You may have noticed that many companies now, are coming out with a Baseball Bat made from Bamboo. And I think that they might be catching on to something. First and foremost, Bamboo is an incredibly renewable resource. In fact, bamboo is the fastest growing woody plant in the world, shooting up as much as 1 meter a day; 1/3 faster than the fastest growing tree. Aside from it’s environmentally friendly sustainability, bamboo has some other surprising properties that actually make it an ideal material for baseball bats.
Bamboo as a material is incredibly strong, and durable. It is on average harder than maple wood, and has a greater tensile strength than steel! This makes bats made from bamboo much more shatter resistant and therefore safer than the wood competition. Bamboo can also be safer for Little League play, because although bamboo bats are fairly light weight, they will not take flight when released like aluminum bats can. In addition, there has been some controversy lately questioning the safety of aluminum bats in High School and College play, as a ball hit off of an aluminum bat typically has more speed than a ball hit off of a wood or bamboo bat, which can injure pitchers and infielders. Some high school leagues have already outlawed aluminum bats all together.
Many baseball players have begun to use bamboo bats in both practice and play. Other than the financial incentives of not having to constantly replace shattered bats, bamboo bats give immediate feedback on poor swings and can insure correct mechanics which is great for training, unlike aluminum bats. Unfortunately, bamboo bats are not currently allowed in Major League Baseball games. The MLB rules state that a bat, “shall be made from one piece of solid wood”. Bamboo bats violate this rule because they are manufactured by laminating several layers of bamboo together.
One of several companies that is making some great products is BamBooBat. They use a propriety mix of bamboo varieties to create incredibly strong bats that are lightweight and have great pop. Bombard offers bats of varying degrees with warranties of 30 days, 100 days, and even 1 year. They also offer a variety of styles such as, adult, youth, softball, and training. Their Adult bats are BESR certified for high school and college play, while the softball bats are ASA approved, and youth bats are Little League approved. The BamBooBat bats look amazing with a high-gloss finish and a wide selection of colors to match preferences or team uniforms. Personally, I think that the MLB is missing out on some serious good green stuff.
Check out what BamBooBat has to offer.
Wow – didn’t even know they made bamboo bats – how cool is that – thanks.