IHSA Wood Bat Study?

Do you know which conferences have been chosen or will participate in the "wood bat experiment"?

I assume that grant was for the entire nation and not just for Illinois...otherwise the grant money per conference would be over $30,000 for each conference ($400m /12 conferences = approx. $33m / conference).

That would buy a whole lot of bats and pay for a whole lot of analysis!

Actually gotwood, it was a $400,000 grant. The IHSA is supplying each member team of the 12 conferences with 18 wood bats apiece.
As for the conferences using the wood bats, I haven't spoken to Anthony since I wrote that blog, but I do know that one of the conferences using it will be the Heart of Illinois Conference, a large Class A conference in Central Illinois with schools like Tremont, Minonk Fieldcrest, El Paso-Gridley, Deer Creek-Mackinaw. It's not a bad little conference. I have also been told that the Apollo Conference, which is Mount Zion, Effingham, Charleston, Newton, etc. is participating.
One of the first schools offered the opportunity was the Mid-Illini Conference, which is home to Limestone and was home to Illinois Valley Central. But the Mid-Illini coaches vote 4-3 (with one abstention) to not use the wood bats. Some felt it would hurt their kids bids for college scholarships, others didn't want to be guinea pigs and still others were worried that it would give their pitchers a false sense of confidence,

Well if they're only giving 18 wood bats for each team and there is...let's say...eight teams per conference that would be 1728 bats [(8 teams/conference)x(12 conferences)x(18 bats/team)]=1728 bats.

If we assume that each bat will cost $40 then the cost of the bats would be $69,120 [(1728 bats x $40/bat)]=$69,120. That leaves a balance of $330,880...that buys a whole bunch of analysis for sure!

Personally I am all in favor of switching to wood...and if the pitcher's gain confidence...so be it!

Thanks for keeping us posted on this Ben_Diggle.

Our conference (Big Northern) is one of the ones involved in the study and I couldn't be more thrilled, but I understand some people's concern about diminished stats etc., but the bottom line is that most colleges don't look that closely at a players stats anyways. They aren't going to take a kid with a .600 batting average who they don't think can play the game.

I believe the Chicago Catholic League may be another league using wood this year.

I assume a kid with a 600 batting average probably can play.

I think it's something the IHSA has to approve for all conferences. I know some conferences are really considering the move to wood bats. A good decision if everyone follows it and it becomes a mandatory rule.

Catholic League is not using wood this year; but personally I think all levels of high school baseball should be swinging wood.

Saw Anthony Holman over the weekend and he ran down the conferences that are using wood. There are only five because that's all the bats the IHSA could afford. The conferences swinging real lumber this spring are: Apollo, Big Northern, Heart of Illinois, Private School League and the Three Rivers.

Just amazing that the college players still swing tin.....it's really ridiculous. Corporate advertising revenue still influencing.

i agree, some college kid is going to get killed someday because not enough reaction time at P, 3b, 1b maybe, it is ridiculous and should be enforced by the NCAA. Think about it, some of these kids will be in the majors the next year making millions and they are swinging metal.

wrong thread

I know the Chicago Public Leagues wanted to do it for this season but the majority voted to keep the aluminium.

i agree with buntandrun99, it needs to be done everywhere, even all of the US or nowhere or else it would be much more difficult for colleges to recruit, and for players to stand out.

http://www.mchenrycountysports.com/articles/2007/04/26/...714.txt#blogcomments

I'm really not understanding the financial constraints when it comes to using wood bats, or the fact that there even needs to be a grant. In my own experience in college summer leagues (CICL and Jayhawk) I think teams/players spend the same amount on wood as they do on metal (I saw a NIKE tourque at 285 dollars). What a team needs to do is buy a few composite wood bats (a lot of guys like to swing the DeMarini's and they don't break) and Baum bats which also don't really break. Then players can spend their own money for their "quality" wood bats, Sam Bats, maples, Lousivlle Sluggers, etc. I think that when you add it all up you can't really make the argument that wood is too expensive and that's why it isn't used

I coach at a school in the Big Northern Conference which is participating in the study. I can say that it has changed the game more than I thought it would. We have a very good hitting ball club and it took us 3 games until we had an extra base hit. Most of our games have 4-7 hits total between both of the teams. It is a totally different game.

With that being said there are some positives I have seen.

1.) It magnifies mistakes in the field. If you make a couple of errors, you cannot make up for it by scoring 10 runs. The highest scoring game we have been apart of is 8-4.

2.) The pitchers throw more strikes. There is not as much nibbling as there is with metal.

3.) We have only broken 4 bats, all the same type, the others they gave us have held up very nicely.

If there is anyone who is participating in the study, I would be intersted in hearing your opinions on how it is going so far.

Here's a link to a recent article on how the IHSA Study on Wood Bats has gone this season:

http://www.dailysouthtown.com/sports/baranek/387467,161BAR1.article

Thanks for the links jarthur and Gamer.