Did you know that B45 was the first manufacturer to believe that exceptional bats could be made from yellow birch? A ton of reasons had us love this species from the get-go, but let’s bring it back to two major characteristics: power and strength. Each and every baseball player wishes to have in his possession a bat which will give him power and last for a long period of time.

We aksed our Production Manager Olivier Lépine to give us more insights.

Power

Unlike ash, yellow birch is a hard wood, just like maple. This allows the ball to travel further since yellow birch does not absorb the force of the ball as do other species.

The hardness of the wood is not the only criteria used to obtain the desired power. Another important factor is the flexibility of the wood’s fiber. The bats that rely only on their rigidity, like the ones made from maple, do not provide the whip effect that gives an extra push to the ball once it leaves the bat. Yellow birch offers that flexibility which gives more distance to the ball.

As a result, yellow birch possesses two essential criterias to gather up power, the durability of the wood and the flexibility of its fibers.

Strength

Unlike hockey sticks that are made on a production line, baseball bats made of wood that originates from a living matter. With that being said, it is a continuous challenge to replicate the exact same bat each and every time. Even if a lot of these bats look alike on many aspects, there is a possibility that the balance of the bat may differ slightly depending on the density found in the log used to make the bat. Being a hard wood, the growth rings of yellow birch does not represent a flaw as seen on the ash bats, where they tend to separate after a few contacts. This will allow your bat to live way longer, even for an entire season! Furthermore, yellow birch possesses flexible fibers which allows it to be resilient to more at-risk contacts, and won’t break like maple would.

Conclusion

To conclude, with the help of its flexible fibers and hardness, yellow birch bats demonstrate that they are resilient and keep their power while excusing at-risk contacts.

Yellow birch is a tailormade wood for every baseball player, amateur or professional. This bat made from our favorite species, allies the hardness of maple and the flexibility of ash to make the most feared weapon on the diamond. We like to say it's the best of both worlds.