Wood bats vs Aluminum

All you have to do is watch Collegiate summer wood bat leagues.

You will find out very quickly who can hit and who cannot hit.
You get .400 collegiate guys hitting .200

The aluminum bat is a farce that not only distorts the true hitting ability of young players at all age levels - but also conditions many of them for failure at higher levels IMO.

If your goal is to be a college star - and then to get a job - the aluminum bat is a godsend. If your goal is to be a professional baseball player - at any level - the aluminum is a lead weight tied around your ankle.

All IMO.

 

Hey IITG...:xyzwave: Great to have you back.

I believe most D1 coaches receive stipends from the metal bat companies....don't want to give that up. The original reason for switching from wood at the HS level were expenses. I don't believe that is an issue any longer...it's certainly not at the youth level where you watch an 8 year old strutting to the fields with his new $200 bat.

In a sport that wraps itself in tradition, I believe that metal bats makes a mockery of the sport.

 

you bet....

Braves about the kickbacks! And boy oh boy I bet there are plenty of other special interests that have been wielding their weight for decades now pushing the metal and convincing "those" that have the power that it is better for the game and the younger guys swingin the metal! imho

 

Thanks T,

I've been doing alot of reading. Just not much posting.

I hope you and your family are having a great holiday season!

Best regards

 

Something else to consider

I think if a poll was taken on wood vs aluminum, wood would be the choice of most people. From what I've gathered from most serious HS and college players, they would prefer wood as well. My own son has said many times that "baseball was designed to be played with wood", but it gives him trouble at the plate (like most) because he has used wood sparingly in his 'career'. This past fall his team used wood exclusively and he went through 7 bats, 4 of them were maple. At that rate it could get expensive fast.

The thing I wanted to bring up is the baseballs. If HS and college baseball went to all wood bats, would they use the same balls that they currently use for aluminum? I'm sure everyone is aware that all baseballs are not the same. Yes, they're all the same size and weight but they are very different in construction. To give an example, last year my son was fortunate enough to be invited to the East Coast Professional Baseball Showcase. I watched in awe as these kids took BP with wood bats and some (including my son) were hitting balls 400 feet. When I got a chance to examine the balls I found that they were minor league level balls. This past summer I attended some of the local games of a college wood bat league. I saw some big guys hit balls that I thought were hit a ton but they only carried about 350-375'. These were regular college balls that were marked for the NCAA.

If I'm not mistaken the NCAA has already made rulings on the design and construction of aluminum bats. I think it has to do with a ball thrown at X speed and is struck by the bat traveling at X speed will rebound at X speed. Sorry, I don't remember the exact figures, but you get the idea. The bat manufacturers are continually pushing the envelope of these standards to give the batter as much of an advantage as they can and in the process the players (especially the pitchers) are being put at greater risk.

There will always be risk in participating in any sport and in baseball the risks are definately not restricted to being hit by a batted ball, but it is by far the most dangerous and deadly. I agree, something needs to be done, the move to wood is a step in the right direction, but get ready for a shock to your wallet if your sons have as much trouble with an inside fast ball as my son does.

 

Nah rc....the solution is simple but is never addressed at any level anymore. There is a right way and a wrong way to hold and swing a wooden bat...believe it or not most players have not been taught that (there was never a reason to teach it.)...realizing a bat will still break in due time.

The other solution is once they learn how....don't give your bat out to a teammate

I recall a time a teammate broke my (lucky) bat...I cried like a baby!

 

I had a pitcher lay in the hospital a few years back for 5 days with a skull fracture from a shot off a metal bat. I VOTE WOOD

 

I vote wood.... but for kids who take longer to learn to hit with wood, well the costs will be too prohibitive. IMHO, this does lie with the bat manufacturers, but they know that the consumers want "hot bats" and a bat that has been deadened will not sell. It is about economics for the bat maker. For me it's about player safety. I had 2 BP pitchers that couldn't get behind the L screen fast enough this year and both were hit in the face. Luckily, neither were hurt too seriously. Wood would definitely change the game and the way you coach a game. I coached in the Southern Collegiate Lone summer and coaching with players using wooden bats was a ot of fun, hte game is different.

 

Most of the guys on this board follow the best high school players out there. These guys could hit with broom sticks if they had to. Reality is the 'average ' high school player couldn't hit .200 with a wood bat. There would be a lot of low scoring games played faster than you get a hot dog from the concession stand. The last 3 years my son has played in a wood bat league for collegiate players. This league is made up of mostly small college players, community college, and d-II guys. The scores are typically 3 - 2 and are played 1hr. and 45 minutes. The pitching is good and the infield defense is fun to watch but you wouldn't want to play the outfield, boring! High school would be worse. You couldn 't pay a kid to play rt. or lt. field. I love the wood bat I am just saying it wouldn't put fans in the seats.
Now on the college level that is a different story. These are grown men swinging juiced up metal bats. The only way to explain this is follow the money trail. There is a lot of money spread around by the manufactures to insure they keep using metal. Every year the college teams show up in Omaha using the latest, hottest, wonder bat. The sale of these 300.00 bats go thru the roof when every youth player in America has to have that same bat. Believe me my son has a closet full of them.
Adult softball has gone thru this for years. Every time they outlaw a certain bat for being too hot, someone else manufactures it under a different label. There is nothing any more dangerous than a 250 lb. man hitting a slow pitch softball back at a pitcher 50ft. away. Our city softball league has give up trying to police the bats, they simply require everyone to use a softer core ball. It works.
My vote {for what its worth] leave metal in the high school, wood in college, and all softball pitchers wear helmets with face masks.

 

Is this the way it was in high school baseball before the aluminum bat? All low scoring games, no home runs? I'm not sure that a game played in less than 2 hours is a bad thing. I guess this could be an old school vs. new technology kinda thing.