The effect of wood properties on the performance of baseball bats

The purpose of this experiment was to determine whether the Coefficient Of Restitution (COR) between a baseball and wood plate depends on the measurable wood property, hardness. Should a performance difference exist, a more optimal type of wood could be found for baseball bats. Even small performance increases in baseball bats can have a large benefit for the batter. Seven wood plates were tested and the resulting performance was compared with the wood properties of the plates. Significant differences existed between wood plates indicating a slight trend that softer woods are higher performing.