For baseball bats with traditional logo placement, for all softball bats and for all youth bats

As you're swinging through the plate, with the bat perpendicular to your body about to hit the ball, the Phoenix logo should be pointing towards the sky or towards the ground. In doing so, you will be making contact with the "side" of the wood bat where the grains are layered (referred to as the edge grain). It’s the strongest "side".

To Master Hitting On the Proper “Side” Of A Wood Bat:

• Have the Phoenix logo facing you in your "ready" stance when up at the plate.
• Take a practice swing but stop at the point you would make ball contact.
• At this stopped point, roll the bat with one hand, keeping the other hand on the bat, so the Phoenix logo faces the sky.
• Now, take the bat back to your "ready" stance. The Phoenix logo may not be facing you at this point, but it will when you strike the ball.
• Follow these steps every time you adjust your hands, make contact or step out of the batter’s box. It takes just a few seconds each time.

If you ordered a baseball bat with PRO STYLE LOGO PLACEMENT AND INK DOT (selected under the drop down "Ink Dot (Maple & Birch Only), follow these steps instead:

• Have the ink dot facing you in your "ready" stance when up at the plate.
• Take a practice swing but stop at the point you would make ball contact.
• At this stopped point, roll the bat with one hand, keeping the other hand on the bat, so the ink dot faces the sky.
• Now, take the bat back to your "ready" stance. The ink dot may not be facing you at this point, but it will when you strike the ball.
• Do this every time you adjust your hands, make contact or step out of the batter’s box. It takes just a few seconds each time.

Once you have the right orientation of the bat upon contact, the area on the side of a wood bat where you want to hit starts about 2” from the barrel end and goes to about 6-7” in from the barrel end, depending upon the length of bat. This is called the sweet spot. Couple hitting on the proper side of your wood bat with hitting in the sweet spot area yields bigger hits and more durability.

Besides following the above instructions, here are some additional tips to increase the life of your wood bat:

• Lay off outside pitches with a maple bat and inside pitches with an ash bat. Those are the danger spots where most breaks occur.
• Hit on the side of the bat where the grain lines are stacked (see tips above).
  • This is most critical for an ash bat. When hit on the side of the Phoenix logo or side opposite, ash flexes in a direction it doesn’t want to flex, sometimes resulting in the layers of wood to peel away.
• Be picky in batting practice – that's where you learn discipline. If you shouldn’t swing at that pitch in a game, why do it in practice or at the cage? Make coach or Dad throw good pitches!
• If renting cage time, find a hitting facility that uses real baseballs. Rubber balls are brutal on wood bats.
  • If all you have around near you is a facility or cage using only rubber balls, wrap the barrel with athletic tape or use a protective product like a Tuff Sleave.
  • Even with wrapping the barrel or using a protective sleeve, these balls are so bad that warranty claims for any bat that shows signs of hitting rubber cage balls are not be considered.
• When your hands sting or the ball doesn't go as far, it just means you're not hitting the sweet spot. Keep on trying!

Swing wood and see improvement with any bat you swing (remember: real bats don't ding).