subject: 2011/2012 Bat Regulations [print this page] 2011/2012 Bat Regulations 2011/2012 Bat Regulations
What is with all of these bat regulations? Why do they change so much? And why do they matter? A bat that you buy one year may not be usable the next. Let's take a look at what the NCAA and NFHS standards are going to be for 2011 and 2012.
For college players they will be either using wood bats or non-wood bats made to the BBCOR (bat-ball coefficient of restitution) standard. NCAA Division II may be using only wood bats for 2011/2012 just to set them apart from NCAA Division I.
For high school players they will still be using the BESR (Ball Exit Speed Ratio) bats, but this is the last year for those. The exceptions are California which has already switched to the BBCOR bat and North Dakota and schools in NYC that only use wood bats. Also Virginia is only allowingBBCOR bats and wood bats this year. Next year 2012 all high schools except for ones in North Dakota and NYC will have to use BBCOR bats.
So what is all of this regulation about? They want to make aluminum and composite bats hit the ball more like wooden bats. As of now the non-wood bats sometimes have an unsafe competitive edge. The balls get hit at higher speeds because the bats are lighter which increases swing speeds. Also the bats give a little on impact, so the ball loses less energy therefore goes faster when hit. It's almost like the ball is hitting a trampoline. The statistics state that pitchers are three times as likely to be injured by balls hit by the BESR and non BBCOR bats. So in an attempt to keep the game safer and fairer for everybody, they are changing the standards again to the new BBCOR.
So now that you know you will need a BBCOR bat you better get out and get one like the Louisville BB11Z Z-1000 Baseball Bat. The BB11Z has a synthetic grip and Louisville Slugger end cap. It is made with an iST composite design that meets BBCOR standards.
For more bats that meet the BBCOR standards go to www.morleyathletic.com.
