Players fondness of the new bats

New bats

With the NCAA reducing the speed the ball can come off the bat from 97 miles an hr to 90 will have an impact on the game this year. More warning track power shots on balls that would have left the yard last year. What is will do to the game depends on what you want to see at the ball park.....

 

let me ask a question of you in the know

since I am not always the brightest bulb in the box. Some of you are saying the the wood bats have a bigger sweet spot and seem to hit better than the new bats. Aren't wood bats legal in college baseball? I always thought wood bats have always been legal everywhere, but because the metal or composite bats performed so much better they were never used. But haven't they always been legal to use?

 

Mudcat, my son is just one opinion, but he thinks the new bats are easier to hit with versus wood. He really didn't comment on the comparative sweet spots. Just than they are easier to hit with than wood.

 

Yes, you can use wooden bats at the college level. In fact D2 is looking to change to wood bats as early as 2012. They did a poll of successful college coaches to see which one's preferred aluminum or wood:

The Associated Press asked coaches from the 24 U.S. college programs that have won 1,000 or more games since 1985 for their preferences on the type of bats used in competition. The results:

Aluminum (17):
• Dave Van Horn, Arkansas
• Jack Leggett, Clemson
• Dan Heefner, Dallas Baptist
• Mike Martin, Florida State
• Danny Hall, Georgia Tech
• Paul Mainieri, LSU
• Jim Morris, Miami
• John Cohen, Mississippi St.
• Mike Fox, North Carolina
• Dave Schrage, Notre Dame
• Frank Anderson, Oklahoma St.
• Wayne Graham, Rice
• Ray Tanner, South Carolina
• Mark Marquess, Stanford
• Rob Childress, Texas A&M
• Rick Jones, Tulane
• Gene Stephenson, Wichita St.

Wood (5):
• Dave Serrano, Cal Fullerton
• Elliott Avent, NC St.
• Sunny Golloway, Oklahoma
• Rob Walton, Oral Roberts
• Augie Garrido, Texas

Proponents of metal argue that all 301 Division I programs play with the same thing and there's no risk of having top programs playing with better wooden bats, potentially skewing the results. They also like the scoring boost and say a $300 aluminum bat can last an entire 56-game season, while $100 wooden bats can break at any time.

But it is my belief this is the crux of tye reason you will see aluminum bats stay at the D1 level.

"Paul Mainieri, coach of 2009 national champion LSU, has a clause in his contract that calls for him to receive $150,000 a year from the school's athletic booster club and equipment deals. His contract does not break down how much of that money comes from Easton, the Tigers' bat supplier.

Asked about the bat issue, Mainieri said only that he prefers aluminum.

"He is concerned about saying anything that might affect his relationship with his bat company," LSU baseball spokesman Bill Franques wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

"I think there's some traditionalist in all of us," said South Carolina's Ray Tanner, whose contract calls for him to receive $120,000 a year from Easton. "That being said, aluminum bats are in college baseball because of costs. I'm not sure that wooden bats would ever be possible again."

And i believe this coach makes a relevant case: "College baseball's popularity is probably the highest it's ever been. The numbers show it," Serrano said. "How many people attend the College World Series and keep watching it on ESPN? If it's not broke, why fix it?"

But there is one reason that could influence the decision: TV

Ty Halpin, the NCAA associate director of playing rules administration, said Division II made the move in part to address length-of-game concerns. Aluminum-bat games generally take longer because there is more offense.

The length of games also is a concern in Division I. The NCAA does not track the time of games in the regular season. But in 1973, the year before aluminum bats, the average College World Series game lasted 2 hours, 19 minutes. Last year, the average was a record 3:38, with four games stretching longer than 4 hours, and since 1996, the average CWS game has been under 3 hours just once.

 

I spoke with my son last night and he definitely is not a fan of the new bats. He has more of a complaint with the way they feel rather than the sweet spot. I guess the weight distribution is different; it could be from swinging wood all summer and this Fall. Just like anything else, he'll make his adjustments and a month from now all will be forgotten.

 

What about high schools

Anyone know if and when they will start requiring the same bat rules

 

wood lovers

the proponents of the wood bat should now be satisfied.

 

I haven't confirmed anything, but I heard it would be for the 2012 season for high school teams.

 

I have heard the same thing about HS use...2012...from 2 different college sources this week.

 

This

proponent of wood bats will not be satisfied until they actually use wood bats. If the whole purpose is to find a bat that performs like a wood bat then why not just go to wood bats? I have no idea how the new bats will really impact the game. I do believe that the better hitters will still be the better hitters. The guys with power will still be the guys with power. And I believe the players will make the adjustment to what they swing.

But it would be nice to just cut out all this nonsense and simply go to wood bats period. Get it over with and just do the right thing. The game was designed to be played with wood. But thats just my opinion.