MLB Bats
The 2019 – 2022 Annual Report On
MLB Bats
…and the players that use them
Last Updated April 18, 2022 10:49am by
@BatDigest
We track MLB bat usage every opening day and some select days throughout the season. Below is our report on what wood bats MLB players use for 2022, 2021, 2020, and 2019.
- What Wood Bat Brands MLB Players Use Most
- What Brands Popular Players Tend to Use
- The 2019 – 2022 Trend of MLB Bat Usage
7 Point Summary of Our Most Interesting Findings
- 2022 was the first year since we’ve tracked that Victus has more opening day plate appearances than Marucci. Making it, Victus, the most used MLB brand for 2022.
- Marucci’s market share has remained consistent. It appears Victus stole more market share from a few smaller players like Rawlings and Sam Bats, to name a couple.
- Marucci owns Victus. Therefore, Marucci owns nearly half of all opening day big league plate appearances (48.5%).
- B45 and Chandler Bats continue to lead the lower echelon of bat companies that few have heard about.
- Slugger, with a breakout year in 2021, lost some ground for 2022.
- Rawlings is struggling, their worst year is likely on record.
- We recorded 22 different brands at the plate for 2022. 4 of those brands make up 75% of the plate appearances.
Most Used Bat in MLB
We’ve tracked bat usage since 2019. That data is compiled from our sources below and you can see the trend line here.
Marucci and Victus (who is owned by Marucci) have dominated the plates since 2019. Only 2021, the pandemic year, did Slugger figure a way to edge out Victus. For the first year since we’ve been tracking, Victus leads the way in MLB bat usage.
2022 Opening Day MLB Bat Usage
We watched the first 270 at-bats of the 2022 season and tracked in a spreadsheet every MLB bat brand used. Most times, we could see the label or an identifying feature on the player’s first at-bat. For the others, by the end of the game, we found an at-bat where we could identify the bat by its logo. For three different players, we could not identify the bat in the opening game so we used games later in the week or images online to document the bat used. You can see our sources here.
2022 MLB Wood Bat Frequency Table
| # | Brand | Plate Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Victus | 25.93% |
| 2 | Marucci | 22.59% |
| 3 | Louisville Slugger | 15.93% |
| 4 | Old Hickory | 10.74% |
| 5 | Chandler | 6.30% |
| 6 | B45 | 3.70% |
| 7 | Tucci Lumber | 2.22% |
| 8 | Homewood Bats | 1.48% |
| 8 | SSK | 1.48% |
| 10 | Dove Tail Bats | 1.11% |
| 10 | Max Bats | 1.11% |
| 10 | Sam Bat | 1.11% |
| 10 | Tater | 1.11% |
| 14 | Asics | 0.74% |
| 14 | Cooperstown Bats | 0.74% |
| 14 | Dinger Bats | 0.74% |
| 14 | Rawlings | 0.74% |
| 14 | Trinity | 0.74% |
| 19 | Birdman Bats | 0.37% |
| 19 | Mizuno | 0.37% |
| 19 | Overfly | 0.37% |
| 19 | Zinger | 0.37% |
2021 Opening Day MLB Bats
We watched every opening day game for 2021, saw the bat, and documented it on our spreadsheet. This chart represents what we found by way of total market share.
2021 MLB Wood Bat Frequency Table
| # | Brand | Plate Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marucci | 25.88% |
| 2 | Louisville Slugger | 18.04 |
| 3 | Victus | 15.29 |
| 4 | Old Hickory | 10.2% |
| 5 | Chandler | 9.41% |
| 6 | B45 | 4.31% |
| 7 | Rawlings | 3.14% |
| 8 | Tucci | 2.75% |
| 9 | Sam Bat | 1.18% |
| 9 | Homewood Bats | 1.18% |
| 9 | Max Bats | 1.18% |
| 9 | Dove Tail Bats | 1.18% |
| 13 | BWP | 0.78% |
| 13 | SSK | 0.78% |
| 13 | Trinity | 0.78% |
| 13 | Zinger | 0.78% |
| 17 | Asics | 0.39% |
| 17 | Birdman | 0.39% |
| 17 | Dinger | 0.39% |
| 17 | Mizuno | 0.39% |
| 17 | Overfly | 0.39% |
| 17 | SR | 0.39% |
| 17 | Tater | 0.39% |
| 17 | Warstic | 0.39% |
2020 Opening Day MLB Bats
We watched every opening day 2020 game on July 23rd and 24th. We also tracked what bats the starters used. This graph represents what MLB Bats players used on opening day for 2021.
2020 MLB Wood At Frequency Table
| # | Brand | Plate Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marucci | 23.70% |
| 2 | Victus | 19.26% |
| 3 | Slugger | 16.67 |
| 4 | Old Hickory | 10.74% |
| 5 | Chandler | 9.26% |
| 6 | Sam Bat | 4.07% |
| 7 | Rawlings | 2.59% |
| 8 | Tucci | 2.22% |
| 9 | Max Bats | 1.85% |
| 9 | Trinity | 1.85% |
| 11 | Dove Tail Bats | 1.48% |
| 11 | B45 | 1.48% |
| 13 | Asics | 0.74% |
| 13 | Mizuno | 0.74% |
| 13 | SSK | 0.74% |
| 13 | Warstic | 0.74% |
| 17 | Axe | 0.37% |
| 17 | BWP | 0.37% |
| 17 | Cooperstown Bats | 0.37% |
| 17 | Dinger | 0.37% |
| 17 | Valma | 0.37% |
| 17 | Zinger | 0.37% |
2019 September Bat Usage
During the 2019 regular season (a week in September) we measured bat usage by brand.
2019 MLB Wood Bat Frequency Table
| # | Brand | Plate Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marucci | 28.83% |
| 2 | Victus | 18.36% |
| 3 | Slugger | 13.67 |
| 4 | Old Hickory | 11.33% |
| 5 | Chandler | 5.47% |
| 6 | Sam Bat | 6.44% |
| 7 | Rawlings | 5.08% |
| 8 | Tucci | 3.88% |
| 9 | B45 | 3.13% |
| 10 | Warstic | 1.11% |
| 10 | Homewood | 1.11% |
| 12 | B45 | 0.74% |
| 12 | Zinger | 0.74% |
| 12 | SSK | 0.74% |
| 15 | Asics | 0.37% |
| 15 | Axe | 0.37% |
| 15 | BWP | 0.37% |
| 15 | Cooperstown Bats | 0.37% |
| 15 | Dove Tail Bats | 0.37% |
| 15 | Dinger Bats | 0.37% |
| 15 | DTB | 0.37% |
| 15 | Dinger | 0.37% |
| 15 | Max Bats | 0.37% |
| 15 | Valma | 0.37% |
Random Bat Usage Charts
Bat Usage by…
It is hard to say the information in the following charts are useful, but we at least think they are interesting.
Bat Usage by Team
We don’t see anything trending here. It is, however, an interesting way to look at the 2022 MLB bat usage data. This is broken down by team and you can see how some teams tend to use the same bat. Others do not.
Bat Usage by Position
Consider, first, how bat brands are distributed along positions. Is there anything worth noting? 1st baseman, it appears, tend to use Marucci while leadoff guys like Victus. These are hardly statistically significant observations, but there they are, nonetheless.
Bat Usage by Lineup Order
There does not appear to be an readily apparent reason for the distribution of bat brands across the order. Heavy hitters traditionally found in the 3/4 hole aren’t drawn to any particular brand. The end of the lineup isn’t attracted to anything else. It seems, dare we say, random.
MLB Bat Sources
We track our data with our MLBtv Account. We watch each at-bat and take a screenshot. You can see and confirm each of those images here. We then move that data to a spreadsheet where totals and averages are tabulated. You can access that datasheet here
See MLB bat usage
Did you not find one player using an Axe bat? Or at least a player using a bat with the Axe style handle? I know Victus makes an Axe bat with the Victus name on it.
Hey, we found a few. But it was so hard to see exactly which one it was (pro XR/Axe) that we did not track. But, we’d guess somewhere between 2 and 10% of players are using a shaped knob.
Amazing article !!! Love it. Very useful.