Today, I’d like to talk about youth bats. I believe this issue has become a major problem for several reasons, and I’d like to see a top-down overhaul – both in baseball and softball. First, a little background for those of you unfamiliar with the issue.
At the high school level, the PIAA requires that all softball bats meet the ‘ASA 2000’ or the ‘ASA 2004’ certification standards. This SHOULD be simple, right? If a bat as either of those stamps, it’s legal!
Well…no. The PIAA also has a list of 47(!!) bats, which show the appropriate logo, but are nonetheless considered ILLEGAL. Many look exactly like other legal bats except for the serial number. This is a logistical nightmare all the way around – parents and coaches have to be extremely careful when buying bats, umpires now have to scrutinize serial numbers before every game…crazy stuff. The only ones making out here are the bat manufacturers – I’ll get into that below.
In girls’ softball, even the legal bats are too potent. Go to a varsity softball game and you’ll probably see some or all of the infielders wearing face shields. Why? Because in today’s game, the ball is coming off the bat so quickly that fielders aren’t able to react quickly enough. Injuries seem more and more common.
The problem goes all the way down to age 9-10 little league. I coach a team in that age group, and all parents had to go to the field recently for a preseason ‘bat check’. Legal bats were given a sticker. Bats bought midseason have to be league-approved as well.
The reason for all this? The technology is out of control. You can spend $40 and get a perfectly acceptable bat at any level – but you can spend $150, $200, even $280 on a bat like this one and get a bit more performance. For the average player, it doesn’t make much difference – but like anything else, kids see their friends with a new bat, then they want a new bat. Pretty soon you’ve got a dugout full of $100+ bats.
Girls’ softball is even worse – in my experience, just about every player has their own helmet and bat (why every player needs a helmet is beyond me, but that’s another topic for another day). Softball bats are even more expensive – like this one, for the low low price of $350! You can EASILY end up with a varsity dugout full of bats and helmets that total up to $7000 or more.
It’s simply out of control. Spending big money should not be a prerequisite for success in baseball and softball, you should not be able to ‘buy a game’.
Can the bat companies help? Sure. Why would they, though? They, more than anyone, profit by all of this. I have no idea exactly how much profit a company makes on a $200 bat – but I’ve watched shows on the batmaking process, and I can say with certainty that it doesn’t cost them $100 per bat in almost every case. That’s HUGE profit, and a company is going to want to hang onto that revenue stream if at all possible. In fact, I’ve heard that some of the bats on the ‘non-approved’ list are there because the companies WANT them there; they are older bats, so making them non-approved gets players to…buy new bats! The whole thing is, in my opinion, a money-making racket, designed to benefit the companies…NOT the game, NOT the players, only the batmakers.
So, the batmakers are not going to fix this on their own…that leaves it to either the big organizations, like the PIAA or Little League, or individual leagues. Ideally, the individual leagues would tackle this, but here’s the problem: if my Little League puts in a ‘one bat’ rule or something similar, when all-stars roll around the whole thing falls apart unless surrounding leagues agree to the same standard. As the all-star team advances further, sooner or later you will run into a league that will want to play the ‘hot’ bats…and you’ll feel compelled to have your own to compete with them. Obviously, this is even more of an issue for varsity ball; no school is going to voluntarily put themselves at a competitive disadvantage compared to their opponents.
So, the solution can only be found at the organizational level…but even there it’s complicated. PIAA, for example, is a member of NFHS (National Federation of State High School Associations) and as such agrees, with MINOR changes, to play by NFHS rules. A bat change is NOT a minor tweak, and probably would be frowned upon by NFHS. More to the point, bat companies are not fools. They sponsor events at all levels, donate money – whatever it takes to generate goodwill with these organizations. In turn, the organizations generally resist major reductions in bat performance.
The REAL answer here is both simple and obvious – go back to wooden bats. Many will scoff, for various reasons…let’s see if I can anticipate the responses:
“No one makes wooden bats anymore except for the pros!” – well, around here we know this not to be true, BWP bat factory is only 35 miles up the road and many local softball leagues use their bats. Wood is making something of a comeback at the adult amateur level – in fact our local fastpitch softball league has switched over to wood, and it’s made for a much better league in my opinion. Same with the local adult Federation League baseball years ago.
“Those bats break too easily” – Does wood break more quickly than aluminum or composite? Sure, I cannot argue that point. BUT, at the youth level especially, you won’t see much of that because the pitch velocity and bat speeds aren’t nearly as high. Would it be an issue in varsity action? Yes. No question. But it takes a lot of broken $40 wooden bats to equal one $350 aluminum bat in terms of cost. You could also thicken the handle somewhat to alleviate that concern – MLB bats have moved more and more weight to the barrel and away from the handle, resulting in better performance but many more breakages.
“At 46 feet, varsity softball pitchers already have an advantage. Put heavier wooden bats into play, and the hitters wouldn’t stand a chance” – I’ll admit, this one is a real conundrum. I think the game is too fast at the upper levels – so little reaction time for all involved…batters, pitcher, infielders. Again, however, I’d point out that wooden bats have worked just fine in amateur men’s fastpitch – and I’ve seen some very hard throwers pitching at that level as well. It may well be that the game needs the dimensions tweaked, but I know that will never fly. If wooden bats are deemed too heavy, then at the very least the ‘springlike effect’ needs to be toned down off of these bats – or reduce the COR of the ball (essentially deadening it slightly).
“You cannot un-do progress” – Why, especially when it’s been shown that ‘progress’ in a certain area is actually harmful? Happens all the time in other areas of our lives; other sports tweak their rules and equipment constantly as well. Hockey is considering changing the size of goalie pads to increase scoring; wrestling has changed rules to increase action; football is ALWAYS changing rules to increase both safety and scoring.
I’ll end with this: A few years ago Little League made a MASSIVE change, switching from ‘innings’ to ‘pitch count’ for pitcher rest – to better protect young arms. It was controversial and much-resisted, but because it improved player safety it has now become entrenched in the game. Major bat changes would be very hotly debated, but in the end the game would survive – and thrive. Let’s not get a young pitcher badly hurt or killed before we take action; let’s reduce the cost, increase the safety, and level the playing field. Let’s fix these bats.
Dave Glass can be reached at dsglass74@gmail.com.