XBat

Founded: 1999

Contact Information:
XBat
9577 Gold Cup Circle
Las Vegas, NV 89117

Warranty Information:
1-702-419-0404

History and Background of XBat:
We are proud to present the X Bat, the choice of players seeking a wood baseball bat that is longer, stronger, and more resistant to breaking than traditional ash.

It seems more and more young baseball players are training with wood bats. There is nothing like the sound of good solid contact between horsehide and wood. Unlike aluminum bats, a wood bat gives a hitter immediate feedback as to the quality of his contact. For the past few years, the X Bat has been the choice of players seeking a stronger, longer lasting wood bat.

The problem is the short supply of top quality wood to make the bats. The best wood goes to the professional teams and the next best grain goes to the AAA ballplayers and the quality dwindles by the time you get to Rookie ball. The traditional ash bat ($40) all too quickly becomes an expensive piece of firewood, when it cracks or splinters after a few days of hitting.

A few years ago a couple of baseball enthusiasts tried to improve upon the traditional white northern ash bats that have been a mainstay in baseball circles for decades. It was soon discovered that hard maple or sugar maple (the same trees which supply the sap where that delicious Maple Syrup comes from) makes a stronger more resilient wood bat. Using the harder, denser hard maple has shown results of a bat that hits the ball farther and lasts longer than other wood bats.

The supply of this select hard maple is short and it takes more effort to craft a quality bat, but as those who have seen and hit with an X Bat can attest, the result is a bat which exceeds the standards of the even the most discriminating major leaguer. Due to the short supply of major league quality maple and ash and the expense and time it takes to produce a wood bat of the highest grade, it is no wonder that these bats have never before been available to the general public. X Bats is the only company that will make you a bat with the exact same quality wood as we make for our 200+ Major League players.

THE WOOD

X BATS Pro maple and ash wood stock is drawn from the timber grown in the vast northern hardwood forests ranging from Pennsylvania to New England to Quebec. Beginning with the loggers who select the optimum growth, the saw log goes to the newest, most technologically advanced and efficient sawmills. Grade recovery and optimum utilization are both important.

Hardwood squares are cut and vacuum dried to 6-8% moisture content. Unlike the conventional drying kiln, vacuum drying ensures color integrity and eliminates residual stresses in the wood. Drying times are reduced from two months to five days. At this point, with the stringent quality controls of the milling and drying complete, the wood blanks meet X Bats' specifications.

Although the maple is 100% clear of defects with no cross grain, Tuff Bats insists that the square be straight grained over 24" of running length. As a consequence, only 10-15% of the total kiln run qualifies for the professional grade X Bats. Other bat companies buy maple and ash billets from mills that produce these for the furniture industry and adapt them to make bats. We choose logs most suitable to our specific application and cut and dry them for the highest grade wood baseball bats available anywhere in the world today. Once a billet has been produced, it has to be weighed. Only about 50% of each kiln run yields billets light enough to make bats, the other 50% of the billets are sold to furniture makers and other bat companies who make bats with no specific weights or with thin barrels to make the desired weight. Each specific model in each length and with a specified desired end weight uses a billet in a specific weight range to yield a finished bat that is 34 inches and 31.5 ounces. Thousands of billets must be weighed, sorted and hand picked to make each individual bat. After the lathe run, bats with surface blemishes are immediately removed and discarded so the finished product is as beautiful as it is functional. The hardened furniture like finish immediately distinguishes X Bats from every other bat on the market today so that you, the player, will have the best bat possible. Our premium Pro Stock is used in all X Bats so that every player ordering their bats from us will have the same wood as the Major Leaguers.

THE BAT

X Bats are made from select hard maple or sugar maple which, because of its closed grain structure, provides excellent resiliency and greater resistance to denting, fracturing and splintering. The wood is more dense (and heavier) than the northern white ash used in most traditional baseball bats. The result is wood baseball bats are less apt to break and exhibit more "pop" than ash bats. There is no need to tape the barrel as you would when practicing with ash bats as the maple will not split and separate. Another bonus is when the handle is dampened; the maple grain will rise, providing a better grip on the bat.

The X Bat is made in the United States. All X Bats are custom built for each individual's preferences, only a few dozen X Bats are made each day due to the level of craftsmanship necessary to fabricate a quality bat from maple.