Pitchers, hitters divided over new bat
When NBA superstar LeBron James made his decision two summers ago to leave Cleveland for Miami, there wasn't much middle ground on the subject.
Most people either loved him for his “decision,” or they hated him for it.
The same kind of sentiment seems to be developing for the new BBCOR bat that is now required for use at the high school level.
Players either love the bat, or they hate it.
There's not a lot of middle ground on this subject either. And just like the LeBron situation, the lovers and the haters are pretty easy to predict.
“I love the bat,” Grayslake Central pitcher Mark Ash said. “I'm a big fan.”
“I hate it,” said Grayslake Central hitter Kristian Meehan, who also happens to catch for Ash. “I don't like the new bat at all.”
Pitchers = lovers.
Hitters = haters.
Starting this season, all IHSA bats are required to meet the Batted Ball Coefficient of Restitution, or the BBCOR standard. BBCOR is a complicated calculation (seriously, it takes you back to your worst math nightmare) that measures the “bounciness” of a pitched ball against a bat, or the trampoline effect.
BBCOR bats are designed to act more like wood bats, which absorb much of the energy from the pitch and lessen the trampoline effect that was typical of a ball hit off a composite aluminum bat, which was a legal bat used at the high school level through last season.
In other words, a pitched ball that leaves a BBCOR or wood bat does so with a lower velocity than a ball hit from the old composite bats. The composite bats have less give in them, and therefore absorb less of the energy from the pitch. That sends the ball off the surface at a greater velocity.
The move to the BBCOR bat was driven primarily by safety concerns.
In theory, pitchers and infielders will have more time to react to a screaming line drive hit off a BBCOR bat than a screamer off a composite bat. And if they do get hit, they likely won't get hit as hard.
“That extra split second you might get…it could be extremely helpful,” said Ash, who once took a screamer to the arm and was forced to go to the hospital for x-rays. “Before, the ball just came off the bat so fast. You could be hit instantly, before you could even move.”
You've heard the horror stories of the pitchers who have gotten hit in the head or chest by line drives that never gave them chance. The aftermath can be bloody, gory, or worse.
“My son Brett pitches for a U-14 travel team and every time he gets on the mound, I worry,” Grayslake Central coach Troy Whalen said. “If this new bat saves one life, it's worth the switch.”
Meanwhile, hitters may be able to do little to save their power numbers.
BBCOR bats not only cut down on the velocity of a hit ball because of their lack of pop, they also make achieving solid contact more difficult in the first place. The sweet spot on a BBCOR bat is a fraction of what it is on a composite bat. It's literally smaller and more narrow.
“It is so hard to find that sweet spot,” Meehan said. “You've got to be so precise, so accurate. Hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in sports and it just got harder.”
The numbers don't lie.
College baseball used BBCOR bats exclusively for the first time last season and the drop in offensive production was staggering. In Division I, home runs decreased by nearly 45 percent and team batting averages dropped nearly 23 points, from .305 to .282.
Overall, scoring also dropped by more than a run per game.
“There's no question the BBCOR bat will change high school baseball, too,” Mundelein coach Todd Parola said. “Hitters would rather have the old bats back because there is going to be a huge drop off in home runs and power numbers. I mean, we hit a few balls the other day that would have been out of the park with the old bats and they just didn't make it (over the fence) with these new bats.
“You can't just play for the big inning anymore. You're going to see a lot more bunting, a lot more running (stealing bases). Coaches are going to have to change their mindsets in certain situations this year.”
Like styles and strategies changing, scores will also likely change. There won't be as many runs scored with BBCOR bats.
Game times will also likely change with pitchers in firmer control. There won't be as many marathon games (and that is definitely a good thing when the weather is more nasty and March-like than it has been this March.)
But most importantly, a pitcher's mindset gets to change for the better.
As much as I sympathize with frustrated hitters like Meehan, I breathe a sigh of relief for pitchers like Ash. My 11-year-old son is a pitcher. Like Whalen with his son, I've worried about him every time he's taken the mound, praying that he's never in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“Every guy (hitter) on my team hates these new bats. I don't know anyone who prefers them,” Ash said with a slight chuckle and then a sigh. “But honestly, I feel more comfortable out there now. I pitched last week and it felt a lot different. I felt … safer.”