Growing up, Joe Aul’s love for baseball was seen through a different lens than most of his friends and teammates.
He still loved playing catch with his dad, traveling for tournaments and playing pickup games with friends. Where he differed was watching his dad’s hobby of making wooden bats in their garage.
His dad’s hobby turned into a hobby of his own, which turned into his company, the Aul Bat Company.
“My dad was making me bats for as long as I could remember,” said Aul, owner and master bat-maker for Aul Bat Company. “The company was officially founded October of 2012 and took off in the summer of 2015. We started out in my dad’s garage all the way up until this year.”
Aul Bat Company has expanded to the point where his parents’ garage was too small to fit the requests of his customers. His new location is located on Route 51 at 1507 Saw Mill Run Blvd., right before the Liberty Tunnels.
“We have more space and more machinery with this new facility,” Aul said. “It has helped us out tremendously. It grew too big for my dad’s garage.”
While Aul uses the same Pro-stock Ash and Maple models that the professionals use, Aul chooses to remain local, becoming the official wooden bat manufacturer for the Greater Pittsburgh Federation League, Daily News League, American Legion and other leagues around the area. Aul bats also reach out to customers in the minor leagues such as former Clarion University standout Jon Kemmer with the Houston Astros and Montour’s Anthony Marks, who recently signed with the San Francisco Giants after winning the College World Series at Coastal Carolina University. Joe also has a few clients in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico who order his lumber.
“It doesn’t need to get big,” Aul said. “You don’t need to make it to the major leagues to make money in this business. We want to pay attention to our customers, and if you get too big, you lose sight of that. I want to help educate the younger population.”
As a senior at Saint Vincent College in 2011, Aul started to seriously think of manufacturing bats as a lifestyle. The following summer, Aul began making bats for his team he now manages in the Daily News League in McKeesport.
“When I first seriously considered this was my senior year at Saint Vincent,” Aul said. “I wrote my thesis on wooden bats. My love of building things and my entrepreneurial spirit put everything together.”
Aul admits that it is a constant trial with every bat you make, calling it “one of the toughest things to do.”
Aul, who also plays on St. Johns-Lefty’s in the Federation League, has a different knowledge of what to expect from his bat than most when he steps into the batter’s box.
“I can make adjustments to my bats,” Aul said. “I have a few different bats depending on the type of pitcher.”
Through nine games played with St. Johns this summer, Aul was batting .447 with two home runs and 14 RBIs. St. Johns was eliminated, 6-2, by the Cleveland Black Wolves in the National Adult Baseball Federation Pittsburgh Regional Sunday at Burkett Complex in Robinson Township.
Jim Pasquine has known Aul for five years and the two are current teammates on St. Johns. Pasquine is one of many on St. Johns who has benefited from using wooden bats from the Aul Bat Company.
“I have been using his bats for four years,” Pasquine said. “I have one bat that I have been using for two years and it is going strong. I have a couple of his bats and the quality is the big thing. Him being a small business is big as well. I would rather use a local guy’s product and have a better feeling with it.”
Alongside Aul’s dad, Zach Galasso is the third and final member of the Aul Bat Company. Galasso, a former teammate of Aul at Saint Vincent, serves as the vice president of sales for the company.
“Joe and I have known each other since we were kids,” Galasso said. “ We grew up playing baseball together, played at Saint Vincent together, our dads still go to breakfast together every Friday. Once the business started growing and Joe was becoming more and more busy on the manufacturing side of things, it opened up an opportunity for me to step in to help him on the marketing and sales end to help continue to grow the business without sacrificing the bat-making process.
“From the outside looking in, a typical customer may have a difficult time choosing which wood bat company to buy their bats from. When you call in to place an order or get more information on the bats, you are speaking to Joe or myself every single time. And that is something I feel is important for the customer to be able to have that comfort level with us and trust they are receiving the highest quality product.”
For more information on the Aul Bat Company, go to www.aulbatcompany.com or contact Joe at 412-526-5087 or via email at joe@aulbatcompany.com.
First Published: August 5, 2016, 4:00 a.m.
