HOMEWOOD, Ill. — The magic happens in a building behind a Krispy Kreme and Home Depot about 30 miles south of Chicago. This is the site of Homewood Bat Co. This is where Bobby Witt Jr.’s bat is born.
The process begins in a room adjacent to the welcome lobby where a man grabs what a batmaker calls a “wooden billet” — cylindrical slabs of wood that are refined into weapons that will someday wage combat against the likes of Gerrit Cole and Robbie Ray. The man walks the billet over to the machine. He taps a couple of keys on a computer and pulls up Witt’s model: 33.75 inches, 31 1/2 ounces, flared knob.
After he slides the billet into the machine, he presses a key to start the process. The machine hums. Knives rough the wood and finish it, shaving the billet into the shape of the bat from the knob to the barrel. Once the machine finishes, the man grabs the bat, walks it into an adjacent room and holds the bat close to his eyes so he can assess the lines of wood. If they run straight down, the bat is more likely to be compact and to hold up in a game. If the lines don’t, he’ll likely scrap the process and start over. The best can only use the best.
If Todd Pals, the owner of Homewood Bat Co., has learned anything over the years, it’s that one bad batch of bats can mean a lost client. He believes he’s been able to develop relationships with many big leaguers, including the Royals’ potential superstar in Witt, because of the quality. Not only of the bat itself but also the service.
“I love it,” Witt said recently of his lumber of choice. “Todd is really good.”
This relationship between player and batmaker began in the winter of 2019.
Witt worked out in Dallas alongside numerous professionals. Witt’s father, Bobby Witt Sr., is a former big-league pitcher and now an agent for Octagon. One of his clients is Sheldon Neuse, who is currently batting .304 with the Oakland Athletics. And at the time, in 2019, Neuse was swinging a Homewood Bat.
One day that offseason, a bunch of the pros challenged each other to an exit-velocity game. Witt had been bombarded with bats given his prospect status, but that day he picked up Neuse’s.
“He had a bigger bat,” Witt said of Neuse’s. “I’m like, ‘Alright, I’m going to try it out.’”
Each player attempted to hit the ball as hard as possible. Many of them had been in the minor leagues for years, including Neuse, who had been drafted in 2016. Witt was only 19. But he won the challenge. He hammered baseballs continuously.
“I’m like, ‘OK, I like this,’” Witt said.
The next spring, in Surprise, Ariz., Witt met Pals, who handed him a model of one of Neuse’s Homewood bats. Little did he know Witt had actually used the bat in competition and excelled with it. They spoke, and Witt listened to the backstory.
Pals described his entry into the wood bat business as a hobby that began in the 1990s. He played in college at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Ill. He also coached at Illiana Christian High in Lansing, Ill. Time spent with players propelled his desire to remain around the game. Fortunately, an opportunity arose for him to invest in Hoosier Bat Co., a Valparaiso-based company that had clients such as Frank Thomas.
Through that opportunity, Pals learned about the different types of wood (ash, maple and birch). He uncovered where the best wood emerged from: the northeast. He identified computer-programmed machinery that uses two different knives for roughing and finishing to achieve optimal results. He learned how to program different types of specifications for individual players such as heavier wood for hitters who wanted more power and lighter options for those who wanted more control.
“I had a passion for making the best possible tool for a player to go to bat with,” Pals said. “That was what drove me.”
In 2015, Pals created his own company, Homewood Bat Co., based in Homewood, Ill., a suburb 30 minutes south of Chicago. He wanted to attract professional players from the beginning. By 2017, big leaguers such as David Bote and Jason Vosler were using his bats. Neuse, who competed alongside them in the Arizona Fall League, noticed. Pals attended games, and at one point met with Neuse, who explained that he cracked so many bats that teammates teased him about it. Pals developed Neuse a bat, and Neuse has used Homewood ever since.
Pals knew that Witt Sr. had a son who played. But Pals chose not to bombard him with requests to try the Homewood.
“Any batmaker would have been smart to make an attempt to have him swing their bats,” Pals said. “So this makes me look dumb a little bit. I never did.”
Pals’ relationship with Witt Sr. evolved. The two talked often. Then Witt Jr. used Neuse’s bat in the winter of 2019, met with Pals in the spring of 2020 in Surprise and sought a customized Homewood.
Witt explained how he wanted his bat to feel in the middle. He asked if Pals could flare out the handle at the end.
“For a 19-year-old, he had a really good assessment on what he thought his bat should be like,” Pals said. “For me, that’s really hard to get from players.”
Pals noted Witt’s preferences. He then returned to his shop behind the Krispy Kreme and the Home Depot and got to work.
Step inside Homewood Bat Co. and the scripted silver ‘H’ on the back wall immediately pops.
To the left is a wall with bats of all different colors hanging from top to bottom. Some are beige. Some are pecan-colored. There are black bats and pink bats, powder blue bats and yellow bats. Each was developed in the room behind the wall.
Enter the room where the magic happens, and it smells as if you’ve just stepped into a forest. The reasons for that are the hundreds of billets. When the billets arrive, Pals and his team sort them by weight.
“The heavier piece of wood you can use,” Pals says, “the stronger the bat is going to be. It should perform better and break less easily.”
However, the weight of the wood is juxtaposed with what MLB regulates as the uniform weight of the bat.
“It’s always the issue of trying to use the heaviest piece of wood you can,” Pals says, “but still having it in the model of the design, which is the length and weight the player wants to swing.”
Another variable is the type of wood: maple or birch? Pals said the industry uses “probably 75 percent maple and 25 percent birch.” What’s the difference? “Birch has a little more flex and feel,” Pals says. “It doesn’t ring quite as much in your hand in cold weather. But sometimes a birch bat, because of that flex, has a return of energy or rebound effect, whereas maple is harder.”
After the machine hums, cutting and shaving the wooden billet, transforming it into the shape of a baseball bat, they transport the bat to another room. Before Pals dips the bat into the lacquer, or “finish” as he calls it, he holds the bat close to his eyes to ensure the wooden lines run directly straight down the bat. If not, they’re more likely to burst, meaning a cracked bat in the game. And then, after each of those steps, the bat is ready for game action.
Pals’ ability to deliver the bats quickly and accurately is noted throughout the industry. It explains why big leaguers such as Nick Madrigal and Patrick Wisdom, among others, have started to use Homewood bats. Still, the life of a batmaker is difficult in the sense that their product is a tool that is dependent on so much more.
“I always say to people, ‘Ideally the first time a guy tries our bat, the wind is blowing out, they had a good night’s sleep and they’re seeing good pitches,’” Pals says, laughing. “Because if they do well with it, they’re at least going to give it another try.”
Witt received his customized 33.75-inch, 31-1/2 ounce bat in 2020, fared well and has continued to use it.
Recently, Witt explained what separates Homewood: Pals will listen to a hitter’s preference, then tweak small elements to fit the hitter.
Take the flared knob, for example. A traditional circular knob dug into Witt’s hand. A traditional flared knob didn’t feel right. So, Witt described the type of feeling he was looking for. He had a hard time. Still, Pals adjusted the model, and Witt was overjoyed when he first felt it in his hands.
Witt also appreciated Pals’ ability to prioritize delivery. “Todd gets the bats out so quick,” Witt said. If Witt needs any tweak at all, he knows Pals will complete it and ensure it arrives at any ballpark and at any time on a whim.
Pals is grateful for the partnership. This year, Homewood is on track to make up to 10,000 bats (Louisville Slugger makes about 1.8 million, according to its website), which is an increase of 60 percent from last year. Witt’s face is on the front page of Homewood’s website. The company is even selling Witt’s model for $179 on its website. Pals said that Witt’s presence has led to a 50 percent increase in online orders.
Not to mention, nearly a dozen minor-league players have reached out to Homewood about bats, and when Pals asks them how they heard about Homewood, they reference Witt.
In general, their relationship is a lesson for Pals.
“If we would have sent him something that didn’t feel like what he was describing what he wanted to feel, he would have probably never ordered again,” Pals said. “A player can like me. I can like them. But it’s not going to go anywhere unless they feel like the product is going to give them a great chance to succeed.”
In the fall of 2021, Pals flew to Des Moines, Iowa, to see the Chicago Cubs’ Triple-A affiliate. They were playing the Royals’ Triple-A club, the Omaha Storm Chasers. Witt dominated the entire series. After one game, Pals walked down to the Cubs’ clubhouse to talk to some of the players who used his bats. One of them asked immediately: “Have you seen what Bobby has done to us?”
Pals laughed. Then the player continued.
“Last night, he hit a ball over the restaurant in left field,” the player said. “So, we’re like, ‘We’re just going to bury sliders away the rest of the day.’ And he takes a slider and crushes it to the right-field wall. It was crazy.”
“I had these 28- to 30-year-olds telling me what this 21-year-old was doing,” Pals said. “That was not normal.”
Nothing about Witt’s 2021 performance was normal. He hit 33 home runs, drove in 97 runs and stole 29 bases. Often, as Pals flew to watch different players, they would greet him at the door of the clubhouse to talk about Witt.
“‘Hey!” a player said one day. “Bobby Witt was swinging a Homewood!”
Rewind Witt’s first home run from May 3, a 417-foot shot to left-center at Kauffman Stadium, and you’ll see him pinwheeling a piece of wood. The color is beige-ish on the top and pecan-ish in the middle. This is not a Marucci Bat or a Louisville Slugger or a Hickory, which are widely regarded as the biggest bat brands in Major League Baseball, but a product of a magical little shop behind a Krispy Kreme donuts and a Home Depot.
(Photo of Bobby Witt Jr: Ed Zurga / Getty Images)