Aluminum bats were introduced in the 1970s and quickly gained popularity with players because of their ease of use. However, in recent years states like New Jersey and Pennsylvania have sought to ban aluminum bats from Little League games because of potential safety concerns. These issues arise because aluminum bats often result in balls that travel faster and with the potential to cause more damage than balls hit by wooden bats. Understanding these concerns revolves around understanding why aluminum bats perform better than wooden bats.
Faster Swing
Aluminum bats are hollow, placing their center of mass closer to the handle of the bat than the center of mass of a solid wood bat. The closer the center of mass is to the handle, the easier the bat is to swing, which makes aluminum bats inherently easier. Although aluminum bats are heavier than most wood bats, they feel lighter when swung because of the way their weight is distributed.
Trampoline Effect
When a baseball collides with a wood bat, a large amount of its kinetic energy, the energy of movement, is absorbed by the wood. This is because wood is a stiff, inelastic material. Aluminum is a more flexible, elastic substance. When a baseball collides with an aluminum bat, the aluminum is initially deformed, then springs back. This is termed the "trampoline effect" and allows the ball to retain most of its kinetic energy.
Faster Ball Speed
The term "sweet spot" is used to refer to the spot where the ball comes off the bat with the greatest speed. While the size of the sweet spot might be comparable on wood and aluminum bats, a ball hit outside the official sweet spot on an aluminum bat travels faster than a ball hit outside the official sweet spot of an aluminum bat. This means that balls hit with an aluminum bat tend to travel faster than balls hit by a wooden bat wielded by a player with similar skill.
Durability
Wood bats often break when they are hit by a ball near the middle of the bat. Aluminum is much stronger than wood and has less of a tendency to break. An aluminum bat might dent but it will not often shatter. This means that players can attempt to hit more inside balls that would cause wooden bats to break.
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