Why should you choose Hard Maple over White Ash?

For over 100 years, bat manufacturers have placed their logo on the tangential face of White Ash and have instructed players to hit with the LOGO UP.   This results in hitting on the radial face of White Ash.  This LOGO UP orientation is required for White Ash, because too much contact on the tangential face could cause fatigue of the empty wood cells, which results in annual ring separation as shown in the photo.

When White Ash has many growth rings per inch, it contains practically 50% empty wood cells by volume, and is very weak.  When it has very few growth rings per inch, White Ash is often too heavy for typical bat shapes and possibly dimensionally unstable.

The highly variable and RING POROUS nature of White Ash forces players to look for bats with approximately 8 to 10 rings per inch.  This narrow range of density is typically reserved for Major League players.