary.
Another thing you can do is apply special tape which you can buy at most sporting goods and outlet stores for grip. Other alternatives that can be cheaper than this form of tape include duct tape, and even electrical tape, as they have a slight tackiness to the outer edge and they’re easier to grip than regular tape. Bat tape however, has a very common “rubbery” feel to it. Tape however doesn’t make the bat actually feel any stickier, it just adds somewhat of a cushioned grip to your bat.
Special Grips
From sleeves to wraps, there is special grip that have been used for years now. These types of grip are the primary ways to modernly add grip to your bat handle, and they’re used in almost all leagues. Also make sure you consider options for a fungo bat as well.
Slugger Up!
Notice how Louisville slugger bats have a certain spot of their label on their bats? This spot is usually where the bat is the weakest at. Always turn the label up so you don’t hit the ball on the weakest part of the bat, which can actually damage the integrity or even the straightness of it.
Here’s a special tip: Some people won’t tell you this power hitting secret; you can use the manufacturer’s label (not the logo; the label is often in the middle of the bat’s drum) to find the sweet spot. If you have the bat label or logo aiming straight up so you can see all of it, directly to the “front” (perpendicular to the label towards either side you are swinging on) of that if you hold the bat out straight is often the “sweet spot”.