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 There's Too Much Offense In College Baseball - Jun 10, 2008 | 11:28:21
posted by: Josh
LSU scored 21 runs last night, the highest total in any Super Regional game this season. While one might assume 21 runs was an anomaly, the assumption would be wrong. A quick look at the box scores from the Super Regionals demonstrates that offense is ruling the game of college baseball. There weren't any shutouts in any of the Super Regional games and if you want to argue that shutouts are hard to come by, that's fine, but there weren't any games where the losing team scored just one run either. In 12 of the 20 games (60 percent), the winning team scored more than 10 runs, an average of more than one run per inning. I'm not sure what the average time of each game was, but it's probably safe to guess that three hours comes and goes during most contests. Perhaps I'm becoming more of a traditionalist as I get older, but I've always enjoyed a 1-0 or 2-1 baseball game much more than offensive showdowns. I think the game is much purer when it's played that way, and I can't help feeling that aluminum bats are making that kind of game much less likely to happen. Understanding that I'm not a doctor, physicist, engineer, nutritionist or Jack LaLanne, I'd like to suggest that the use of aluminum bats, coupled with superior strength training programs, have put hitters well ahead of pitchers in the game of baseball. The type of technology used in aluminum bats and the knowledge we now have about physical fitness has changed the game. I don't think anything can be done about the fitness - people know more than they used to and so long as it's the natural effect of working hard, baseball players are entitled to get bigger, faster and stronger. It's just my opinion, but when 30 runs are being scored in college baseball games, I have to think wood bats begin to make more sense for the sport. 
CommentsI hope that it doesn't take a serious injury to a pitcher to convince people that wood bats are needed at the college level, especially Division I. Aluminum bats play a small role in the offensive outburst in college ball, but it is a small role. The BPF(bat performance factor) of college aluminum bats is capped at 1.15, meaning the aluminum bats they use are 15% more effective than a wood bat. The biggest reason for the run splurge is that the best pitchers don't go to college, they go to the pros out of high school. High school baseball games don't typically have 30 runs scored per game, and neither do little league games. They all use aluminum bats also. aluminum bats are dangerous. they should be banned in high school and college. I thought about the high school factor and will suggest that many high school kids (especially at the back of the lineup) would never get the ball out of the infield with a wood bat. You may be right about the top pitchers never heading to college, but in my opinion, there wouldn't be just a 15% drop in runs if wood was used in college. There are a couple of leagues that use bats in conference play. I'm going to analyze their scores to comparable conferences and get back on this. The bats play a role, but the biggest role is teams run out of quality pitching in tournament play. You hear how the pitching is watered down at the Major League level because of expansion. Well, how many quality pitchers is a college baseball team going to have? I think that is more of a factor for offensive outburst, especially in the postseason. in my view: the risk of serious injury to pitchers getting hit by line drives off the bats of college and high school players far outweighs the negative of weak hitters. all hitters would be equal. high school players all used wood bats 40 years ago, and the hitting was fine. players today are bigger and stronger. in a high school game, i saw a line drive off a weak hitter's bad knock out 3 teeth of the pitcher, bearly missing even more serious injury. on balance, in my view, we don't need aluminum bats for the game to be great. maybe more hit and runs, squeeze bunts, etc. I don't necessarily think that increased scoring in college baseball is a direct result of aluminum bats or that it is even a bad thing. UNC is still dominating with great pitching (hope I don't jinx them). Fans like home runs (the steroid era may have saved MLB) but that can't be the only reason the NCAA is sticking with aluminum bats. What are the pros of everyone using aluminum bats? Is cost an issue? Cost IS the issue. Baseball teams at the college level would go through more wooden bats than people realize so if a 'wooden bat' decree were to be made, it must be based on more than a whim or 'aluminum bats are dangerous'. Absolutely should return to wood. Cost is a cop out for the NCAA and conferences across the country as an aluminum bat is far more expensive than a composite wood bat not to mention that a composite wood bat will last much longer than a traditional Maple or Ash bat and it would bring back the strategy and intricacies of baseball that are lacking when the aluminum bats are let loose. Aluminum bats are fine for little league and early years of high school baseball for players to learn with, but once at the varsity level and upward the norm should be wood across the board. Andy Swenson 8bx7k5 When I played, I used adirondak white ash bats that seldom broke . . . but just yesterday three bats broke during two innings of a mlb game! Last week, a home plate umpire had to be taken to a hospital after being hit with a chard! Earlier this year, coaches, spectators, and others had to duck pieces or risk being hit. At least players have gloves to partially defend themselves, but I strongly believe mlb must correct this daily travesty (up to 15 games/day). Post a Comment |
  
Congratulations to all of the fall national champions! Most of you don't get the publicity you deserve, although you each have accomplished great things.
- john
   
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