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New crusade against aluminum bats?

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by outofplace, Mar 17, 2010.

  1. Pete Incaviglia

    Pete Incaviglia Active Member

    I've always been told and read that the biggest problem with aluminum bats is that the sweet spot is bigger, thus batters can hit more "true" balls and therefore increase the chances of more hard-hit balls and comebackers.

    So although the balls may travel the same the speed off the sweet spot, the sweet spot is larger on aluminum therefore increases the numbers of better hit balls.

    And that sucks because a ball that is normal caught for an out or busts a wood bat are now hits and inflate a player's average.
     
  2. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    I remember someone telling me that if they allowed aluminum bats in the majors that there would almost certainly be a couple deaths a year.
     
  3. goalmouth

    goalmouth Well-Known Member

    Nah, they made all the kids use wood in the cage during tryouts this week.
     
  4. I Should Coco

    I Should Coco Well-Known Member

    Do you know what causes the most injuries in baseball/softball? The bases, and sliding into them.

    But obviously, a broken ankle or twisted knee doesn't change your life forever like a head injury does.

    I'd like to see helmets on the pitchers ... especially because youth players, both baseball and softball, are much closer to the plate than high school/big leaguers.
     
  5. Bob Cook

    Bob Cook Active Member

    That's why it's also common for me to see the first and third basegirls in softball wearing helmets and masks.

    You're right, Junkie, that a helmet won't protect the whole body. But the face shot is what could kill you. Here's a good story out of Pittsburgh about a spate of facial injuries in high school softball:

    http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/s_560950.html

    Interesting numbers: on follow-through a softball pitcher is 35 feet away from the batter. It's an average of 0.4 second for the pitched ball to reach the plate, and 0.3 second for it to come back. So basically, you have no time to react.

    You don't necessarily have to wear a helmet. The biggest concern is the face, so you see more pitchers wearing face masks.
     
  6. Herbert Anchovy

    Herbert Anchovy Active Member

    No level should be using aluminum, and not all for safety concerns. A wood bat teaches you how to really hit and how to use all parts of your body. It should be banned without question at the high school and collegiate levels.
     
  7. Shoeless Joe

    Shoeless Joe Active Member

    I was at a high school game once where one of those fancy composite $350 bats snapped in two and the barrel landed at the feet of the shortstop.

    There is a reason college baseball scores sometimes resemble football scores. The bats. I don't remember if it was Outside the Lines or Real Sports a couple of years ago that did a piece on the coach at Minnesota. He was speaking up against the use of aluminum/composite bats in college. He was blackballed by many of the other coaches because - surprise, surprise - those coaches and maybe even the NCAA had high-paying deals with the bat makers.

    I don't have a problem with softball pitchers wearing face masks. I've seen adult men wear them while pitching in Rec League softball. If I was a baseball pitcher there is no way I'd want one. It would interfere too much with your job. If you're afraid, don't pitch. The mechanics are so different between softball and baseball. I did see a girl playing softball last summer wearing a face mask in center field and kinda thought WTF.
     
  8. outofplace

    outofplace Well-Known Member

    New as in this particular push is new. I probably should have called it the "Latest crusade against aluminum bats."
     
  9. Big Circus

    Big Circus Well-Known Member

    And because of their admiration for this guy:

    [​IMG]
     
  10. I really don't think it's the base's fault, per se. I think the problem anymore is kids aren't taught how to slide properly. They often "slide" far too late and jam their legs and feet into the base. I agree with breakaway bases on a youth level because that's where most of the problems are. But the focus should be more on teaching kids proper sliding technique than just getting rid of anchored bases.

    When my dad was my coach when I was 9, he brought a 10-foot long piece of cardboard to practice, set it up in the outfield, measured off the base distance, and had us slide on the cardboard with no base at the end of it. You can still learn a pop-up slide without a base.
     
  11. Bob Cook

    Bob Cook Active Member

    It's a fluke thing where a kid gets hit square in the chest when the heart is in between beats. I haven't gone that far with the equipment yet, though you see more parents buying them, especially when there's just been some incident in the news.
     
  12. RedSmithClone

    RedSmithClone Active Member

    what happens when the first wooden bat shatters and a sharp piece hits a pitcher or position player?
    Then it's a ban on wood bats right?
    For goodness sake, until they reach college ranks maybe they should just use taped up wiffle ball bats.
     
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