David Maniola
Eng 111
Straight
High School Baseball Bat Rule Changes
With a large increase in baseball injuries, a new set of rules has been incorporated to reduce these incidents. One of the major concerns was the amount of head injuries that happened as a result of hard hit ball. Concussions have emerged as one of the most alarming injuries in the sports world today, and baseball has accounted for a large number of their occurrences. In an effort to eliminate as many head injuries as possible, national high school baseball councils have agreed to change the bat rules, and make them safer for the players. All players must now use BBCOR approved bats, which are mostly bats made of a composite metal, rather than previous aluminums. A change in bat structure was essential, the injuries were becoming to abundant. High School baseball players should not be subject to risks that could seriously affect their future, and the new bat rule was crucial towards diminishing them.
The main objective of these BBCOR bats is to slow the velocity of the ball off the bat. One problem that could arise is that the players will have a harder time getting solid hits because of the decreased “sweet spot” located on the upper end of the barrel. This could result in angry players or parents, who may experience a drop in their batting average. High school baseball games will now be much less scoring than compared to the past recent years. Teams will now need to be more focused on a defensive game, similar to the professional baseball teams, and work a lot harder at their hitting. I played baseball for nearly 12 years, and used the previous BESR aluminum bats. From personal experiences, I know how hard the baseball can come off of those bats. I can remember making pure contact with a full swing, and feeling how hard the ball would fly off. One other part I remember was seeing fast the ball would fly out to me in the outfield on some hits. If the player made a solid full contact swing with the “sweet spot”, the ball would travel quickly at a high velocity and always present some risk to the fielders. The incorporation of BBCOR bats may give hitters a harder time hitting the ball, but will result in an overall decrease in injuries to the players.
Choosing to go with BBCOR bats was a decision that was vital to the reduction of head injuries in high school baseball. Concussions are beginning to cause permanent damage on some athletes, and baseball is a key contributor with that, due to the high velocity balls off of the bats. Using bats that reduce that velocity is important to decreasing the amount of injuries.
Please let me know what you all think and how you would handle this situation.
Original Post
