What's up with the new college bats?

1. STAFF

   Paul Edmondsonposted 13 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.

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      Bruce A. Beaudetposted 13 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!

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   pette059posted 13 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.

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   adjkp25posted 13 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.

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   I am DB Cooperposted 13 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.

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      Cre8torposted 13 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.

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         pette059posted 13 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.

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   proudtobeadadposted 13 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.

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      pette059posted 13 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.

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