Midseason report: New bats having big effect on college baseball

Thanks for sharing Dad04. Good stuff from a pitchers father perspective.

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

With respect to the impact on pitching these new bats have, my prediction at the beginning of the season, in another thread, was that it would also have a large effect on pitchers.

College baseball has a plethora of junkballers that were successful because hitters were sitting dead red. Good fastball pitchers were getting knocked with cheap hits. Now those same "hits" are fly ball outs and pitchers have rediscovered the inner-half of the plate and the proper use of a well-placed fastball.. so hitters have adjusted by looking to put the ball into play or moving the runners along (hit and runs) and using both halves of the plate as well.

What I'm saying is the stock of fastball pitchers is up and junkballers are down. Those with both will be wildly successful. The numbers prove this.

I attended the Miami/NC State game this past Saturday night.

Final score was 14-13. Number of home runs? One.

There were a whole bunch of extra base hits and deep fly outs though - many that I think would have been out a couple of years ago.

I am amazed at the numbers. On the west coast some teams are going 3,4,5 sometimes 7 games in between home runs. Yet I watch the MLB games on TV and see them going out of the park all the time.

The HS games I watch (bbcor here in Ca) the offense is way down. I have yet to see a home run with a bbcor bat. I have seen three home runs with the waiver list bats.

I have stated before the old bats were way to hot and needed to be changed. However, the home run is part of the game. IMO the bat changes went a bit to far. But if as I suspect the next generation bbcor bats are slightly better as the manufacturers get everything they can out of them it might turn out just right.

It certainly is a different game..........

With home runs down just under 50%, it seems to me that the change is having just about the effect intended.

For the most part, from my observation, the only guys hitting multiple home runs are the legitimate power hitters, and that is how it should be.

There are lots of guys with 1 or 2 home runs - good hitters who occasionally lift one a bit or hit a line drive hard enough to get out. But how many guys this year have 5+ HR's at the midpoint compared to last year?

I looked, and there are only about 130 guys in the country with 5 or more right now. (Div 1.) and there are only 3 guys with more than 10 HR's.

So, it looks to me like the true power hitters are rare, and that is how it should be.

Does the new bat make a good pitching team better, or does it devalue good pitching? As Rob says, I agree it puts a premium on power hitting. I'm loving it if I'm a MLB scout.

How should a coach structure a team going forward?

The results shouldn't surprise anyone as the game is being played just as most of us predicted it would be after viewing those first few Fall scrimmages with the BBCOR bats.

Recruiting will change just as everyone said and will follow as predicted. As Rob said, "it's all as it should be."

I would recruit power and speed. I think having a good mix of these two tools is the way to go. As far as pitchers I am recruitig strike throwers, and let the defense play.

Simple, I think... But I agree the bat has changed the game, and in the long run I think it is for the good.

I will say that I am fairly convinced that there are many hitters in the college ranks and HS in California who are struggling with this new bat. I have seen many head cases on the diamond, who are continuing to scratch their head to firgue it out.

Lefty...

I agree the bats are playing like they were intended. What have been eliminated are the homeruns hit of the hands or the end of the bat. Like wood, if the ball is barreled up it will go out.

What I don't see is an obvious difference in the way the game is played. Singles and bunting have always been a part of the game, even with the old bats. And pitchers have always tried to pitch inside. Pitching inside with the old bats was better than throwing down the middle, so what's the difference there? I understand the hit with the old bat is now an out but that doesn't mean the pitcher is doing anything different.

I agree the results might be different but the approach that an individual player has doesn't necessarily have to change. Power hitters swing for the fences, fast guys run like he11 and pitchers pitch to their strengths, just like always.

quote:

I would recruit power and speed.

The point is, there are a LOT fewer legitimate power hitters with the new bat. Sure, everyone wants to recruit power, but there isn't that much of it.

So in my view, it puts a premium not on power hitters, who everybody wants and always recruited anyway, but on the pure hitter who squares up the ball a lot, hits gaps with line drives and gets on base a lot.

What we will see less of is the guy who used to hit .265 with 16 HR's and strikes out 35% of the time. With the new bat, half his HR's are long outs and his average drops to .230. (Yes, those 8 outs will drop his average by 40 points in a 200 at bat season.)

How valuable is a guy hitting .230 with 8 homers? The .300 hitter that hits a few doubles is worth more.

quote:

Originally posted by Rob Kremer:

quote:

I would recruit power and speed.

The point is, there are a LOT fewer legitimate power hitters with the new bat. Sure, everyone wants to recruit power, but there isn't that much of it.

So in my view, it puts a premium not on power hitters, who everybody wants and always recruited anyway, but on the pure hitter who squares up the ball a lot, hits gaps with line drives and gets on base a lot.

What we will see less of is the guy who used to hit .265 with 16 HR's and strikes out 35% of the time. With the new bat, half his HR's are long outs and his average drops to .230. (Yes, those 8 outs will drop his average by 40 points in a 200 at bat season.)

How valuable is a guy hitting .230 with 8 homers? The .300 hitter that hits a few doubles is worth more.

On the college level, I have seen some teams who are loaded with power. Hard to find these guys, but they are out there. They resemble a middle line backer or tightend, big strong guys who never get cheated on a swing. I agree with you on the pure hitter, they can hit with a broom stick and still hit .300!

I know my guys HR production is down...still hits the ball hard, but it is not carrying like before. We did have two leave the yard in the same game on Saturday, fortunately both were from our side of the offense.

quote:

What I don't see is an obvious difference in the way the game is played. Singles and bunting have always been a part of the game, even with the old bats. And pitchers have always tried to pitch inside. Pitching inside with the old bats was better than throwing down the middle, so what's the difference there? I understand the hit with the old bat is now an out but that doesn't mean the pitcher is doing anything different.

I disagree with this based on what I've seen. I didn't see all that much bunting in the past with the old BESR bats. Why do that when just about everyone was capable of driving the ball. Thus you could afford to wait for the big inning and or the long ball. Now, I see every team sacrificing, even in the first inning, an out to move a guy into scoring position. They are taking every opportunity to score a run here and there rather than waiting for the 3-run bomb. Pitching inside with the old bats was suicide! Those pitches could still be "handled" for long flies as the barrel was basically the length of the bat. Pitchers went away in hopes of staying away from the short pull field. NOW pitchers are going back inside as he can get outs on the barrel of these bats just as you can with wood.

Rob has it right. The premium on hitting will be speed and guys that hit for average. Everyone will be after the legitimate power hitter. However, the difference now is that every BIG guy isn't a potential power hitter with the new bats. It still takes a legit hitter to get them out, just like with wood.

I see a premium on up the middle athleticism, back to basics on good bunting, bunt coverages, hitting the cut-off man, hit & run and base stealing. Pitchers have more advantages than before but they still have to stay out of the middle of the plate. I'm seeing some high scoring games but just due to a big inning that more often than not doesn't include the long fly.

Our home run output leads the Conference and is averaging about one a game. However, that is less than half of the output last year.

Concurr with Prime. With the BESR bat we consistantly pitch middle out. We would only come inside if the velocity was over powering or to get them to move their feet. Now with BBCOR we are not afraid to come in and let the defense play.

Lefty...

Had an interesting experience this weekend watching my son's D2 team play. The opposing team's coach got tossed in the second inning and had to leave the "premises." So, he heads out beyond the outfield fence to a lonely perch occupied by yours truly. At first I didn't talk to him because I knew he was steamed, but then he started chatting me up and we had a great conversation watching the rest of the game.

I asked him if the new bats were changing his recruiting strategy. His answer surprised me. He said the biggest change is that he is now looking at smaller pitchers than he did in the past. With the old bats he felt smaller guys who couldn't throw as hard had too little margin for error. Now, he thinks the new bats have become equalizers and he is willing to recruit pitchers under six feet tall.

It appears to me to be a significantly different game this year watching son's NAIA team. He is playing for a different school this year than last, so different home field as well as different bat. With respect to his output, average is still good, hitting .344 vs a final .375 last year. However, he had 27 doubles last year, compared to 11 so far this year, and 4 home runs compared to 2 this year. Both home runs this year were no doubters that would have gone out using either bat. I think the double decrease has a lot to do with the different field. Last year's field had a short rf with a net that he hit a lot of those doubles off of, so those are missing this year.

From a team standpoint, different team, different players. This year does not have a lot of power hitter types to start with, and couple that with the bat change, sac bunts in the first inning, hit and run, steals, all much more in play this year. We have had just two games this year in which our team has multiple home runs and the wind was blowing out 25 mph+ both times.

Overall, four of the starters have averages above .340, and two others are in the .290s. I think someone said early on in the process, good hitters will still hit. I do think it has taken away some of the cheap home runs. I haven't seen a cheap one by either side yet this year.

quote:

Originally posted by Hot Corner Dad:
Had an interesting experience this weekend watching my son's D2 team play. The opposing team's coach got tossed in the second inning and had to leave the "premises." So, he heads out beyond the outfield fence to a lonely perch occupied by yours truly. At first I didn't talk to him because I knew he was steamed, but then he started chatting me up and we had a great conversation watching the rest of the game.

I asked him if the new bats were changing his recruiting strategy. His answer surprised me. He said the biggest change is that he is now looking at smaller pitchers than he did in the past. With the old bats he felt smaller guys who couldn't throw as hard had too little margin for error. Now, he thinks the new bats have become equalizers and he is willing to recruit pitchers under six feet tall.

Were you in Savannah by chance?