At the end of last year, the Korea Baseball Softball Association (KBSA) conducted a survey of high schools participating in the national competition. The content was ‘Do you agree to change the bats used in high school leagues from wood to aluminum?’ An official from KBSA said in a phone call with this magazine, “I came up with an opinion that aluminum bats should be used, so I conducted a survey. As it is a big change in paradigm, it was not something that (the association) could do unilaterally, so I conducted a survey, but the opposition (more than half) A little more,” he said.
Recently, when the national baseball team was eliminated in the first round of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) three times in a row, replacing high school league bats came to mind as a plan to strengthen international competitiveness. The high school league changed bat specifications from aluminum to wood in 2004. At a young age, heavy and weak wooden bats are used, so batters cannot swing as hard as they can, and as the atmosphere of ‘go for it’ continues, the argument that pitchers’ individual skill development has stagnated is strengthened. A high school coach said, “The price of a wooden bat is about 150,000 won, which is an amount that cannot be ignored. There are cases in which players cannot fully swing their swings because they are worried about the bat breaking.”
However, A high school coach voted against the use of aluminum bats in the KBSA survey. He said, “The positive effect of a wooden bat cannot be ignored.” If you use it in advance), it can be easy to adapt to the pros.” therefore “
“If an aluminum bat weighs 800g, a wooden bat weighs 850g,” said a high school coach at B. Usually, batted ball speed (BBS) is determined by the mass and swing speed of the bat.
According to an article titled “Baseball Physics: Home Run Analysis” published in 2009, increasing the speed of the bat improves the BBS more than increasing the mass of the bat. Studies have shown that doubling the weight of the bat increases the BBS by about 17%, and doubling the swing speed increases the BBS by about 35%. A lightweight aluminum bat can produce a faster and stronger hit, but it exposes the pitcher to that much risk. In 2003, 18-year-old American pitcher Brandon Patch died after being hit in the head by an aluminum bat (Louisville CB-13). The bereaved family and the bat company also engaged in a court battle over the cause of the accident.
High school coach C said, “If you use an aluminum bat, pitchers can’t stand it. Because the bat is strong, there is a risk of injury to pitchers and fielders.” It’s a story that changes every year. There can’t be good players every year.” D High School coach also said, “As batters use wooden bats (the burden on long hits is reduced and pitches boldly), pitchers’ velocity has improved.”
If you use a wooden bat, the possibility of a pitching battle is high. Even with one or two ace-class pitchers, it is possible to compete for the national championship. If you are a team with a thick player base and strong power, there is no need to prefer aluminum bats. An amateur baseball official pointed out a realistic difficulty, saying,스포츠토토 “If you play baseball well, most pitchers (not fielders). If you change to an aluminum bat, the pitcher’s performance will deteriorate, but I’m not sure if parents will stay still.”
It is also argued that efforts such as reducing the elasticity of the bat or adjusting the coefficient of restitution of the ball should be made together, rather than preferring an aluminum bat unconditionally. An official from KBSA said, “In Japanese college baseball, I know that there was a discussion about using wooden bats with high repulsive force and aluminum bats with low repulsive force.” Leaders and parents can understand it, but that is difficult. We need various discussions.”