NCAA bans white baseball bats?

Ok, I know i am probably overlooking the obvious, but I have to ask. What difference does the color of a bat make?

They were illegal in little league 20 years ago. 

You could make the argument that it's a safety issue, especially with younger kids.   Harder to read a white ball coming off a white bat.  But, that's just a guess.  

Velo From The Stretch posted:

Ok, I know i am probably overlooking the obvious, but I have to ask. What difference does the color of a bat make?

Could it impact how easily a player can see the ball coming off the bat?  Not sure if that is a reach or not, but just a thought.  

Edit:  MTH beat me to it.

Just read a couple of articles and the stated reason was as you both said.  Particularly targeting pitcher safety on combackers.

Confirmed.

Rule 1.12.b.7  Beginning in the 2020 NCAA Championship segment, the bat barrel color must be of a predominantly contrasting color to the color of the baseball between the 18-inch mark to the end cap.

You can download the 2019 and 2020 NCAA Baseball Rules pdf here:

http://www.ncaapublications.co...interpretations.aspx

My guess is that this will trickle down into HS as well...and probably lower levels too. 

Its a good thing my son prefers the inexpensive one piece all alum bats vs the $500 variety   The team does have team issued bats but he doesnt like them and they are not required to swing them, so thats good. 

Has to be a safety issue for infielders, and especially Pitchers. After all, pitchers can't use White long sleeves or a White glove, as it makes it harder to pick up the ball.

Years ago there was a white bat, Nike I think that was banned. No white sleeves, no white glove for pitcher. The ball is white, remember. 

Teams and bat manufacturers have known this was coming for a few years!

umpin757 posted:

Teams and bat manufacturers have known this was coming for a few years!

Thats what I would have thought...but as recently as 2019 both Marucci and Rawlings had white BBCOR bats.  Marucci had to do a "re-release" with black bats.

Not to sound like a defense attorney, but what is considered white???  Could I argue the color is egg-shell, beige, ivory etc... My wallet is tired of dropping 100 dollar bills. I wonder if I can get away with a can dark spray paint. 

ReluctantO'sFan posted:

Not to sound like a defense attorney, but what is considered white???  Could I argue the color is egg-shell, beige, ivory etc... My wallet is tired of dropping 100 dollar bills. I wonder if I can get away with a can dark spray paint. 

 

lol...I thought the same thing.  Luckily, I was able to find a new one on ebay for $70 shipped.  As I mentioned previously, luckily, he prefers the one piece all aluminum models.

SoCal OG posted:

ReluctantO'sFan posted:

Not to sound like a defense attorney, but what is considered white???  Could I argue the color is egg-shell, beige, ivory etc... My wallet is tired of dropping 100 dollar bills. I wonder if I can get away with a can dark spray paint. 

 

lol...I thought the same thing.  Luckily, I was able to find a new one on ebay for $70 shipped.  As I mentioned previously, luckily, he prefers the one piece all aluminum models.

That's probably the way to go, lol, can't imagine actually winning my argument with an umpire!!!  Come on Blue that bat ain't white, it's alabaster for crying out loud

Been hunting down old 2011 Easton XL1's and then saw this came out late last year. Slowed the hunt down as I am sure it will trickle down to high school and make that bat illegal. We have one left and I think I will just let that be the last one.