<![CDATA[Big Lumber Wood Baseball Bats

<![CDATA[Big Lumber Wood Baseball Bats - Blog]]>Sun, 26 Apr 2026 23:00:54 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[Hitting Home Runs with Wood Bats in Little League?!]]>Fri, 04 Sep 2020 19:09:06 GMThttps://www.biglumberbaseball.com/blog/hitting-home-runs-with-wood-bats-in-little-league

Not to date myself, but I remember playing Little League Baseball in the early 1980s in Stockton, CA. This was when aluminum bats had really hit the scene and grew tremendously in popularity. Those bats really changed the way youth baseball was played. Bats got lighter, easier to swing and had more pop, and every year, the new bats that came out were better than the previous year’s bats.

Old timey little league youth baseball picture from around the 1950s

Growing up, I never had a really good baseball coach, but there was one thing that one of my Little League coaches said to me that really stuck.

When I was 11 years old, Coach Dan told us that when he was a kid in the 1950s, he played on the very same baseball fields that we were playing on. He said, “Back then, we were hitting home runs left and right. Way more than you guys! Even 10-year-olds. And we didn’t have these aluminum bats. We had regular old wood bats and we were still hitting home runs outta here.”

That season, no one on our team hit a home run. No one even got close. In fact, I can only remember one guy in the whole league, Corey Jones, who hit a few home runs that season, and he was by far the biggest, scariest, most-athletic kid in the league.

So why was it that Coach Dan and his buddies were able to hit home runs with crappy wood bats and dead baseballs back in the 50s, and there we were with new baseballs, brand-new aluminum bats, and we couldn’t do it? Not even in BP?

Back when Coach Dan played baseball as a kid, all those guys had to swing big, heavy wooden bats. Let’s contrast Coach Dan’s days with the youth baseball players of today:

11-Year-Old Coach Dan
5 feet tall
29-inch, 29-ounce bat
Hitting for average and power

11-year-old Player Today
5 feet tall
29-inch, 19-ounce bat
Hitting for average; typically not for much power

Did the heavier bat do the work for them? In other words, was there simply more inertia behind the heavier wood bat? At first glance, one might think so, but when you look at the pop that today’s aluminum and composite bats have – especially before the USA Bat regulations came out – that theory goes out the window. Plus, the kid has to have the strength to swing that heavy bat fast enough for that added inertia to make that much difference.

In Coach Dan’s day, each kid had to use his entire body to swing those heavy, solid-wood bats. That was the key. In order to do that, kids either had to develop the proper strength and swing mechanics early on to be able to swing those heavy, wood bats or else they just weren’t cut out to play baseball. That was the difference: developing the strength and swing mechanics early on with heavy bats in order to generate life-long skills that would provide optimal contact and power.

Now that I’ve been coaching youth baseball for about a decade, I can’t tell you how many kids I’ve seen who are content to swing the bat using primarily their hands and arms because 1) it’s easier to do, and 2) they still get positive results from it because the bats have so much pop. As my players can all attest to, I’ve tirelessly stressed the importance of using their feet, legs, hips and torso to swing the bat, no matter how light the bat may be.

Now that some of those kids have aged out of youth baseball, many of them who didn’t develop the proper swing mechanics couldn’t make the cut at the high school baseball level. Maybe they were good fielders, maybe they could steal bases, but they couldn’t transition from a drop -10 bat quickly enough to the high school BBCOR standards of a drop -3 weighted bat (7 ounces heavier than what they’ve been swinging their entire lives).

Swinging a heavier bat as early as a player can is the best way to get him to be able to play and excel at the high school level. While it’s tempting to use those light bats with all that pop for immediate gratification, in the long run, it makes it harder for those players to advance. While we may not always recommend a kid uses a wood bat in games (although there’s nothing wrong with it), we do recommend using a wood bat in batting practice and even in the on-deck circle before an at bat.

Lastly… thanks to Coach Dan, wherever you may be. You probably didn’t think that would be what stuck with your youth players back then, but it stuck with me and it has made a big difference.
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High School and College players: check out our weighted training bats.
Youth Baseball players: check out our Solid Maple Skinny-Barrel contact training bats.
Also check out our solid maple game bats

]]><![CDATA[What Does “Knob to the Baseball” Mean and How does it Help your Swing?]]>Wed, 26 Aug 2020 22:48:00 GMThttps://www.biglumberbaseball.com/blog/what-does-knob-to-the-baseball-mean-and-how-does-it-help-your-swing

Baseball coaches are notorious for repeating other coaches’ catch phrases and repeating them to their own players without even knowing what they mean. There are a lot of verbal crutches being used in every game and every practice. You’ve probably heard them all:

“Knob to the ball!”
“Squash the bug!”
“Keep your eye on the ball!”
“Let it travel!”
“Quick hands!”
“Stay inside the ball!”
And many more tired clichés!

Believe it or not, many of these are actually useful tips, but they’re only useful if you know why they’re being said and how they’re supposed to help your swing. Without the why and the how, coaches might as well just say, “I dunno, Johnny. Just hit the ball with that bat or something.”

You don't have to like Barry Bonds, but making contact and keeping pitches fair were a result of him going knob-to-the-ball.

Here’s how Getting the Knob to the Ball Actually Helps your Swing

First of all, no, you’re not going to actually hit the ball with the knob of your bat. Let’s get the ridiculous things out of the way, first.

When you start your swing by getting the knob of your bat to the ball, you will be:

Giving yourself more coverage of the strike zone to keep the ball fair to both sides of the field.
Increasing your chances at making contact with the sweet spot of the bat.
Increasing bat speed through the strike zone and, therefore…
Increasing your hitting power.

More Coverage of the Strike Zone

Take this “knob to the ball” thing to the extreme: imaging starting your swing by getting the knob toward the pitch coming at you, then just continue pushing the knob forward. You should be able to picture the barrel of the bat being “dragged” through the strike zone so that the ball would be hit the other way off the sweet spot of the bat. Now, keep that image in your mind…

Illustration of how swinging the knob to the baseball helps with contact, power and plate coverage.

More Opportunity for Contact

Imagine, when you finally get to the point in that swing when your wrists snap forward and the bat whips through the strike zone. You’re now able to hit a pitch late when it’s already over the plate and keep it fair the other way, and you’re also able to hit a pitch out in front of the plate (like a curve or changeup) and keep it fair down the line… and all those contact points in between, too – that will make you a dangerous hitter when you can make contact on any pitch and keep it fair, using the whole field.

Increasing Bat Speed

Imagine your current bat speed – pretty good, I bet. When you go knob to the ball, you’re starting out with your original bat speed – you’re not losing anything. Eventually, your wrists are going to “whip” the bat through the strike zone as you’re making contact with the ball. That added whip with the wrists will increase your bat speed even though you’re not swinging any harder. Remember, if you physically have to swing harder, you will alter your swing mechanics. This is why we see so many guys swing too hard at a fat pitch, only to foul it straight back or miss it altogether. You ask any batter who does that and he’ll say, “I swung too hard.” Swinging knob to the baseball increases your bat speed without any added effort.

Increasing Power

As noted above, you’ll be generating more bat speed through the zone. Simply put, this creates more power upon contact: harder hit balls that fly farther.

How to Practice your Knob to the Ball Swing

Honestly, any way you can get your knob to the ball reps in is fine. Playing a pick-up baseball game with your buddies, hitting off a tee, hitting in batting practice – however you can do it, do it. If you want a more-regimented approach, here you go:

Start with tee work. VERY IMPORTANT: start with your regular swing first so you can feel the difference later on. Hit about 10-20 off the tee with your regular swing just to get warm and to get a feel for the ball coming off the bat. Once you get those swings out of the way, focus on getting the knob to the ball…
Keep hitting off the tee, staying focused on only getting the knob to the ball. If you pop a few up, knock the tee over or flat-out miss the ball, don’t worry about it. You’re doing something for the first time – expect a learning curve. And don’t worry, this is a very short learning curve. You should be good with the knob to the ball swing within another 10-20 swings off the tee.
When you do get the hang of it, you’ll notice something really cool: you’ll hear a louder “crack!” off the bat. Seriously – it’ll just sound different and you’ll know that you killed the baseball. When you hear it for the first time, you’ll know… and it’ll be awesome.
Once you’re good off the tee, move into batting practice. Again, don’t be discouraged if you don’t hit the first few really well – expect that learning curve. And, again, when you do finally connect on one, you’ll hear, feel and see the difference!

It’s important to practice this as much as you can before game time, then trust your knob-to-the-ball swing in your first at bat in a real game. I see some kids just kill it in practice, but then they’re afraid to try it in a game. They’d rather just make contact instead of risking doing something new. As a coach, I don’t care if they swing and miss a few times or even if they strike out a couple of times. I’m there to tell them they did it right – it just takes a couple of at bats to get used to it. And once you get used to it, you can’t be stopped.

When I see a player finally connect in a game when they focus on going knob to the ball, there’s nothing else like it. The player’s confidence goes through the roof. And it’s not a temporary confidence, it’s a confidence of knowing, “Every pitcher I face for the rest of my life is in big trouble.”

And that’s why we coach, right?

Practice knob-to-the-ball swings and don’t give up on it. You’ll notice a difference almost right away in how you hit the ball, and it’s a change that will stay with you forever.

]]><![CDATA[6 Reasons Why our Wooden sKinny-barrel Bat is the best Youth Baseball Swing and Contact Trainer]]>Sat, 08 Aug 2020 22:54:43 GMThttps://www.biglumberbaseball.com/blog/7-reasons-why-our-wooden-wiffle-bat-is-the-best-youth-baseball-swing-and-contact-trainerAs a youth baseball coach, I've seen a lot of swing and contact training bats come and go. A lot of them are good, but most of them try to fix one or two flaws in a hitter's swing. Things like "staying inside the ball" or "hand-eye coordination" or "contact training." The truth is that most of them neglect the very basics of a proper baseball swing: a batter's swing starts from the feet up, so any type of bat that tries to alter the swing without addressing every aspect of the player's body that comes before it isn't truly helping.

Big Lumber's solid maple Drop -5 Skinny Barrel swing and contact training bat serves every aspect of a player's swing. When a player is young, he or she needs to develop the proper swing mechanics as early as possible. This will avoid many swing-damaging tips the player will try to learn later on.

A training bat should help build the muscles needed for a proper, strong, smooth swing. Our wooden, skinny-barrel swing trainer does just that. Here are the 7 reasons why it's the best swing trainer for youth baseball players:

Perfect bat weight for swing and strength training. A heavy training bat should be heavier than the player's game bat, but not too heavy so that it forces the player to swing incorrectly. Outr skinny-barrel wood bat is about a drop -5 in weight, meaning that if a bat is 30 inches in length, the weight is 25 ounces (29" bat is 24 oz, 28" bat is 23 oz., etc.). Anything heavier than that and the player's body will reflexively swing incorrectly to compensate for too much added weight. Likewise, anything lighter than that probably isn't significant enough to make a big difference.
No donut weight needed. Use our skinny barrel swing trainer in the on-deck circle and it's just like having a 5-oz. donut weight on the bat, except it won't feel end-heavy and clumsy. It allows a youth player who typically uses a drop -10 game bat to warm up on-deck while maintaining a swing that's consistent with the game bat.
The skinny-barrel swing training bat can be the same length as the player's game bat. A lot of players use a drop -10 as their game bat (e.g.: 30" bat length would be 20 oz. in weight, etc.) which is fine. But a lot of times, players will switch to a longer, heavier bat in practice. The extra weight is frequently only about 2-3 oz. heavier which isn't really significant. Also, the sweet spot of the bat has now moved further away from the hitter when using a longer bat. Even in soft toss, we don't want players getting the feel for the incorrect sweet spot.
It's evenly weighted like a real game bat. Some swing trainers might be end-loaded which can alter a player's swing; like we mentioned above, a donut weight gives an odd balance to a bat, too. There are even wooden bats that leave a giant "bulb" of wood just above the handle and just below the barrel. Concentrating that much weight on one part of the bat doesn't lend to a natural-feeling swing. Keeping the weight distributed throughout the bat is optimal to keep consistent and proper swing mechanics.
The 2-inch barrel diameter is great for contact training. There are a lot of super-skinny contact trainers out there. In theory, these are fine, but in reality, they're just too skinny (like a broomstick). Some kids use these and concentrate so much on contact that they don't keep their consistent swing mechanics. Kids never want to miss a ball so they end up slapping at it with their hands and arms while totally neglecting their lower body (which is where all the power comes from). Using our 2-inch diameter barrel, it's 1/4-of-an-inch skinnier than the skinniest game bat, but it's not so skinny to where the players feel like they couldn't possibly make contact unless they slowed way down. With our wooden skinny bat, kids can swing away, full-throttle. They're also made of the same one-piece, hand-split, rock-solid maple that our game bats are made of, so while we recommend hitting mostly plastic, practice balls with them, feel free to hit soft toss with real baseballs into the net with them as well.
The perfect balance, weight, length and barrel diameter leads to optimal swing mechanics at a younger age. The bat is evenly weighted, it's the correct length, the barrel is just skinny enough, and the bat is just heavy enough, but not too heavy. All this leads to the player being forced to use his or her entire body to swing with control and power all while being able to focus on making solid contact. After using the wooden skinny bat for a while, you'll see your child swing properly from the feet up: step, plant, turn the hips, transfer the weight, maintain balance and watch the ball fly away!

]]><![CDATA[tHE 1985 sT. lOUIS cARDINALS dID sOMETHING yOU'LL nEVER sEE aGAIN IN bASEBALL]]>Tue, 17 Dec 2019 02:52:09 GMThttps://www.biglumberbaseball.com/blog/the-1985-st-louis-cardinals-did-something-youll-never-see-again-in-baseball

There are base stealers, and then there are base stealers... then there are teams like the 85 St. Louis Cardinals. Read more to see how ridiculous of a base-stealing team they were...

Vince Coleman came into the major leagues as a rookie in 1985. He hit a respectable .267 with 1 HR and 40 RBI. Whatever, right? Well, he also scored 107 runs and stole 110 bases. That, my friends, is not a typo. But this is about the team: the 1985 Cardinals.

First, to put this into perspective, in 2019, the Texas Rangers led all of Major League Baseball with 131 stolen bases. Furthermore, since 1997, only one team in baseball has stolen more than 200 bases in a single season.

The St. Louis Cardinals stole 314 bases in 1985. That is also not a typo.

Check this out - and this is where we get to the "You'll never see this happen again in baseball" part. The 1985 Cardinals had:

One player over 100 stolen bases (Vince Coleman: 110).
One player over 50 stolen bases (Willie McGee: 56 - also the NL MVP).
Three players over 30 stolen bases (Andy Van Slyke: 34; Ozzie Smith 31; Tom Herr: 31).
Two more players over 10 stolen bases (Terry Pendleton: 17; Lonnie Smith: 12).

In fairly-recent years, guys like Dee Gordon and Jonathan Villar set the bases on fire with 60+ steals in a season, to which we say, "Whatever, bro."

In the years following the Cardinals' 1985 season, only 13 teams in all of baseball stole over 200 bases in a single season, and the Cardinals did it 6 times. With the current state of power-hitting and station-to-station, strikeout-laden baseball, it is very unlikely that we'll ever see a team come close to this type of base stealing ever again.

P.S. One other thing we'll never see in baseball again is Tom Herr's stat line: in 1985, Tom Herr hit .302 with 8 HR and 110 RBI. That is ALSO not a typo.

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Got anything you want to run by us in terms of other things we'll never see in baseball again? Feel free to comment on our post and we might just write about it.

]]><![CDATA[What's the Best Wood for a Baseball Bat?]]>Thu, 24 Oct 2019 01:25:25 GMThttps://www.biglumberbaseball.com/blog/whats-the-best-wood-for-a-baseball-bat

Solid maple baseball bat with ink dot test

We get asked a lot, "What wood are your bats made out of?" On that note, full disclosure: we only make bats out of sold, one-piece, top-grade maple. More importantly, why do we only use maple for our bats, and is it the best wood for a baseball bat?

In our opinion, maple is the best all-around wood for baseball bats, but that's not to say you can't get a quality, professional-grade bat made out of other woods, like birch, ash or bamboo. Below is a breakdown of the differences, pros and cons of each wood that baseball bats are typically made out of.

Benefits of Wood Bats Made of Maple

Maple is a really hard, dense wood giving it maximum strength for hitting baseballs coming at you at all speeds. All in all, maple is about 20% harder or stronger than ash (more on ash wood later) which gives maple more overall "pop" as we say. When you look at a piece of raw maple, you'll see that the grains are really close together which is an indication that it's a dense wood. In general, the denser the wood is, the stronger it is. Also, the grains in maple are harder to see than ash which is why you see the ink dot test on maple bats as a test to see if they are qualified for use in the major leagues.

The only cons with maple bats also come from their density. While denser woods are typically stronger, they are also heavier. Still, maple bats aren't so heavy that they are too heavy to use - they can easily be made to equal the weight of BBCOR bats (drop -3), let alone the weight of ash, birch and bamboo bats. But, all in all, maple bats are probably the best all-around wood to use in baseball bats. The hardness of maple bats allows less flex and more pop from the sheer strength and inertia of the bat. Also, since there's less flex in a maple bat as compared to an ash or birch bat, the batter's swing stays a little more controlled and "true" through the entire swing. This allows for slightly better bat control and better contact hitting while sacrificing none of the power.

Benefits of Bats Made of Ash

Ash is probably the second-most popular wood used in baseball bats behind maple (birch is gaining in popularity and may surpass ash in the near future, but more on that later). What ash bats lack in density they make up for in flex. Flex, in turn, gives them good "pop" on contact. Ash wood isn't as dense as maple, and ash bats tend to "flake" more frequently than maple bats... not so much to where you should never use one, but if you want a bat that lasts longer, ash may not be the best choice.

Still, ash is a good wood to use for baseball bats. It's a hard-enough wood with decent pop, but what a lot of players like about it is the amount of flex it has. Because it's less dense, the bat flexes (bends) more during the swing, giving it more of a "whip" action through the strike zone. While the flex and whip through the strike zone can slightly hinder the accuracy of the bat path, it can also reward you with a little extra bat speed with the whip through the strike zone. So the pop you would get in pure, dense, hard maple you can also get with the added whip of ash.

Overall, ash tends to give a little less bat control and a little less overall pop compared to maple, but there are plenty of baseball players who prefer it. As we mentioned, another consideration is that, while ash bats are typically a little less expensive, they also don't last as long as solid maple bats.

Benefits of Birch Baseball Bats

To keep this a little shorter, birch is kind of in-between maple and ash. Birch baseball bats are harder than ash, but not as hard as maple; birch bats also allow a little more whip and flex through the strike zone as compared to maple, but typically not as much flex compared to ash.

In terms of density - you guessed it - birch is in between maple and ash, although it's a little closer to maple. Birch is a good middle-of-the-road bat. Generally, you get almost the same pop out of birch that you would get from a maple bat, as the whip from the bat makes up for the slight lack in density. Keep in mind, too, that, like maple, the grains are hard to see, therefore birch bats require the ink-dot test in order to qualify for major league baseball. When you go to buy a birch (or maple) bat, look for the ink-dot test as only the best-quality, once-piece (solid) pieces of maple or birch will qualify.

Benefits of Bamboo Baseball Bats

Bamboo is an extremely hard wood (like maple) and it has plenty of pop, although bamboo is not allowed in the big leagues (and some other leagues). In short, wood baseball bats are required to be made from a single piece of wood. As you probably know, bamboo is hollow inside and the walls of a bamboo shoot don't get nearly thick enough to make a 2-1/4" barrel bat (let alone 2-5/8"). If you look at a bamboo bat, you'll see that it is several sections of bamboo glued and compressed together, then formed into a baseball bat.

So long as bamboo bats are allowed in your league, there's really nothing wrong with them. They have plenty of strength, pop and flex - they're just not allowed in the higher levels of play (yet).

]]><![CDATA[Ted Williams' Secret to Hitting was Simple...]]>Mon, 21 Oct 2019 00:46:32 GMThttps://www.biglumberbaseball.com/blog/ted-williams-secret-to-hitting-was-simple

Ted Williams is in the Hall of Fame thanks to his career.344 batting average and .482 on-base percentage.

We've all stood at the plate on all different counts: 0-2, 3-0, 3-2 and everywhere in between. Arguably the greatest hitter of all time, Ted Williams, stated his secret to hitting very simply when people would ask him what his secret to being such a great hitter was:

The secret to good hitting is getting a good pitch to hit.

As a hitter, you need to remember that you get three strikes. I see kids up there beating themselves up when they watch strike one go by on the outside corner at the knees.

Big deal! You get two more strkes!

More importantly, what is the likelihood that the pitcher can hit that same spot at the knees on the outside corner two more times in the same at bat - or even one more time, for that matter? The chances are slim at best, and probably none.

The bad news is, you're down a strike. The good news is you get two more and you've already seen the pitcher's best pitch. Chances are good you're going to get a better pitch to hit than that one, so look for something you can really crush.

Ted Williams was the greatest hitter in the history of baseball and he's the last guy to hit .400... and that was in 1941 (he actually hit .406) and his approach was shockingly simple:

If strike one was on the outside corner at the knees, he let it go by.
If strike two was on the outside corner at the knees, he let it go by.
If strike three was on the outside corner at the knees, he would go ahead and hit it.

Ted Williams was about a .250 hitter on pitches at the knees on the outside corner, but, he was a career .344 hitter with an on-base percentage of .482. That means he got a base hit 34.4% of the time and he got on base by hit or walk 48.2% of the time.

If Ted Williams was a .250 hitter on pitches on the outside corner at the knees, why didn't every pitcher pitch him there? They tried but pitchers cannot hit that spot every time in every at bat. Ted Williams knew that, eventually, every pitcher was going to miss that spot and give him a good pitch to hit. He just had to be ready for it and he was.

Next time you're at the plate, expect to get a good pitch to hit, especially at the youth baseball level. If Major League pitchers can't hit their spots on every pitch, you can rest assured that youth pitchers can't either. Look for a pitch that you know you can handle and don't chase any pitches that you don't like until you have to protect the plate with 2 strikes. Always remember you get three strikes, so don't freak out when you let one strike - or even two strikes go by.

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