Arkansas Adjusting to New Bats

Bats have dominated the talk of college baseball this fall.

Teams across the country have been given prototype bats to practice with in preparation for new ones that will be introduced next spring under NCAA guidelines. The new bats slow down the exit ratio, or the speed in which the ball leaves the bat.

The response to the new bats has been mostly negative, as Baseball America‘s Aaron Fitt noted earlier this week. At Arkansas, the feeling isn’t much different.

“If this were football, instead of first-and-10, now we’re looking at first-and-20,” Razorback hitting coach Todd Butler said. “If it were basketball, the goal just got moved up from 10 feet to 15 feet.”

Arkansas has been one of the top home run hitting teams in the nation over the past two seasons and set a school-record with 92 hit last season. But the new bats combined with the loss of power hitters like Zack Cox, Brett Eibner and Andy Wilkins has changed the way the Razorbacks will play. In eight intrasquad games this fall, Arkansas has hit just five home runs.

Coaches said they recruited the last two years with the new bat modifications in mind. You’ll see more speed across the lineup card than in years past.

“We’re going to have to change our ways and work the small ball, steal bases and hope we have enough to speed to be able to score when we put the ball in the gap,” Butler said. “We’ve hit a lot of doubles. It’s not going to be anymore, ‘Coach Butler is wanting to drive the ball out of the park’. It’s going to be about driving it to the gap. The bats are different but it’s an adjustment we have to make.

“As a hitting coach, am I excited about it? No, not at all. I don’t know why we made a change like this. The college game is at a high right now for attendance and we’ve changed the bats. But we’ll have to adjust to it.”

Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn said the NCAA might have gone too far in modifications. Changes were made prior to the 2010 season after the composite bats used in ’09 began to wear out and even splinter toward the end of the year.

“The bats last year would have been fine by me,” Van Horn said. “I guess how they turn out this year is still an unknown. But I wouldn’t have changed anything from what we saw in one of the most popular times for college baseball. The fans loved the game we saw last year. The fans want to see the ball hit around the park.

“I did think the composition bats that were in use two years ago were too hot. A ball hit up the middle was dangerous for the pitchers. Last year, it was about right and fun.”

The new bats haven’t been fun for either players or coaches. Arkansas pulled out wood bats during a portion of batting practice earlier this week.

“Our guys like hitting with the wood more than the aluminum right now,” Butler said. “I would venture to say the ball travels more with the wood than the bat we’re hitting with right now. They’ve really made that adjustment – the NCAA and the bat companies. They wanted to get closer to wood and they’ve definitely done it this year. It’ll be interesting to see if this stays and see what the season brings. I think you might see more teams play around .500 baseball like pro ball. Maybe there will be closer competition in the game.”

Arkansas catcher and team captain James McCann said it won’t be just home runs that go down.

“I think the line drives don’t go as far,” McCann said. “I think everyone is talking about the home runs and they are going to be down. But just the regular liners, the one base hits are going to be down, too. I talk to our middle infielders and they see it. The line drives aren’t going nearly as far. Say a liner over second base used to carry out to the outfielder. Now it gets to second base and just falls straight down. They are getting to balls that used to be hits, just not enough carry to get to the outfield.”

Butler said the changes were made in the name of safety. By slowing down the speed the ball comes off the barrel of the bat, pitchers, infielders and fans are less likely to get injured.

“When a ball is coming off the bat as hard as it has been in the last few years, I totally understand it,” Butler said. “I think back to 1997 when they went to minus-fives. To give you an idea I was at a program (Alabama) where the record for home runs was 85 and that year in ’97 we hit 162 home runs. That’s dangerous. You don’t see those numbers with the minus-three bats we use now. You want safety in the game and I totally understand that.”

In doing so, the NCAA might have forsaken its identity. Likely gone are the days of the Sunday afternoon slugfests and gone are the days of college stats rivaling those of the pros. Even the legendary ping sound is gone when a ball leaves the bat, replaced now by a more hollow sound reminiscent of wood bats.

The new bats have shown to greatly decrease scoring and rapidly speed up times of games.

“I think the highest exit ratio we clocked last year was 112 miles per hour,” Butler said. “So far with the scouts that have come in, the hardest we have seen registered is 90 miles per hour. There is a difference.

“You’re going to see some teams with team pitching ERAs under 2.00. I think the runs scored are going to be a lot smaller. I think fans want to see the ball hit out of the park because it’s exciting. But it’s not about hitting as much this year. It’s more about pitching, more about defense and more about team speed. You go back to the Cardinals of the ’80s; I think that’s what a team is going to have to be like now.”

Regardless of players returning, the new bats could level the playing field in college baseball next season.

“You better hit it good,” McCann said. “You better hit it square in the middle of the bat. Anything else just doesn’t go anywhere at all.”

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