BBCOR Baseball Bat Rule

The game of high school baseball is evolving. A unique standard meant for baseball bats is going to take effect January 1, 2012 for all high schools all over the country. The National Federation of High Schools (NFHS) has dictated that all baseball bats utilized for high school play must be BBCOR certified starting with the new year. The state of California previously had this rule in effect for the 2011 season. The NCAA, as well as the other collegiate associations, also integrated the brand new principle for 2011.

The acronym, BBCOR, refers to "Batted Ball Coefficient of Restitution." The latest standard will replace the previous BESR (Ball Exit Speed Ratio) standard that had been in position in the 2011 season. The latter rule measured the ratio of the baseball’s exit in comparison to the speed of both the pitch plus the swing of the bat. The BBCOR measurement basically measures the trampoline effect of the bat’s walls. I won’t bore you using the actual formula for the measurement, but picture the wall of the bat to be a trampoline. When you leap upwards and then down into the stretchy fabric of the trampoline, it compresses after which it springs back up, permitting you to jump higher than you could potentially off of an ordinary floor. The same thing happens with a thin-walled baseball bat. When the baseball hits the bat, the wall of the bat compresses just like a trampoline, allowing for the baseball to actually retain a greater portion of its energy and travel even farther and more rapidly off of the bat. The BBCOR standard controls this trampoline impact, proclaiming that it can't be over the measurement of .50. All bats will be required to possess the BBCOR emblem branded on them to be authorized in high school play with the 2012 season.

By utilizing this completely new rule, the NFHS hopes to return the experience more to its origins, when wooden baseball bats were standard. This standard will hopefully bring the overall performance of the bats nearer to their wooden counterparts. By decreasing the speed of the ball, the game is going to be played in a different way. Homeruns won't be as commonplace as they have been in recent times. Plus, we’ll perhaps see a return to "small-ball." There can also be the potential for batters to go back to utilizing wooden bats a bit more. With the BBCOR bats performing similar to wood, players probably will not be gaining as much by using the non-wooden bats, permitting them to get the pick of working with wooden bats just as before.

Safety is another spot the NFHS hopes to see an improvement with the arrival of the BBCOR standard. The lowering of the ball’s speed should decrease the risk that fielders encounter on the defensive side of the ball, especially for the pitcher. With the gain in protection, it will likely be intriguing to discover how some other leagues follow the NCAA and NFHS. Little League Baseball suspended composite bats last season, but lifted the moratorium on selected bats. Will they follow suit and make BBCOR their qualification too? Leagues, such as Babe Ruth, Cal Ripken, Pony, etc., don’t include specific restrictions on bats at this moment. Quite possibly they're waiting to observe how the BBCOR standard plays out in the older age leagues prior to making a decision on their side. Needless to say, that is pure conjecture on the author’s part.

Overall, the new guideline should make the game a much better experience for everybody involved. No longer should it be simply an offensive highlight like it has been in years past. And, the greater safety of the game is going to be a marked improvement for players, coaches, umpires, and spectators.

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