After Barry Bonds hit 73 home runs using maple bats, MLB commissioned a study to determine whether maple outperform ash. I was part of a scientific advisory panel overseeing the study. Conclusion: There are no substantial differences in performance between maple and ash. Our metric of performance was exit velocity under well-defined conditions, which is essentially equivalent to fly ball distance. So, I am skeptical of the claim that maple outperforms ash by 10-15 ft, or equivalently about 2-3 mph. Unfortunately the results of that study were never published.
After Barry Bonds hit 73 home runs using maple bats, MLB commissioned a study to determine whether maple outperform ash. I was part of a scientific advisory panel overseeing the study. Conclusion: There are no substantial differences in performance between maple and ash. Our metric of performance was exit velocity under well-defined conditions, which is essentially equivalent to fly ball distance. So, I am skeptical of the claim that maple outperforms ash by 10-15 ft, or equivalently about 2-3 mph. Unfortunately the results of that study were never published.
It seems likely that the bats have improved considerably since those 73 home runs and that study.