When Gordon Beckham was a sophomore at the University of Georgia, he looked like he could get drafted but maybe not raise eyebrows. He hit .307 with an aluminum bat that year (2007), which would get a lot of shrugs because of aluminum's reputation for potency and producing .400 hitters.

Then Beckham picked up a wood bat in the Cape Cod League in the summer of 2007. There was a transformation. Beckham says he matured as a player and that swinging with a wood bat also had something to do with a jump in his productivity.

"Your hands and your wrists are where all your power comes from. And when you swing with a heavier wood bat all summer, it is going to make your swing better," says Beckham, a shortstop. "It also trains your body to do the right things. There is not wasted motion; there is no wasted energy. If you watch the major leaguers with a wood bat, they have a compact swing.

"You don't try and do too much with the wood bat, and you learn that you have to square the ball up......