According to Major League Baseball Official Rule 1.10, a baseball bat must be made from a single piece of wood. While the most common reasons cited for the exclusive use of wood bats in professional baseball include tradition and aesthetics, the major concern about the use of metal bats is safety. Metal bats are allowed in youth, high school and college play.
Exist Speed
Although there isn't unanimous agreement that metal bats have significantly different performance characteristics from wood bats, the debate centers on what is called the bat exis speed. According to "Popular Mechanics," this is the velocity at which the ball comes off the bat. Metal bats, usually made from aluminum alloys, actually bend when they strike the ball and become more flexible with use. This so-called trampoline effect increases the speed at which the ball leaves the bat. Effective Jan. 1, 2011, the NCAA replaced its bat exit speed ratio, BESR, with the ball-bat coefficient of restitution, BBCOR, as the means for measuring bat performance in testing and certification.
Other Speed Factors
As documented by Dr. Daniel Russel of Kettering University, metal bats routinely outperform wood bats in experiments that mimic actual field conditions. But when balls are pitched at stationary bats, wood and metal bats perform roughly the same. Dr. Rusell suggests that this is because actual playing conditions bring out factors that enhance the performance of metal bats. Wooden bats have a built-in control factor: They break if hit too hard. This prevents balls from leaving the bat at speeds that would be considered excessively dangerous. Metals bats not only don't break, they also are lighter, which allows them to be swung faster. Their larger size-to-weight ratio allows for wider bats that create more hits.
Safety
The most frequent safety concern cited in connection to metal bats is line-drives hit directly back at the pitcher. Since about 2003, several pitchers in high school and college play have been seriously injured by balls hit off metal bats. The balls move too fast to be avoided and inflict more damage than balls hit off wood. Injuries have included coma, hospitalization and death. According to an article in the "Quad City Times," a runner on third base had a bone in his leg fractured after being struck by a ball hit off a metal bat. Although these injuries are relatively rare, their severity has caused several states, including California and New York, to explore banning metal bats.
Controversy
Despite the apparent evidence, banning metal bats remains controversial. Proponents of metal bats argue that regulation by key organizations like the NCAA has prevented use of more dangerous bats and that the aluminum bats that meets these regulations hit no faster than wood. They also point to a study from the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research showing just 15 catastrophic batted-ball injuries to pitchers since 1982. In 2002, the National Consumer Product Safety Commission declared metal bats to be no more dangerous than wood bats.
References
- Popular Mechanics: Should Metal Baseball Bats Be Banned?
- Kettering Univ.: Why Aluminum Bats Can Perform Better than Wood Bats
- Kettering Univ.: Explaining the BESR Performance Standard for NCAA Baseball Bats
- Lahontan Valley News: Showdown of Bats
- Teach Kids Baseball: Aluminum Bats Safety In Youth Baseball
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