Louisville Slugger MLB225YB Youth Wood Baseball Bat

Louisville Slugger MLB225YB Youth Wood Baseball Bat

Product Description

Don't make the mistake of thinking all wood bats are the same. They may look similar, but the quality of the wood is very different from one wood bat company to another. Louisville Slugger, however, sets itself apart from other bat makers with more than 120 years of bat-making experience, outstanding turning models, and access to the best-quality wood on the market. The MLB225YB youth bat, for instance, is made of high-quality maple, an extremely dense timber with a greater surface hardness than ash. Maple is a closed-grain timber with a structure similar to the layer in a laminated product. This makes the bat less prone to flaking than an ash bat--meaning it will snap in half upon breaking rather than splintering--resulting in a safer, more durable product. Some players also believe that maple's hardness gives them a better overall performance.The MLB225YB bat is designed specifically for youth league players, with a shorter length and lighter weight than adult bats.

Bat Specifications

• Wood: Maple
• Finish: Natural
• Length: 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, or 31 inches

Note: The biggest factors that influence the life of a wood bat are the quality of wood and where the ball hits your bat. Until you gain experience hitting with wood bats, however, don't be surprised if you break a lot of bats. Unlike with aluminum bats, when you hit a ball along the handle or at the end of a wood bat, you may break the bat rather than get a hit. It takes a lot of practice, but with work, you will find that you break fewer bats and become a much better hitter.
About Louisville Slugger
In many ways, the rich 120-year history of the Louisville Slugger baseball bat began in the talented hands of 17-year-old John A. "Bud" Hillerich. Bud's father, J.F. Hillerich, owned a woodworking shop in Louisville in the 1880s when Bud began working for him. Legend has it that Bud slipped away from work one afternoon in 1884 to watch the Louisville Eclipse, the town's major league team. After Pete Browning--the Eclipse's star who was mired in a hitting slump--broke his bat, Bud invited him to his father's shop to make a new one. With Browning at his side giving advice, Bud handcrafted a new bat from a long slab of wood. Browning got three hits using the bat the next day. Browning told his teammates, which began a surge of professional ballplayers visiting the Hillerich shop.
Although J.F. Hillerich had little interest in making bats, Bud persisted, eventually registering the name Louisville Slugger with the U.S. patent office in 1894. In the early 1900s, the company was one of the first to use a sports endorsement as a marketing strategy, paying Hall of Famer Honus Wagner to use his name on a bat. By 1923, Louisville Slugger was the selling more bats than any other bat maker in the country, with such famed clients as Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, and Lou Gehrig. In the ensuing years, the company has sold more than 100 million bats, and 60 percent of all Major League players currently use Louisville Sluggers. The company now sells far more than bats, including fielding and batting gloves, helmets, catchers' gear, equipment bags, training aids, and accessories.

Product Description

Dominate at the plate with the Louisville Youth baseball bat. Ideal for players aged 10-15 with all the power and prowess of it's senior model.The Louisville Youth baseball bat features the same quality and excellent craftsmanship as well as the same grade of wood as used in senior models, giving you the edge you need to hit out of the park. Constructed from Northern white ash with a natural finish and stamped with the official logo of Major League Baseball. Ash is pound for pound the strongest timber available with an unrivalled flexibility. Ash typically flexes rather than breaking, giving you a larger, more forgiving sweet spot. The wood is also flame tempered and features classic black branding.They might look similar but all wooden bats are different and the quality of wood varies from one company to another. The Louisville Slugger sets itself apart from the competition by offering the best quality wood on the market sourced with the help of 120 years of bat making experience. The Louisville Slugger represents a bat that is steeped in history and renowned for quality. Back in the days of legends such as Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth, the most skilled craftsmen were sought who crafted each bat by hand to the most demanding specifications or the world's most demanding players. Today, the Louisville Slugger applies the latest aerospace technology to bat making, delivering bats that give new meaning to the word "performance."Top training tip:Make sure you hit with the label up or down to ensure you are using the strongest part of the bat. The infamous Louisville Slugger oval is placed on the flat of the grain, the weakest side of the wood. With the label up or down, you'll make contact with the ball on the strongest part for maximum power that won't break easily.

Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars THE CLASSIC WOODEN BAT!!! March 27, 2011

By Georgia Guy

Size Name:29 - Inch

I bought this for my six-year-old grandson. I want him to LEARN baseball with the classic WOODEN baseball bat. No "THUNK" from an aluminum bat will ever be as satisfying as the crack of a wooden Louisville Slugger smashing a line drive. The ability to "size this bat to FIT my grandson" was another plus. We chose just the right length and weight for his age and size. If it was good enough for Mickey Mantle, it's good enough for my grandson

3.0 out of 5 stars Too heavy for my young, inexperienced slugger

By 

William W. Davis "famousdavis"

This review is from: Louisville Slugger MLB225YB Youth Wood Baseball Bat (Sports)

My son, 7yo, doesn't play baseball -- but he's interested in the sport. For Christmas, I bought him some balls, a glove and this bat, the 29" Louisville Slugger. I grew up swinging a Louisville Slugger when I was a boy playing baseball with my older brother.

Problem is, even though this is the right bat length -- according to the web searches I did -- it's just too heavy for him to comfortably swing with any degree of power and control, even when he chokes up on the bat. My son has a slim build, so a stronger, stockier boy might not be so troubled.

After trying this bat out with my son, I've concluded that we'll return to primarily using the two aluminum bats he's already got in the garage. We may keep using this bat just to build up his upper body strength, but for control and a faster swing, an aluminum bat will be better for him.