Ted Williams, one of the greatest hitters of all time, shared his secrets and beliefs about hitting in his 1970 book The Science of Hitting. Amongst a wealth of insights in his book that are still read by hitters today, Williams shared an intriguing idea: “Swinging a bat is like swinging an axe.” On its own, this comment might not seem that extraordinary but couple it with the fact that he also trained by swinging axes in the offseason during his career and it becomes worthy of further examination.
Why did a player who was literally nicknamed “The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived” take such a liking to this tool? To explain Teddy Ballgame’s axe affinity we should start by looking at the origins of the modern day baseball bat. The traditional round-knobbed bat was originally created about 150 years ago with a wood lathe. Today, the bats that Mike Trout, Miguel Cabrera and every other big-leaguer use are made with the same method and have the same round shape. Which makes sense because it is tough to make an object anything other than round when using a lathe.
But if it seems odd to you that a sport known for adopting sabermetrics, player tracking technology, instant replay and many other tech based enhancements is still using a piece of equipment that is close to celebrating its sesquicentennial anniversary then you are thinking along the same lines as Baden Sports.
Baden Sports took Ted Williams’ axe ideas to heart and engineered the Axe Bat. It turns out that Williams’ instincts about axes having hitting benefits were right on (should we have expected anything less with the Splendid Splinter?) and have been supported by recent scientific studies.
Vijay Gupta, a Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, and Professor of Bioengineering, at the University of California Los Angeles, performed a biomechanical study on the Axe Bat by using NCAA Division I hitters and determined that it had numerous advantages compared to a standard round handle bat.
But despite the results of this study that say the bat is more comfortable, you may be wondering just how much can hitters actually gain from an axe handled bat? Especially if baseball has been played for over a century with all hitters using the same type of round handle bat? Well, the makers of Axe Bat, along with Professor Gupta, think it can have a huge difference in not only hitting performance but injury prevention.
The first main advantage of the Axe handle is that it is ergonomically engineered to fit to the bottom hand of a batter. Professor Gupta’s study showed that the traditional round knobbed bat protrudes into the batter’s bottom hand and forces a strained grip due to its shape (you can see this demonstrated in the image below). The ergonomic Axe handle allows the batter’s wrist to be in a more natural position where it has less tension throughout the swing. Less tension and more comfort equals mores strength and added force when swinging.
The natural grip also allows for enhanced barrel acceleration because it provides 15-20 degrees of in-plane bat rotation prior to striking the ball. Which means the batter has more ability to accelerate the barrel in any direction and achieve maximum bat speed upon greeting a pitch.
The Axe Bat accomplishes its crucial ergonomic grip with its oval shape, angled knob and flush backside profile which follows the natural shape of a batter’s hand. These features not only make gripping the Axe handle more comfortable and provide more bat speed but they also cut down on injuries to the hamate bone and ulnar nerve in the hand. These types of injuries typically come from the “hammer effect” which occurs during contact when the lower handle and knob violently move between the fingers and the batter’s palm.
By now you may have figured out that having such a specifically designed handle that makes the batter have to grip the Axe Bat the same way each time means it will not be rotated like a round knob bat. Thus, the ball will only strike the Axe Bat on one side. Baden Sports has dubbed this “one-sided hitting” and each Axe Bat barrel has an “engineered hitting zone”.
At first thought the idea of an asymmetrical bat may seem a bit weird but from an engineering standpoint it’s actually an advantage. By knowing exactly which side of the bat the ball will contact each time the design can focus on a specific side of the Axe Bat barrel. So when the hitter properly grips the Axe handle and delivers an ergonomically-friendly swing the handle and the engineered hitting zone are working in unison to help the batter attack the pitch.
The Axe Bat can also be designed to fit specific hitter’s needs. For example, if a certain batter is found to rotate his wrists just one or two degrees out of alignment from where the hitting zone is centered on a standard Axe Bat then Baden Sports can build a custom bat fit for the batter’s needs.
Currently, the Axe Bat has been approved by every level of baseball competition. Some major league players have used it and more than a dozen college baseball programs are using the Axe Bat exclusively this spring, including San Jose State and Memphis at the D-I level. It won’t be surprising to continue to see more players and teams use the Axe Bat as word spreads about its benefits. If only Ted Williams could have gotten his hands on it.