Whose responsibility is it to check for juiced bats in The CWS! I think Florida would be my first suspect.

"Smooth seas don't create skilled sailors"

I have wondered, how can or do they check for rolled or shaved bats?

Can these new bats still be rolled or shaved?

Yes you can shave them but I believe the NCAA checks them after every game in omaha

I wonder if they checked the FSU bats.

What does shaving a bat do?

I have never tried to cheat at the plate....so I don't know.

Basically it thins and loosens up he walls of the bat. That makes I springier and gives it more pop.

I don't see why they don't just ban composite bats and go all aluminum.

better yet, why not just use wooden bats?

quote:

---

better yet, why not just use wooden bats?

---

Or wiffle bats (and balls)?!?

I don't get your point. Lots of guys their age use wooden bats (in MLB) so why can't college?

Composite bats also "break in" with use, or at least the softball composite bats do. They get a lot hotter as the season goes on.

quote:

---

better yet, why not just use wooden bats?

---

Amen!


Cost was the factor that the college game moved away from the material God intended bats to be made from.

It would cost too much to use wooden bats. I know that sounds hard to believe but trust me it would.

[This message has been edited by Sex Panther (edited 6/21/2011 11:04a).]

quote:

---

It would cost too much to use wooden bats.

---

This. Good wooden bats are close to $100 each, and a player may go through a dozen of them in a season. It's much cheaper for the sponsors to give each player one $250 bat and be done with it.

I bought a game used wooden bat for 26 bucks about a month ago. maybe they should try that route

Decent little league bats start at $250.....I would think any bat used in the NCAA would avg $500+

quote:

---

I would think any bat used in the NCAA would avg $500+

---

You can get a BBCOR Easton Surge for $300 and a Rival for $200.

I don't entirely buy the cost argument. How do wooden bat leagues survive? The Brazos Bombers led the TCL in attendance last season at around 1,200 per game, and they charge considerably less per ticket than we pay at Olsen. They seem to be doing very well financially.

If the colleges went to wood, I do think that they should be ash only because the maple bats shatter so badly.

Will,

If one $300 bat will last all season, why would you want to spend $1,200 on 12 $100 bats? Sure A&M and the other big programs could afford it, but it would be cost prohibitive for the smaller schools.

quote:

---

I don't entirely buy the cost argument. How do wooden bat leagues survive? The Brazos Bombers led the TCL in attendance last season at around 1,200 per game, and they charge considerably less per ticket than we pay at Olsen.

---

I am not positive but I am pretty sure the players supply the bats. I played JUCO and that was the case for my Summer league. It wasn't a big time league though. The Cape and the Alaskan might supply wood bats for the players.

quote:

---

They seem to be doing very well financially.

---

I'm not sure what your definition of "doing well financially" is. I definitely wouldn't say they are making money hand over fist.

quote:

---

I do think that they should be ash only because the maple bats shatter so badly

---

Sorry to sound pretentious but you have that backwards.

quote:

---

If one $300 bat will last all season, why would you want to spend $1,200 on 12 $100 bats? Sure A&M and the other big programs could afford it, but it would be cost prohibitive for the smaller schools.

---

Bingo. Not a problem for most Big 12/SEC schools, but there are a lot of other baseball programs that would have a serious problem with this as part of the budget.

Also, most teams are given bats by Easton/TPX etc. as a sponsorship deal. So the little leaguers come out and want to swing the same bat they see the Aggies and Horns using. I don't think Louisville Slugger would be jumping at the opportunity to donate hundreds of wood bats to a college team when it won't do them any good as far as a marketing tool.

[This message has been edited by Sex Panther (edited 6/21/2011 12:25p).]

dabo might have used the wrong word with shatter but it seems that the maple bats splintering are a danger.

Maple bats a splintering controversy around the majors
By Daniel Malloy - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

MLB addressing danger of maple bats
By Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com

Tyler Colvin Impaled – Sparks Maple Bat Controversy

Rolling them breaks them in faster and is completely legal. Shaving and end loading beyond the stated bat specification is illegal. You cannot detect rolling, but signs of shaving are obvious once the end cap is off.

Maybe I should have said splintering instead of shattering. A few years ago there was a Pirates coach who took a chunk of maple about 10" long in his face. It went through some muscle and messed him up pretty badly.

Apparently Bonds used maple when he was juicing, some people thought that the maple was the reason for his HR numbers, and maple caught on. They've done quite a bit of testing and determined that maple bats aren't any more effective than ash. They are much more dangerous though.

interesting stat from Aaron Fitt at Baseball America thru 6 games of CWS play:

2010 ---> .288 BA, 12 HR, 4.93 ERA (all teams combined)

2011 ---> .224 BA, 2 HR, 2.74 ERA (same)

Gotcha Dabo. I remember that being a concern but that was around the end of my career so I stopped paying attention. Maple was really catching on then because they broke less frequently than Ash and Bonds brought a lot of attention to them. I bought 3 bats that Summer. 2 ash, and 1 maple that cost twice what the ash ones did. My very first AB I broke one of my ashes, so I switched to the maple. I still have that bat and it is still good. My other ash broke a few weeks later, but I decided I preferred the ash.

In short... Ash breaks more frequently but costs less. Maple breaks less frequently but can mess you up when it does.

btw, my friend who played in the Cape just told me that the teams did supply bats for the players, but that is the Cape. Still not sure if the TCL supplies them or not.

Actually you can detect rolling on a bat fairly easily if it's done wrong. Rolling them is really easy though, and yes shaving them adds about another 30-40 feet to hits

quote:

---

2011 ---> .224 BA, 2 HR, 2.74 ERA (same

---

Now that my Horns are out, expect the batting average to increase.

Wooden bats are expensive. Sometimes players are traded for them!

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/29495228/

sorry, but Division 1 college programs have millions of dollars (we are currently spending 24 million dollars renovating olsen) and you are telling me these programs can't afford to outfit the players with wooden bats... this is a joke

also, I highly doubt our players each only go through one bat a year. I can buy a pro lite tpx bat with 10-15 grain lines in it for $35.00 at academy and a maple bat for $60... if you spend $300 for one top of the line metal bat (assuming they only use one a year) that adds up to a large number of wooden bats, and I'm sure TPX would be sponsoring/outfitting our programs for free or at cost

quote:

---

sorry, but Division 1 college programs have millions of dollars (we are currently spending 24 million dollars renovating olsen) and you are telling me these programs can't afford to outfit the players with wooden bats... this is a joke

---

Baseball loses money already and you want to increase the budget for the sport??? Do you have any idea how many schools would kill their baseball programs for lack of funding?

And we paid for the renovations with this amazing thing called donations. The money was not included in the athletic budget, it was donated by well wishers and the like to update facilities.

An aluminum/composite bat will not last a full season, especially if it is used much in the cage. They often develop cracks. It is not a given that these bats are "one and done."

The Black Magic bat by Easton that I used, lasted several seasons. Use is one thing, using it in colder weather is another. Most of these bats used do in fact last the whole season and then some, cage included.

quote:

---

Composite bats also "break in" with use, or at least the softball composite bats do. They get a lot hotter as the season goes on.

---

we are talking about baseball... there is kind of a big difference, unless you are talking about slowpitch, since that is what baseball players play when they get too old... but if we are talking fast pitch, oh dear...

I dont buy the cost argument either.



Prarie Sticks sells a lot of their bats for $89. They also run specials and bulk discounts. Right now, 6 maple bats will run you $345

Louisville slugger bats are about $55 for pro stock and $90 for maple before any bulk discount. They only get above $100 when you buy the MLB player specific bats.

quote:

---

I dont buy the cost argument either.

---

It's already been discussed. The bat manufacturers give their bats to college programs as a marketing effort. They have no incentive to give away wood bats, because outside of pro ball and a few wood bat leagues, there is no market for wood bats. Programs would have to go from getting their bats for free (or at a greatly reduced cost) to buying multiple bats for every player. No matter how much the bats cost, free is always going to be cheaper.