BBCOR - Love it don't you!

[Baseball Observer]

I'm glad to see the era of technology in bats (BESR) finally coming to an end. The technology that made most coaches forget about teaching correct hitting fundamentals and gave players a false sense of security because the bats had become so unrealistically forgiving. Please read the article Ahhh...the BBCOR bat.

[clayadams]

I would personally have zero issues if ALL leagues, even my kid's 9u team, had to go to wooden bats. I'd love it actually.

[scorekeeper]

There is definitely a lot of truth in the fact that hitters were helped by the use of bats that performed substantially better than wood. But let’s draw an analogy here to see if we can’t better describe what took place.

Assume wood bats are like a typical family sedan. That would make non-wood bats equate to automobiles that perform better than that typical one, but there would be different gradients. FI, a mid-level, mid-priced BESER bat might equate to a fairly high quality performance car like a standard Corvette, but then there would also be the “super bats” that would equate to a Bugatti Veyron.

Just like all cars that perform better than a typical family sedan, won’t go 258 MPH or need tires that cost in excess of $20,000 for a set and only last 10,000 miles, not every bat used by every player was a super-hot, rolled composite that was launching balls the way the Veyron’s power plant launches it from 0 to 60 in less than 2.5 seconds. IOW, not all players were using super-bats, and certainly using a super-bat didn’t insure hitting success, any more than putting me in an Indy car would make me a good Indy car driver.

Batters still had put the bat in the correct place to take advantage of the performance benefits, so although the bat definitely could help once it met a ball, it wasn’t as though a batter didn’t’ need any skills at all.

And if non-wood performs almost the same as wood, why is wood so preferable?

[chain220]

And if no-wood performs almost the same as wood, why is wood so preferable?

I obviously can't speak for everybody, but I would prefer wood because it gives a feel as to the way the game was meant to be played. The sound of the ball off a wooden bat is much more pleasurable than that of the broken bottle sound you get from the new BBCOR bats. When baseball was created centuries ago all they used was wood up until basically the 70s, why not keep using it? I've always enjoyed wood, but have used metal to keep up with everybody else using metal.

[dominik]

I obviously can't speak for everybody, but I would prefer wood because it gives a feel as to the way the game was meant to be played. The sound of the ball off a wooden bat is much more pleasurable than that of the broken bottle sound you get from the new BBCOR bats. When baseball was created centuries ago all they used was wood up until basically the 70s, why not keep using it? I've always enjoyed wood, but have used metal to keep up with everybody else using metal.

In tennis also anybody was using wood. nowadays anyone plays with super powered and lightweight space material rackets which made tennis a totally different game.

[scorekeeper]

I obviously can't speak for everybody, but I would prefer wood because it gives a feel as to the way the game was meant to be played. The sound of the ball off a wooden bat is much more pleasurable than that of the broken bottle sound you get from the new BBCOR bats. When baseball was created centuries ago all they used was wood up until basically the 70s, why not keep using it? I've always enjoyed wood, but have used metal to keep up with everybody else using metal.

Its completely understandable that there will always be those who prefer wood for various reasons, and the people who prefer wood are entitled to that opinion. Truth be told, having grown up and played all of my ball prior to non-woods even being legal, I’d prefer wood be the only bat available myself. In fact, I’d much rather persimmon was the only legal club head for woods, and hickory the only legal shafts for clubs. The same goes for tennis, pole vaulting, and I can’t even guess how many other sports where what was once wood equipment has changed.

But the reason I prefer wood is that it placed a premium on skill, not because it sounded or looked more pleasing, because those reasons are completely aesthetic and add nothing to the game of any real value. What would a deaf person care if when bat met ball it sounded like a Christoph Paccard church bell or the plop of donkey dung falling in a barnyard? To you, the sound of wood meeting leather wrapped string is what its all about. All I care about is that no player can buy an advantage, and that’s what BBCOR has brought the game closer to.

What BBCOR also brings, is the ability for those of you who prefer to use wood, to do it without having to give away much of an advantage, if any, to those who prefer non-wood. So I’d think everyone who loves the intrinsic game would embrace the BBCORs, rather than to keep taking these continual shots at them for no real substantive reason. Heck, the only folks I can see who hate the BBCOR standard, are those who believe the game is more pleasurable to play and watch, when every player, no matter how well or poorly skilled, can jack a bomb at any time off of any pitcher.

[JohnMcD348]

I have very limited experience in this area and I still have a lot to learn but, I am helping to coach my son's machine pitch team and there are quite a few composite bats in the league. My son even has an older Combat B1 and I recently got him a Louisville Slugger TPX. He also has a few Maple and Hickory wood bats and a nice Reflex Aluminum. He hits pretty well with all of them, but, I really cannot tell any significant difference between the travel of the ball with his wood bat and the travel of the ball with his Combat. He does seem to hit better, farther with his Aluminum Reflex.

[bhss89]

Yes, BBCOR has brought the fun back into amateur baseball. Now, here's hoping that HS, travel ball, and college pitchers rediscover the art of pitching inside. It's time for pitchers to reclaim the inner half of the plate!

[scorekeeper]

Yes, BBCOR has brought the fun back into amateur baseball. Now, here's hoping that HS, travel ball, and college pitchers rediscover the art of pitching inside. It's time for pitchers to reclaim the inner half of the plate!

In large, its never been about what the pitchers want to do! Remember who calls all but a tiny percentage of the pitches and locations. Good pitchers have always and will always pitch inside when given the opportunity, if they have the ability to do it consistently. Don’t blame the general lack of even trying to do so for so many years on the pitchers! Put the blame where it should lie.

Ya know, I watched one heck of a lot of HS and college ball from 2000 until now, and although I don’t have statistical evidence, being the father of a pitcher and a scorer and statistician, my PERCEPTION is, the top pitchers have pitched inside, many times in defiance of the pitch location that was called. But not all pitchers have the luxury of defying their coach and getting away with it.

[bhss89]

In large, its never been about what the pitchers want to do! Remember who calls all but a tiny percentage of the pitches and locations. Good pitchers have always and will always pitch inside when given the opportunity, if they have the ability to do it consistently. Don’t blame the general lack of even trying to do so for so many years on the pitchers! Put the blame where it should lie.

Ya know, I watched one heck of a lot of HS and college ball from 2000 until now, and although I don’t have statistical evidence, being the father of a pitcher and a scorer and statistician, my PERCEPTION is, the top pitchers have pitched inside, many times in defiance of the pitch location that was called. But not all pitchers have the luxury of defying their coach and getting away with it.

Interesting perspective. I'd say almost the complete opposite about pitchers throwing inside without regard to the pitch location indicated from coach/catcher: In my experience, pitchers grew frustrated after giving up bloop hits off the fists of guys swinging BESR, so they instead threw middle or middle-away. But as you know, many HS, travel, and college guys have the best intentions of throwing in, and for whatever reason, the ball ends up over the white part of the plate.

[Rajun Cajun]

I love wood bats!

My 9 U and 6U kids both practice with them. My 13U son will occasionally use one in games.

Wood is cheaper, and if you get a good one, can perform better than BBCOR.

Although, the green peace freaks and sierra club probably think it is "anti-green" or something and would end up accusing America's Past time as being part of the problem in raising green house gasses.

[Francoeurstein]

As a high school pitcher, I love it!

[scorekeeper]

I love wood bats!

My 9 U and 6U kids both practice with them. My 13U son will occasionally use one in games.

Wood is cheaper, and if you get a good one, can perform better than BBCOR.

Although, the green peace freaks and sierra club probably think it is "anti-green" or something and would end up accusing America's Past time as being part of the problem in raising green house gasses.

Not having seen a game below HS for a looong time, I was surprised to see and hear how all those expensive bats used in LLI performed. It sounded like the kids were hitting puffballs, and the ball didn’t travel very well. We have a 200’ fence all the way around, and in 2 12U games, not one ball got within 10’ of the fence, even on the ground. After seeing that, I don’t doubt a woodie would perform just as well.

What I’d like to see, is all the kiddieball organizations drop whatever they’re using and go to BBCOR just like most play on the big field has gone. If they want, they can allow the manufacturers to put more “juice” in them than is allowed at the upper levels, but they really need to do something to get everyone much closer to the same page.

The leading hitter on our HS team uses a BBCOR he bought brand new on-line for $50. None of the other players will touch it because their parents have them all convinced the arrow has to be gilded, when it’s really the same as its always been, the Indian!

[scorekeeper]

Interesting perspective. I'd say almost the complete opposite about pitchers throwing inside without regard to the pitch location indicated from coach/catcher: In my experience, pitchers grew frustrated after giving up bloop hits off the fists of guys swinging BESR, so they instead threw middle or middle-away. But as you know, many HS, travel, and college guys have the best intentions of throwing in, and for whatever reason, the ball ends up over the white part of the plate.

Depends on the pitcher and the hitters. My kid was used to throwing against batters using Titanium, and he got a big kick out of throwing inside. I spent an entire season tracking BIP locations, getting pitch location from a vidcam behind and slightly to the right of the umpire. Yes there were a couple of duck farts that dropped in on inside pitches, but there were more on outside pitches the hitter was fooled on and got lucky. We looked at the vid after every game, and he was the one who was telling me what to log. After that, I never had to bother with it again.

Now in all fairness, it makes a lot of difference what kind of pitcher you’re talking about too. My kid was a RHP low ¾ guy, with an A++ sinker, B FB, , A slider, and A++ CU. He very seldom threw the 4seamer in because he had those other pitches. Lots of kids will try to sneak in a B or C pitch and that’s a totally different story. But if they have a pitch that’s A+, it doesn’t matter what bat’s being used, its gonna work more times than not. If they have 2 A+ pitches, they can pitch in without fear, and always could.

The problem is that the person calling the pitches has to understand the difference between a great pitch and a good one. Good pitches get hammered all the time, but great ones much less often, no matter where they’re thrown.

[22Hicks]

BBCOR has highlighted who the truly good hitters are. I think it is the best thing to happen to high school and college baseball in years.