I’ve talked several times this season on the impact the new NCAA-Mandated BBCOR composite bats..
The new bats are constructed with the same aluminum exterior as standard aluminum baseball bats, but have a "woven" graphite wall on the inside which results in a 10 to 15 percent decrease in performance.
Offensive statistics have taken a nosedive across all levels of college baseball, and it's likely the result of new bat-testing standards put in place this season to reduce the speed at which the ball leaves the bat.
According to a set of midseason statistics released by the NCAA that included games through April 3, the most recent set of data available, home runs have taken a hit. In Division I, home runs per game dropped from .85 to .47, with similar marks at Division II (.72/43) and Division III (.54/.30).
A look at 2011 home run totals in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference has dropped dramatically so far this season.
Entering the weekend, UW-Whitewater has hit just 9 home runs through 28 games. UW-Stevens Point’s home run total is 16 and UW-Oshkosh has hit just 2 homers so far in 2011.
To put those home run numbers in context here is a look at each of the school’s home run average over the past five seasons 2006-2010:
UWSP 60 HRs
UWW 44 HRs
UWO 26 HRs
The goal, through this rule change and others before it, is for the aluminum and composite bats used at the college level to perform identically to the wood ones the pros use.
The new bats are safer but not unbreakable. UW-Whitewater centerfielder Dylan Friend had his bat snap in half when making contact in a game last week vs. Concordia-Chicago. The bats with a price tag of $300+ are under warranty.
BBCOR, which stands for Ball-Bat Coefficient of Restitution, is the number that results from a complex equation measuring the speed of a batted ball. That figure, regardless of bat size, cannot exceed .50
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