Bats Part II DUGOUT CHAT Tom Magedanz - 11.18.2000

New Bat Rules for Legion and High School Baseball in 2001. American Legion Baseball, like the National Federation of High School Athletics, will place new restrictions on baseball bats for the 2001 season. This rule took effect for NCAA college baseball for the 1999 tournament season and the entire 2000 college season. So, before you (or your parents) shell out $200+ for a new bat with lots of "pop" be sure your new bat is legal for Legion play. As far as we know, the new rule will not affect Teener baseball.

The first "Bats" article on this site last February discussed high tech, ultralight metal baseball bats and possible rule changes to bring metal bats back a little closer to wood in weight, feel, and performance. The reasons were to reduce the danger of injury to pitchers from line drives and to cut down on offensive numbers, which had exploded in recent years, especially at the college level. Another problem was that players moving on to pro baseball were in for a shock when they had to switch to wood bats as professional rules require.

The old rule provided that metal bats for high school and college players could not exceed 2 ¾" in diameter and the difference between the number of ounces and the number of inches of length could not be more than 5, expressed as "-5". For example, a 32-inch, 27-ounce bat is -5, and a 32-inch, 29-ounce bat is -3, and so on.

The new bat rule is intended to tone down the performance of metal bats and to make them feel and swing more like wood bats. Under the new rule, the diameter of a metal bat cannot exceed 2 5/8" inches, the bat cannot be lighter than -3, and the bat's "ball exit speed" off the bat cannot be faster than a standard, laboratory-tested velocity. The new bats have been on the market for a year or so and the variety of models and sizes available are increasing.

Enforcement: Will the Umps Really Check This? Yes they will (or they should). If the national organization changes its bat rules as a way of protecting players from injury, we would be putting ourselves at a serious liability risk if we just look the other way and allow players to use ultralight bats. A Pierre Legion pitcher was injured by a line drive to the face a few years ago; it could happen again and we can't put ourselves in the legal position of being at fault because we chose to ignore a rule that could possibly have prevented the injury. Also, it would be foolish for a team to spend all season with the artificial advantage of ultralight bats and then jump into tournament play where heavier bats will be required.

If You're Buying a New Bat for Legion Play, the bat must be clearly marked with three items:
-It must say "-3". (Heavier bats than -3 are legal, but nobody makes them.)
-It must say "2 5/8" barrel". (Old metal bats could be 2 ¾" and wood still can be 2 ¾".)
-It must say "BESR Certified" (stands for Bat Exit Speed Ratio).

Where to Find Them and What to Buy. Bats that meet the new rules are available in sporting goods stores (Scheels had them last summer) and in catalogs (Baseball Express, Eastbay, Western Athletic, etc). Also a sporting goods dealer can order them if they don't already have them. Easton and Louisville Slugger both make a decent selection of -3 bat models ranging in price from about $75 to $250. Most models come in 31"28 oz, 32/29, 33/30, and 34/31. Both companies are also making 29/26 and 30/27 in a couple of cheaper models for smaller players (high school freshman teams, etc). Not all catalogs show the shorter lengths or the cheaper models, so you may need to do some digging if you need something shorter than 32". Beware of great deals on left-over -5s, they're not legal anymore for Legion. Another thing. If the ball's exit velocity off the bat is restricted by the new rules, why would
we want to buy the expensive alloy that advertises extra "pop" when extra pop is now illegal? The expensive alloys were introduced 4-5 years ago to enable bats to be as light as -5 and still have a maximum 2 ¾" barrel diameter. These are now both illegal. I don't see what the expensive alloy accomplishes under the new rules other than make money for bat companies who still advertise "pop" and sell bats based on current model names and reputations (Z-Core, Redline, Omaha, etc.). Buy the bat that feels the best and feels balanced, but don't assume that more expensive is better; it may not be.

What About Wood Bats? Wood bats, because of the properties of wood, don't get much lighter than -2 or -3, and -1 is common. My old Louisville Slugger, Flame Tempered, 32 inch ,125 Special, Norm Cash model that I got in 1964 as a 100 lb Teener weighs 30.5 oz, which makes it a -1.5. (I still have it and was curious so I weighed it.) Wood is heavier and consequently a little more difficult to swing and to control. Wood also has a smaller "sweet spot" and will let you know more often than metal (through stinging hands) if you didn't hit the ball so well. On the other hand, when you do hit it well, wood bats have a nice springy feel to them that is hard to describe.

By the way, wood bats have always been legal for college, high school, and Legion play. They are still legal and the -3 and 2 5/8" requirements do not apply to wood. (Not many 2 ¾" wood bats out there though; pros want bat speed and most of their bats nowadays are in the 2 ½" to 2 5/8" range.) Good quality wood bats cost $30 to $50 and are made by Louisville Slugger, Rawlings, Easton, Mizuno, and a number of smaller companies such as Hoosier, Glomar, KC Slammer, Stick by Stan (some of these can be made to your specifications and have your name stamped on them). Unfortunately, wood bats break , so most people will still probably be going with metal.

What About Teeners, Pony, and Little League? The new rule for metal bats does not affect these programs, and what was legal last year is still legal this year, as far as we know. The national VFW no longer sponsors Teener baseball; Teeners are run by the South Dakota VFW. They are not required to change the rule and probably will not. Teeners are smaller players on the full-sized field, so line-drive safety risks are not as high as with Legion, high school, and college players.

However, Teeners should be aware of the Legion/High School rule so they can prepare themselves for the heavier bats when they move to Legion ball. The bat companies are not exactly helping. While they are making a decent variety of -3s, they are still making their "Senior League" models in -8 (refers to Senior Little League intended for intermediate ages 13 to 15 or so, as well as Pony and Teener). Worse, these have the same model names and paint jobs and look exactly like their -3 counterparts, so there is room for confusion. (Make sure you look for the items listed above to know whether you bat is legal for Legion.) It's not too difficult to jump up a couple of ounces, especially if you grew some since last year. However, if you were swinging a 32" 24 oz (-8) Sr League bat as a Teener and move to Legion, you will have to jump five ounces heavier for the same length bat. Five ounces IS a big jump, so you need to do some off-season preparation.

It would be nice if the bat companies would make some -4, -5, -6 for younger players to help them transition gradually into the new rule. They used to make bats in these sizes with cheaper alloys, but they don't anymore probably because they found they can sell "ultralight, mega barrel" bats to anxious parents for $200 each. If you search, you can sometimes find older, heavier bats on the sale racks that are still light enough to be workable.

I've followed this bat rule speculation for the last three years or so, and rather than getting the lightest bat available for short-term gain, I've tried to find something heavier for my kid so he wouldn't have to make the jump all at once. In 1999 as a 15 year old Teener, he used an old 31/25 (-6) that was on sale for $49. Last season as a 16 year old Legion player he used another
old bat on sale for $49; it was a 31/27, so next year he will only have to go up one ounce. He got 100 hits with these two antiques, so I don't place too much stock on how much "pop" a metal bat is supposed to have or how much it costs. We've spent our fall workouts for the last three years getting used to a heavier bat for each coming year, and it's worked well.

This doesn't mean you should go looking for the heaviest bat you can find; you still need as much bat speed as possible. You should, however, be aware of the new rules and use something in between so that it won't be such a drastic jump when you go to Legion.

Overdue. The new rules have caused controversy and have made life more difficult for sporting goods stores and baseball programs, and they will take some getting used to by players, especially younger, smaller players who were just recently using -12 Little League bats. But this change is long overdue. Regardless of any safety issues that may or may not be involved, it is clear that metal bats have gotten completely out of hand. The -12 Little League bats and -8 Senior League bats are absolutely outrageous, and -5s were not appropriate for college or for most high school players. It's time to get metal bats back a little bit closer to what wood bats are like, and the new rules are a step in the right direction. We should take the new rules in stride, deal with them, and go out and play baseball.