Composite Bats Strike OutBY LAUREN MAYK

News Channel 8

Published: January 17, 2011

Updated: 01/18/2011 01:18 pm

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For Little Leaguers, the game of baseball is suddenly changing as the bats that many have grown accustomed to – and their parents splurged for – will be banned from the field.

Little League has issued a moratorium on composite bats, which on many fields have replaced aluminum (and wood) as the preferred equipment for young players.

The bats are prized for their performance factor. Fans say the ball comes off the bat faster and goes farther, giving hitters more power to hit home runs and boost team scores.

"It's carbon fiber, but there's also a resin in it that expands and it allows the barrel of the bat to flex, which gives it more pop," said Paul Borgeson, who has been selling the popular bats at Play it Again Sports on Dale Mabry.

That "pop'' becomes even more pronounced as the bats are used. That means that as the bats are broken in, they exceed the performance standard. Little League officials say that creates a potential safety issue for players.

"A ball could go farther and harder and some of these kids are small so it's a safety concern that we're looking at," said Greg Jones, a Palma Ceia Little League board member. "I think most parents agree with us that it's a good thing in the long run."

Some parents, though, say they don't see composite bats as a big risk.

"I've never seen anybody get whacked in the chin and in the face, and I basically live here," Mike Rafferty said at the Palma Ceia fields last week.

Rafferty, who carried a copy of Little League's list of approved bats with him on the bleachers that day, says the kids are looking for answers about the bats they'll be able to use on the field.

He says players – including his son – have become accustomed to swinging the composite bats, and parents have also gotten used to their impact on the game and the final score. The loss of composite bats will have an impact on the game, he says.

"The ball's going to come slower, the field's going to be able to react and get the out, so the scores are absolutely going to drop," Rafferty said.

These popular bats aren't cheap and can run $250 or more, compared with aluminum bats that ring up for a fraction of the cost.

The price tag is what has some parents upset at the timing of Little League's announcement, which came the week after Christmas.

"The biggest issue is not that the bats are illegal, it's the timing of the announcement that they're now banned," said parent Kevin McCray, whose son received a new bat from Santa this Christmas.

Parents, like McCray, have suggestions on how Little League could have handled the announcement, from adjusting the baseballs used in the game to issuing the moratorium for the Majors and other divisions back in the fall when an announcement affecting the Junior, Senior and Big Leagues divisions came out.

League officials acknowledge the Christmas gift issue but says they made the decision to issue the moratorium within hours of receiving research on the smaller bats used by players in the Majors division.

The league had contracted with the University of Massachusetts for the study.

The bats are already out of the game for high school students. The National Federation of State High School Associations bans composite bats unless they meet certain criteria.

Little League will continue testing bats, and some composites may make it back on the field. The League has already said that some bats with a composite handle and aluminum barrel are acceptable, and manufacturers are submitting bats to the League for testing that could earn them a waiver – and a trip back to the ball field.

A list of approved bats can be found at: http://www.littleleague.org/Assets/forms_pubs/2011...

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