What's up with the new college bats?

Jump to Last Post 1-5 of 5 discussions (9 posts)
  1. Paul Edmondson profile imageSTAFF
    Paul Edmondsonposted 12 years ago

    I've bee watching a bit of the college world series and have heard about the bat change. What exactly did they do and why not just change to wood if aluminum is so dangerous. I saw one hitter that went from being a 400 hitter to a 200 hitter after the change. The bat change zapped his ability to get the ball out of the infield.

    1. Bruce A. Beaudet profile image74
      Bruce A. Beaudetposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I think the "bat change" exposed his inability to hit.  A wooden bat requires the hitter to square up the pitch i.e., hitting the sweet spot and if he doesn't then, the result is a weakly hit ball.  Metal/composite bats have lead a generation into poor hitting mechanics and a false sense of security.  Time to get rid of them for good!

  2. pette059 profile image60
    pette059posted 12 years ago

    I see no one has answered your question! I played with the new bats last season. They are significantly different. My team went from hitting over .300 in 2010 to around .250 in 2011. The ball doesn't jump off the bat and the distance balls used to get is diminished. They have made some changes for the 2012 season, so we will see if it affects averages.

  3. adjkp25 profile image89
    adjkp25posted 12 years ago

    My son is a freshman playing high school ball.  He is supposed to only be using BBCOR rated bats.  The bats are supposed to be designed to duplicate how a wood bat acts, even though they are not made of wood.  It is a move to protect players getting hurt by rocketing line drives, specifically pitchers.

  4. I am DB Cooper profile image63
    I am DB Cooperposted 12 years ago

    BBCOR bats are supposed to be similar to the performance of wood bats, even after they've had a break-in period. They do have a larger sweetspot than real wood bats, although not nearly as large as the metal and composite bats that were legal in high school and college ball just a few years ago.

    Some hitters see a huge decrease in performance when using these bats, while a few have been relatively immune to the changes. I think the really great hitters who were consistently hitting the ball with the natural sweetspot of the bat will see similar performance even with BBCOR. The hitters who were hitting the ball near the end of the bat or in on the handle can no longer get away with that when using the new bats.

    I think the only reason they don't switch to wood bats is they are either worried about the dangers of broken bats or they think it will be more expensive due to all the broken bats teams will have to replace.

    1. Cre8tor profile image92
      Cre8torposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      All of the above is correct. The game was becoming "too offensive" many say as well as safety concerns about the screaming line drives coming off the BSERs.

      Not to get off track but what kills me is that this has not been implemented in youth (Hot Stove) leagues where you have a 6ft., 160lb, 12 year old who has played for 7 years at the plate and a kid on 3rd who barely gets his glove on the right hand. This makes about as much sense as me not having to have a background check to coach a team of 5-8 yr. olds but do to coach my 14/15 yr. old team.

      K, sorry for the rant.

      1. pette059 profile image60
        pette059posted 12 years agoin reply to this

        I can understand the frustration there. The level of danger in 12 year old baseball is probably higher than the levels above it for the reasons you mentioned. The disparity in talent level and the size of the field are issues when the bats are so buoyant.

  5. proudtobeadad profile image61
    proudtobeadadposted 12 years ago

    Definitely a safety issue.  With the new bats, it's back to basics with the appropriate hitting techniques with a focus on line drives instead of seeing how far you can hit pop flys.

    1. pette059 profile image60
      pette059posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I agree with that 100%. I couldn't stand losing games in college because some kid altered a composite bat to make the ball go forever. I think everyone should go back to wood bats.

 
working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)