The other faction - led by the state association - has a different take. That faction believes using wood bats produces a game more focused on fundamentals, and less on flash and synthetic power. One faction - “old-school” baseball purists such as Johnson - sides with wood. The question of whether Colorado high schools should switch back to wood is almost as polarizing as today’s political climate. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post) Baseball’s ideological divide It’s a multilayered issue.” PARKER, CO – MAY 23: Maple composite bats in production at the Haag Bat Company in Jim Haag’s garage in Parker, Colorado. “But I also happen to know there’s a huge amount of profit and politics behind those aluminum bats too. “If they’ve gotten metal to be like wood, then why wouldn’t we just swing wood? And that’s how most of the coaches I know around here feel,” Johnson said. The BESR (ball exit speed ratio) standard instituted by the NFHS in 2003 did little to quell the trampoline-like performance of aluminum bats, and so the hit parade continued throughout the 2000s, until the implementation of the BBCOR (batted ball coefficient of restitution) standard in 2011 that brought batters’ power back down to earth. By the turn of the century, aluminum bats at the prep and college level had become so potent, they not only turned the game into a slugging contest, they became a safety concern. To understand the story behind the aluminum bat - and to understand why only New Mexico and New York City still play with wood in sanctioned high school competition - requires an understanding of the rapid development of aluminum bats, especially over the past two decades.Īs demand for aluminum bats steadily increased throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, so too did the technology. “It’s just a different game with aluminum, especially at the high school level, because there’s much less of an emphasis on pitching and defense,” Johnson said.
And everyone hit with a wood bat.īut the implementation of the aluminum bat into high school play in Colorado in 1974 - and the subsequent development of the aluminum bat into the primary hitting instrument of choice for high schoolers - forever changed the sport. Half batting helmets were considered safe. When Marc Johnson began his coaching career at Cherry Creek in 1972, the game of baseball looked very different. Digital Replica Edition Home Page Close Menu
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