May 18, 2016; Kansas City, MO, USA; Boston Red Sox second basemen Dustin Pedroia (15) stands at the plate against the Kansas City Royals during the eighth inning at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports
Though I am hardly the target market (have not swung a bat in 15 years, and sadly my son prefers Minecraft and gumball machines over baseball), I saw a few stories floating around with a headline about Dustin Pedroia and Mookie Betts working with Axe. Assuming they were talking about Axe Body Spray, I passed it off as another silly and ill-fitting endorsement deals.
Turns out, Pedroia and Betts are part of a growing list of MLB’ers that are using Axe Bats everyday. The Axe Bat’s uniqueness comes from the base of the handle – where it replaces the traditional “knob” with a completely flush backside and eliminates this singular point of contact within your palm. This allegedly reduces the amount of friction and provides an unrestricted range of motion, without the knob digging into your palm.
The Axe Bat takes it’s unfortunately-timed (and spelled) name from the shape of an actual axe handle (not from the brotastic grooming creams and scents sold at your local CVS). The idea was invented by a baseball coach, who would visualize hitting a baseball as kind of a way to mentally pass the time while cutting down trees on his land (how deep).
This begs the question – why do bats have a round knob? In an interview with Baseball Prospectus Hugh Tompkins, Baden Sports’ Director of Research and Development (manufacturer of the bat) said, “A hundred and fifty years ago, the only piece of equipment they had that could mass-produce a bat with a round barrel was a lathe. If you make a round barrel on a lathe, you’ve got to have a round handle. So, it’s really just the limitations of the equipment they had 150 years ago.”
Are players using the Axe Bat? Yes – Jimmy Rollins was the first MLB’er to use the bat in 2013, and the list is growing with Giancarlo Stanton being one of the most prominent recent adopters. A great selling point for the brand will be to suggest that the bat helps with potential wrist injuries (something Pedroia has struggled with throughout his career), but I am always skeptical about the snake oily world of sports equipment science. Now if you don’t mind I am going to work on my vertical and shred my abs.