Welcome to Mike Swearingen Baseball Bats. My bats start with Pro- Grade "Rock" Maple and Pro-Grade Ash from the heart of Pennsylvania. Each individual bat is carefully HANDTURNED to meet the highest standards of size, weight, and finish. 
        As all Ballplayers know, the game of baseball will end for them. Very few of us can choose when that time comes, and very few will ever go on to play on those beautiful fields. I have wanted to make baseball bats since I can remember. Every bat I make carries the same passion I felt when I played the game.  Thank you for looking, and thank you for your business.

Mike Swearingen

"Baseball is a red-blooded sport for red-blooded men. It's no pink tea, and mollycoddles had better stay out. It's a struggle for supremacy, a survival of the fittest."  Ty Cobb "I'd walk through hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball." Pete Rose

Swearingen Bat Co. Growing with America's Young Elite Alex Trevino, age 11 Houston, Texas USA Meet Alex Trevino,           He is an elite player with the Texas Rangers.  Competes with some of the best youth baseball players in the country.  His current league plays against such competition being coached by, Mike Alonzo, who led his team to the Little League World Series a few years ago.          Alex is swinging a custom 30in heavy barrelled Ash, "AT2". Check out the the league! http://teams.nations-baseball.com/28616

Wood and Metal
07/11/2012
       
     With the NCAA (College) and the NFHS (High School Play) instituting new regulations on the performance of metal bats, good changes are taking place in the game of baseball.  Starting in 2012,  all bats must be BBCOR certified to be used in play.  BBCOR is the new standard for all metal bats.  It measures the "Bounce" or "Trampoline" effect of the baseball and the bat.  

    The new BBCOR regulation will lower the speed of the baseball coming off the bat.  The NCAA and NFHS are using this BBCOR regulation for metal bats to have the same performance as quality wood bats. I believe this is a huge step in the way young American men move up through the different levels of competition.  It is no question that the standard of the elite baseball player is Major League Baseball. Baseball started as a very simple game called "base" in the mid 1800's . Since its conception, wood has been the standard for the bats used.  Though the game has changed dramatically since the 1800's, one standard remains, the use of wood bats.  
 
    It always bothered me as a young player in high school and college that we used metal.  Why would we use a
metal bat when the best players in the world are using wood? I mean, ultimately men who exceed at the sport are going to have to change to wood if they want to play at that level.  Why in the last 30 years have we decided to vary this part of the game?  
 
    Although wood bats can crack or break, there are many advantages to hitting with a wood bat.  Hitting
with wood can actually make you a better hitter. The "sweet spot" on a wood bat is a much smaller area then on a metal bat, thus training the batter's swing to be more consistent with good contact.  Another advantage is the price.  Metal BBCOR bats today range from $ 225.00 to $550.00 for a single bat. Wood bats are priced by the type of wood it is made from.  Ash bats range from $40.00- $65.00 depending on the manufacturer and the grade of the wood.  Maple bats range from  $60.00 to $120.00 depending on the manufacturer and the grade of the wood.  As a player that hits with wood, you will also have to advantage of customizing the actual shape of the bat.  Both the shape of the barrel and the handle can be customized to a certain player's thickness.

    Although High School and Collegiate Athletes will continue to use the BBCOR bats in games, wood bats will always be a part of the game and are continuing to show themselves again to a younger athlete.  I encourage young baseball players to hit with wood in practice and in summer leagues. Hitting with wood will put you at the same level as the men in the big leagues, and that's a pretty good feeling. Good luck out there, and
continue to enjoy the game of baseball.


Mike Swearingen