Many of aluminum's physical properties make it ideal for the material requirements of an effective baseball bat. In fact, aluminum bats are deemed so effective at striking the ball that Major League Baseball has banned their use in pro competition. For most amateur leagues their use is still permitted. The use of aluminum in college baseball coincided with an increase in home runs and a rise in batting averages of more than 20 extra points.
Origins
Aluminum was first used for baseball bats in the 1970s. Previously, nearly all bats were made from solid wood. The experiments with aluminum were largely inspired by the material's greater durability -- making it cheaper to use in the long term, according to the Exploratorium website. Because aluminum bats are hollow, they weigh much less than wooden alternatives. Each bat may weigh as much as five oz. less than a wooden version. This makes them easier to swing, particularly for Little Leaguers and younger players.
Speed And Balance
You can swing an aluminum bat faster than a wooden bat. This is partly because the balance point sits nearer the handle, making it easier to swing, according to Daniel A. Russell, Ph.D. at the Department of Applied Physics in Kettering University in Michigan. Solid bats such as wooden varieties have most of their weight loaded toward the end of the bat. This makes it harder to start the bat swinging. The ease of swinging makes aluminum ideally suited to the material requirements of a baseball bat.
Ball Speed
Since the 1970s, several research papers have focused on aluminum baseball bats and ball strike speed. Some studies appear to show no great difference between wood and aluminum bats when it comes to average ball speed. However, according to Russell, the most comprehensive study showed a clear difference. The 2001 Crisco-Greenwald study demonstrated that different metal bats could hit balls at an average of between 100.3 and 106.5 mph, compared with 98.6 mph from wood.
Trampoline Effect
Though the material properties of aluminum make it harder than wood, the thinness of the bat walls help to create something called the "trampoline effect." As the name suggests, this works when the ball hits the bat and the aluminum flexes inward. Instead of losing the energy into the body of the bat, the aluminum flexes back outward and redirects the energy to the ball -- like a person jumping on a trampoline.
Sweet Spot
Professor Alan M. Nathan at the University of Chicago suggests another beneficial property of aluminum bats. The more even distribution of weight in an aluminum bat provides a larger "sweet spot" for the ball to hit. Therefore you might get away with a slight mis-hit and still produce a decent shot. A downside is that amateur and college players have to make the jump to using wooden bats after years of using more forgiving aluminum models.
References
- Department of Applied Physics, Kettering University; Why Aluminum Bats Can Perform Better than Wood Bats; Daniel A. Russell, Ph.D.; October 2006
- Exploratorium: Aluminum Bats -- Technological Advance or Dangerous Change
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Wood versus Aluminum Bats; Professor Alan M. Nathan; April 2007
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