March 23, 2011
New bat standards will change the college game
The new BBCOR bats, such as Reebok's - now required by the NCAA - include the 'BBCOR Certified .50' stamp.
Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the March 2011 issue of New England Baseball Journal.
The technical breakdown of the NCAA’s new aluminum bat standard is a maze of acronyms and jargon, ratios and coefficients, and scientific research. But here are the simple facts: It will require metal bats to perform more like wood bats. A lot of bats that met the old standard will not meet the new one and will need to be replaced. And it is going to have an immediate impact on the game.
Brendan Eygabroat, UMass-Boston head coach, sums it up this way:
“The main point of it was to change the exit velocity off the bat to slow it down,” he says, “because they felt the balls were coming off the bat due to the trampoline effect at too great a rate for the college game, thus leading to more runs scored per game and more home runs. Too much offense, basically.”
The previous testing standard for metal bats was based on the BESR (Ball Exit Speed Ratio) standard. The NCAA found that was effective to a certain extent but allowed for performance differences between wood and non-wood bats. After researching the subject, in part with the Baseball Research Center at UMass-Lowell, the NCAA came up with the BBCOR (Bat-Ball Coefficient Of Restitution) standard, which became the testing standard Jan. 1.
“Wood and non-wood bats with the same BBCOR produce essentially the same batted-ball speeds,” said Cameron Schuh, the NCAA’s associate director for public and media relations, “so it is easy to relate a non-wood bat’s performance to that of a similarly-sized wood bat.”
To paraphrase Yogi Berra, it’s 90 percent mental, and the other half is physical. Aluminum bats have increased offensive production by making it easier to hit the ball farther.
Jayson King is head coach at Franklin Pierce, which plays in the Northeast-10 Conference, one of the few that uses mostly wood bats. Some teams play with aluminum, which is also used in the postseason, giving King a good idea of the difference between aluminum and wood.
“The old version of the aluminum bats, pretty much you have guys one through nine in your lineup that can hit home runs,” King said. “With the wood, it’s maybe two or three guys who can hit home runs on a regular basis. It’s a huge difference.”
Batters have to change their swing to accommodate the differences between wood and aluminum bats, something King has to be aware of.
“The biggest thing with the wood is that guys really have to focus on finishing off the swing,” he said. “Not just hitting the ball and cutting off the swing, but really getting to the ball, finishing it off, and then following through. With aluminum, you just have to get the barrel in and the trampoline effect takes care of the rest.”
Eygabroat says his UMass-Boston players haven’t had much time to swing the bats, but he’s heard there will be as much as a 15 percent difference in how far the ball will carry between the new BBCOR bats and the old BESR models.
That’s going to change the way some teams play and coach, especially those centered around bigger, slower power hitters.
“I think you will see a return to more fundamental baseball in terms of teams having to handle the bat, in terms of hit and run, the bunt, the squeeze, stealing bases, running the bases, going first to third on singles,” Eygabroat said. “I think it’s going to put a lot of pressure on teams to have strong pitching and defense, which is kind of the ethos of any good program.”
While smaller programs are just getting their first experience with the new bats, some of the bigger Division 1 schools with sponsorship deals got an early crack at them. Justin Blood, UConn’s pitching coach and recruiting coordinator, got to see how his team used them in the fall.
“I think they accomplished what they set out to do, and that was to take some of the sting away from the bat,” Blood said. “The ball definitely doesn’t come off the bat the way it used to.”
He can foresee big changes for some teams in the region.
“If his major tool was power and he didn’t have speed,” he said, “and maybe he strikes out — most power hitters strike out — that’s going to have a big effect. And I think in New England, especially, there’s quite a few players like that.”
Blood also can see a change in pitching. He says the new bats could reward pitchers for making good pitches.
“A lot of times in years past,” he says, “you could make a good pitch, but because of the bat, the hitter would be bailed out. He might not take a good swing or he might take a swing at a pitch that’s a pretty good pitch and get a good piece of it or get a hit out of it because of the bat, really.”
Eygabroat sees a mixed effect on his team. The Beacons had almost 50 home runs last year, and count their power hitters as an important weapon. But they also led the league in sacrifice bunts and steals and had a strong defense.
“We like to play a little small ball, but we also have some big, strong guys who can hit it out of the park,” he said.
Still, he thinks home runs add excitement to the game, and he’d hate to see that aspect of the game significantly diminished.
“I don’t want to see teams’ (Nos.) 3, 4 and 5 hitters sacrifice bunting,” Eygabroat said. “I hope it doesn’t affect the game so much that the big strong hitters are now bunting in the third inning. I hope there’s still some excitement in that respect.”
Do you know your bat terms?
BBCOR
Bat-Ball Coefficient of Restitution
The new standard to control the performance of metal bats and make them perform on-field more like wood bats. The NCAA began using this standard on Jan. 1; the NFHS (National Federation of State High School Associations) will adopt the standard Jan. 1, 2012. The new test is calculated using the inbound and rebound speeds of the ball. This takes the measurables of the collision of the ball with the bat, as opposed to just the speed at which the ball leaves the bat.
BESR
Ball Exit Speed Ratio
The first major standard for testing metal bats. The test measured the speed of the ball leaving a bat against the speed of the pitched ball and the speed at which the bat was swung. The BESR standard no longer applies to the NCAA, but high school players can still use BESR-certified bats for one more year.
ABI
Accelerated Break-In
Composite bats (which have an aluminum exterior but a woven graphite wall inside) can perform better with repeated use, leading some to tamper with bats to accelerate the break-in. Metal bats are now measured against an ABI standard to ensure that they perform the same throughout the life of the bat.
Trampoline effect
Aluminum bats are elastic; wooden bats are not. This refers to the bat’s elasticity, and how it affects the ball coming off of the bat.
Nick A. Zaino III can be reached at feedback@baseballjournal.com
