Axe Bat, a division of Renton, Wash.-based Baden Sports, is challenging long-established baseball convention with its curved, axe-handle-shaped bats. Used by more than a dozen MLB players, Axe Bat’s divergence from traditional round-knobbed bats is claimed to provide a more natural grip, better bat control and a reduction in the risk of hand injuries. The company recently received a sizable boost in profile and visibility by signing Boston all-star outfielder Mookie Betts to a multiyear deal as its first pro endorser. Jay Helmick, Axe Bat’s vice president of sales and marketing, has been with Baden Sports since 2008.
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We’re trying to innovate a product that really hasn’t been innovated in more than a century.”
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Photo: COURTESY OF JAY HELMICK
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On competing against more established manufacturers in the bat market: The Axe has a unique opportunity and advantage due to our ability to engineer one-sided hitting. We are not limited to having to engineer a barrel that is hit on all sides, so we are able to manipulate weight and performance attributes like no other bat manufacturer.
On the impact of signing Betts: It has been significant — not just the signing, but his incredible success with the product prior to signing. He is using a product he believes makes him a better hitter. This entire year has had a flurry of communication with players, agents, MLB bat manufacturers and MLB teams. When you factor in the performance benefits — reducing time to impact and increasing exit velocity — with the reduction of injury and the performance of Betts and others, people want to know more.
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Photo by: AXE BAT
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On the current retail environment: Retail is a significant opportunity for Axe. We will have expanded assortment at most brick-and-mortar retailers, like Dick’s, for 2017. While excess and liquidated inventory from The Sports Authority will certainly impact market sales and pricing for most manufacturers, our demand is strong.
On the biggest questions facing the Axe Bat: The most common question we hear concerns one-sided hitting. People assume incorrectly that the Axe Bat will wear out faster than a round-handled equivalent because contact always occurs on the same side of the barrel. In fact, the opposite is true. We like to use golf clubs as an analogy. Nobody would ever think to “rotate” a golf club, because it’s understood that the face of that golf club is built to be hit, and hit repeatedly. We’re bringing that same concept to baseball.
