Major leaguers share their thoughts on the importance of a quality bat:

“The wood is the most important thing, the quality of the wood.” — Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers first baseman

“I know exactly my recipe for my bats, which I consider to be my weapons. I look at it as if I’m a soldier going to war. I need to make sure I know my weapon inside and out. I like certain density, I like certain weight, I like certain weight distribution and I like my handle a certain size and shape and form. Same with the barrel. I can notice the difference when a bat doesn’t feel right just from picking it up.” — Jose Bautista, Blue Jays right fielder

“Feel is the biggest thing. I like to use maple bats, I don’t like to use ash. I have certain specs that I use and certain weights. Now it’s at the point, really, where I can pick a bat up and I can tell what I want. I used to use scales to weigh them out, but I don’t need that any more. I can just feel if it’s right.” — Josh Donaldson, Jays third baseman

“The most important thing is really just how it feels in my hand. The second thing is how the ball’s reacting off the bat. Is the wood hard? Is it leaving marks on the bat? Is it leaving dents? You want the consistency, you want each bat to feel the same as far as weight distribution throughout the bat. That’s really all you look for. You just want every single bat you pick up to feel about the same.” — Russell Martin, Jays catcher

“You’re not going to get a perfect piece of wood every time, but you’d like to see that your bats are consistent — length, weight, what you’re looking for in dimensions. You just want to have good cuts of wood, you want (the company) to care about the cut of wood they give you. But I’m not picky. I’d hit with a toothpick if somebody told me I had to.” — Chris Colabello, Jays first baseman.