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Aluminum vs. Wood: The No-Brainer
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What is it going to take to get the NCAA to switch its regulations on aluminum bats? Yes, every sport has risk involved, but why add to the chances by allowing the bat manufacturers to continue to find loopholes around the bat standards? Why would it be such a problem to switch to wooden bats? Could not a compromise be found to make it safer for the pitchers and infielders? These questions and many others like them have been brought up the NCAA Baseball Rules Committee, the majority of whom want to know how to make collegiate baseball safer for pitchers and infielders. It has been proven over the past few years that aluminum bats are becoming a risk to players and pitchers in the field. Many studies nave been conducted proving that aluminum bats can achieve a much faster bat speed at impact than its wooden counterpart. Studies have shown that baseballs hit by aluminum bats travel 20 percent faster than those hit by a wooden bat (Vaughn). It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the faster the bat speed during a swing, the greater hit-ball velocity it can achieve. It is this velocity off the bat that becomes a danger to pitchers and infielders. To remedy this problem, the NCAA Baseball Rules Committee set forth new standards to prohibit the development and use of an aluminum bat that exceeds a batted ball speed of over 97 miles per hour.
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