RocketTech bat

[greymule]

Very interesting.

As we all know, measuring the exit speed is an attempt to put some limit on the heat of the bat. However, just as two cars with the same rated horsepower can be vastly different in terms of performance, so it is with bats.

For example, what if the exit speed never exceeds 98 mph, but balls that are barely tapped exit at 85 instead of 65?

In the early 1960s, some company (just for the scientific achievement, not to sell bats) developed a fiberglass baseball bat that they believed would allow Maury Wills of the Dodgers to hit 60 home runs a year. Oddly, the limit of the distance someone could hit a ball with this bat was no farther than what was possible with wood bats. However, the fiberglass bat did turn ordinary fly balls into home runs.

So if the league decided to measure the bats based on maximum distance capability, the fiberglass bat would have been legal.

[John Dechene]

We had one of our U-12 all-star pitchers take a come-backer in the chest during a BP session. EKG says she is probably OK (time will tell). Batter feels horrible about the incident as well. We can move the other fielders farther away, but does 40 feet allow a pitcher enough time to protect her self against one of these loaded bats. ASA may have messed up on the call to certify the RocketTech bat. Is it too late to get the cows back in the barn?

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally posted by John Dechene
We had one of our U-12 all-star pitchers take a come-backer in the chest during a BP session. EKG says she is probably OK (time will tell). Batter feels horrible about the incident as well. We can move the other fielders farther away, but does 40 feet allow a pitcher enough time to protect her self against one of these loaded bats. ASA may have messed up on the call to certify the RocketTech bat. Is it too late to get the cows back in the barn?

I've been explaining this for a couple of years now and will probably have to continue doing so forever.

It is not a matter of ASA certifying anything. If the bat passes the test, it is legal. There are not different tests for different bats, they all go through the same thing.

There is a legal issue with a bat or two coming up near the end of June, but I do not believe the Rocket Tech is involved.

I agree the pitcher's plate should be moved back.