Jacob's Juice

Baseball might be eliminating one of their most used bats.

Ash bats, are a lighter and popular type of bat because they allow for more backspin on the baseball creating a greater result. There is currently maple, ash, hickory, and birch. Maple has now surpassed ash as the most used bat in baseball. This comes from popularity and the feeling hitters get from using the bat.

The issue that has risen for ash bats is not the demand of hickory. It is the trees that the wood comes from. Ash trees are dying at a faster pace. This is due to natural causes within the eniorment, however, emerald ash borers, an insect that is destroying the insides of ash trees. The result of this, bats with holes in them. Now thats, illegal in baseball.

Louisville slugger, the biggest Bat manufacturer in the U.S, has been trying to combat these insects. New Jersey hopes to combat the emerald ash borers by releasing parasitoid wasps to feed on the ash borer’s larvae.

Ash bats will still be around for a while. There are plenty of trees left, but bat companies are preparing to transition too other sources of wood becuase of the scarcity rising.

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