Upon Further Review: Modern bats too dangerous
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The question has been, does the ball come off the bat faster and travel farther, thereby posing a danger to fielders? The answer has to be yes.
If you are wondering why I picked this subject this week, for those of you who don’t already know, a young man from McMinnville was seriously injured this past weekend after being hit by a ball coming off an aluminum bat.
Brooks Majors was pitching in Ohio over the weekend in the CABA 14-year-old World Series when a ball was hit back at him, hitting him in the jaw and fracturing it in several pieces.
He underwent surgery Monday at the Cleveland Foundation Hospital in Ohio, and — luckily — as of Tuesday afternoon he is doing fine and expected to be out of ICU today.
Majors is just one example of the many kids who are seriously injured every year from these lethal weapons known as aluminum bats. According to one report, there have been at least six deaths linked to the use of aluminum bats since 1990, and every year some kid is injured — or in a few cases killed — because of the high-powered bat.
Originally the aluminum bat was designed and put into use because wooden bats broke and had to be replaced. The cost of replacing wood bats became very expensive for colleges and high schools, and the aluminum bat was the answer. It would last for a couple of years and cut the cost of using wood bats in half.
As the years went by, companies developed new materials to make bats lighter and stronger. As more and more people started using aluminum bats, the bat companies found themselves on the verge of a gold mine. They found ways to make the ball travel father and, in the process, made the ball jump off the bat twice as fast as a wooden bat.
As a result, reaction time for pitchers and infielders became shorter and shorter.
Bat makers claim there is no link between aluminum bats and any deaths, and people in favor of using the bats argue it doesn’t come off the bat any quicker, it just travels farther.
But if that’s the case, then why hasn’t Major League Baseball picked up on the aluminum bat? Fans love to see the long ball, after all, and with the aluminum bat there would be plenty of homers hit each night.
I’ll tell you why they don’t use aluminum bats in the major leagues.
It would get a pitcher or infielder killed.
Just like with golf, where new technology and new metals used in clubs have made it easier to hit a golf ball longer and straighter, this technology is also used in the production of baseball bats. Have you priced a top of the line baseball bat recently? You’re going to pay over $250 for one of these super bats.
While they may be super for the hitter using them, for fielders, especially pitchers, they’re extremely dangerous.
It is time to take a stand, and let the TSSAA and the bat makers know how you feel. We all can say were going to write a letter. But until we actually get involved with removing the aluminum bat from the ball fields, nothing is going to change.
Maybe next time it could be your kid laying out there with his jaw broken — or even worse.
Don’t let it be too late.