A baseball goes farther when being hit with a metal bat than with a wood bat. This is because the metal bats don't absorb much of the energy from a baseball. A metal bat has near perfect inelastic collisions with the ball, so it can hit off the bat with the same speed as it comes in. This means a good swing could send the ball over the fence or even farther without the bat feeling much. A wood bat absorbs more energy into the bat when it is hit, meaning the ball does not necessarily bounce off with the same speed. This is why it may sting sometimes when a wood bat makes contact with a ball.

The reason M.L.B. players use wood bats in games is for safety. Many major league players are very talented and can send the ball off the bat at over 100 mph. This makes it sometimes dangerous to field balls for players in the infield, especially pitcher. This is why metal bats are banned from use in the major leagues, however little leaguers and high schoolers are still allowed to use metal bats. For high school players, however, there was a restriction on bats due to the increased talent in players. Now the bats in high school games must be BBCOR certified, which means all bats do not hit the baseball too hard. This keeps players from getting injured, however limits how far a ball gets hit.