The 2019 – 2023 Annual Report On

MLB Bats

and the players that use them

Last Updated April 21, 2023 1:27pm by @BatDigest

We track MLB bat usage every opening day and some select days throughout the season. Our most recent 2023 data is below (as well as our historical data).

What We Learn

What Wood Bat Brands MLB Players Use Most
Bat Usage rates for 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020 and 2019
What Brands Popular Players Tend to Use
What Brands are Approved

A Summary of 9 Most Interesting Findings

For 2023 opening day, Marucci has 24% of the market, Victus 23%, Slugger 15%.
Marucci and Vicuts (owned by Marucci) have made up 50% of the MLB market since 2019. No changes for 2023.
We counted 31 different bat brands at the plate for opening day 2023. Five of them were only seen once, three were seen twice and two were seen three times.
The bottom 60% of companies scrap for 10% of the market.
Although there are at least 34 MLB-approved bat manufactures, 2023 showed 21 make it to the plate on opening day.
In 2019, 24 different brands made it to the plate on the week we watched. For 2020, the number was 22.
Under Armour made their debut at the plate (at least as far as we’ve tracked) thanks to Red Sox Left Fielder Yoshida.
There is no particular trend among famous, popular, or good hitters in relation to the bat brand they use. The top echelon of players has a breakdown of bat usage like the general population.
Chandler is the real winner this year, almost doubling it’s market share.

Most Used Bat in MLB

We’ve tracked bat usage from 2019-2023. That data is compiled from our sources below and you can see the trend line here.

What Bat Brands do MLB Players Use - Bat Usage

Marucci and Victus (who is owned by Marucci) have domianted the plate since 2019. Only 2021, the pandemic year, did Slugger figure a way to edge out Victus. Marucci is back on top for 2023 by a point.

2023 Opening Day MLB Bat Usage

2023 brings with it some predictable bat usage at the MLB level. Marucci, who lost its top spot to Victus last year is back on top. With 24% of all plate appearance on opening day, it leads the way. But it’s sister company, Victus, isn’t far behind at 23%. Slugger is in third with 15% followed by Chandler and Old Hickory (both around 10%).

2023 Wood Bat Frequency Table

#	Brand	Plate Share
1	Marucci	23.9%
2	Victus	22.8%
3	Louisville Slugger	14.6%
4	Chandler	10.40%
5	Old Hickory	10.1%
6	Tucci Lumber	3.7%
7	Dove Tail Bats	2.2%
8	B45	1.9%
8	Homewood Bats	1.9%
8	Overfly	1.9%
11	Max Bat	1.1%
11	Sam Bat	1.11%
13	Cooperstown	0.7%
13	SSK	0.7%
13	Tater	0.7%
16	Birdman	0.4%
16	Phoenix	0.4%
16	Rawlings	0.4%
16	SR	0.4%
16	Under Armour	0.4%
16	Zinger	0.4%

2022 Opening Day MLB Bat Usage

We watched the first 270 at-bats of the 2022 season on our MLB subscription and tracked in a spreadsheet every MLB bat brand. Most times, we could see the label or an identifying feature on the players 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 game one 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%

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.