Why Do MLB Players Use Wooden Bats?

As the MLB has been recording higher and higher home run totals these last few seasons, MLB players are using wooden bats more. Aluminium bats aren’t necessary. Wooden bats use has been dominant in Major League Baseball. 

MLB Players use wooden bats since Aluminium bats can be made much lighter than wooden bats so players can swing them much harder, meaning they can hit the ball much harder. Also, wooden bats are used because if MLB players used aluminium bats, every single offensive record would be broken in the first season in which aluminium bats were in use. All records would be immediately useless. But mostly it would be extraordinarily dangerous for the pitchers.

Why MLB Players Use Wooden Bats?

Cheaper

An aluminium bat is much cheaper to make than wooden bats, but it is just not the correct thing to do to save money from a protection standpoint. Say, for instance, MLB wanted to save money by implementing aluminium bats into their game, they would have to change the dimensions of all of their stadiums by moving back the fence/wall distances for home runs, moving back the mound distance for safety reasons and maybe having to add an extra outfielder.

Metal bats have even higher exit velocities

While adding the metal bats would increase offence, it would also endanger the players. Pitchers would have even less time to react to those comebackers than they already do.You would also be increasing the likelihood of fans getting hit with foul balls, which is something that is already plaguing Major League Baseball at way too high of a rate.

That doesn’t include the fact that defending against the butcher boy would turn into a suicide mission.

Metal bats will never be allowed in Major League baseball because they are simply too dangerous

If they allowed metal bats, all offensive records would be shattered within a year for sure….and it would be dangerous and it would change the game dynamics greatly.

Plus, the sound of a ball hitting a metal bat is irritating when watching it on TV. 

Safety

It is a convenient excuse and is a reason that they are highly unlikely to abandon ash or maple at any time in the foreseeable future. 

Because wood is what they’ve always used

There is no sport as hidebound by tradition as baseball. The designated hitter is almost 50 years old and it’s still a point of major contention, with one major league on each side of the debate. And the sport’s emphasis on statistics brings in the apples-and-oranges comparison factor; the exploits of hitters carrying one piece of solid wood could not be compared with the production of future hitters using aluminium or carbon fibres or some other future material.

Reasons Why Major League Baseball Do Not Use Aluminum Or Metal Or Other Types Of Bats Apart From Wooden Bats

1. MLB players are way too strong for metal bats. They would significantly tilt the competitive balance of the game in favour of the hitters. And they would be far too dangerous for these men to use.
2. The simple reason is that it’s just way too dangerous. Aluminium bats and other composite materials allow the ball to travel at unsafe speeds off the barrel from better-than-average hitters. In recreation leagues, the ruling authorities have already taken steps over the last decade to reduce these speeds by placing limits on bats with the manufacturers and they get stamped accordingly, and umpires check for the stamp before games. In MLB and other pro leagues, someone would get killed by a line drive that could likely rocket off a barrel at 150+mph. 
3. It’s more likely that other baseball organizations will outlaw aluminium bats. The reason is, speed kills. In designing the aluminium bat, no one took into account defenders’, particularly, pitchers’ reaction times. That is, how much time does a fielder have to react to a ball hit directly at him? Turns out, in the major leagues, it’s about a quarter of a second. For any hit ball travelling faster than that, the pitcher is going to get hit, possibly injured and possibly killed.

Many organizations, including the NCAA, CIF and most youth leagues, including Little League and Pony League, require rigorous bat speed testing, adopted maximum bat speed standards and banned bats that don’t meet those standards.

Why Aluminium Bats Are Not Used in Major League Baseball?

1. If aluminium bats are approved for major league baseball, you will see every third baseman wearing one as well as every pitcher and first baseman wearing one. The ball will come off an aluminium bat so fast that it just might kill a player one day. aluminium couple of first or third baseman gets hit by shots where they will go back out and play at the edge of the outfield grass.
2. Non-wooden bats would fundamentally change the game if they were allowed. Instead of 40 home runs winning the homerun title each year, it would be in the ’70s regularly. There hasn’t been a .400 hitter in over 80 years? There will be several of them in the majors every year.

Conclusion

In conclusion, MLB uses wooded bats for safety reasons majorly. Since the incredible speeds generated by the ball coming off the aluminium bat. Most “aluminium” bats today aren’t aluminium at all. There’re various kinds of metal alloys. And they’re designed to do just that, increase the speed of the ball coming off the bat. The faster the speed, the farther the ball will travel. After all ”home runs are sexy.”

Frequently Asked Questions

Question 1: Will MLB Ever Allow the Aluminum Bat? Why Or Why Not?

Not. Aluminium hits harder than wood. Even BBCOR-rated bats which are designed to deaden the ball on contact might only be about equal to wood. It’s a safety issue: the players in the MLB are so strong that if a low-line drive were hit, an infielder or pitcher could get seriously injured. Injuries already happen enough with wood bats.

Question 2: Why Do Other Leagues Still Use Non-Wooden Bats

The only reason aluminium bats are still allowed at all is economics. Even as expensive as aluminium bats can be, it is still cheaper to buy one aluminium bat than to replace dozens of wood bats.