Wood Bats or Aluminum Bats for High School Baseball?

As a pitcher, they are supposed to be trained to protect themselves after they pitch. When they follow through for their pitch, they should end up facing the plate in an athletic stance so they can react. Over the course of history of baseball, there has been more protective gear for players because too many incidences happened too often. All baseball players, at every level, are required to wear a protective cup, for the obvious reasons for guarding the family jewels. I’m sure that batters have been beaned in the head by a baseball and in fact Ray Chapman was killed by a pitch in 1920. Since then batters wore helmets. Umpires wear chin guards, chest protectors, and facemasks since baseball was first invented because they have been hit by foul balls a lot. In 2007, Mike Coolbaugh, a first base coach in the minor leagues, was killed by a line drive to his head, so now the first and third base coaches are suppose to wear helmets. On a baseball diamond, the pitcher is the closest player to the batter besides the catcher and the catcher wears protective gear so why shouldn’t the pitcher have it? If people are smart enough to make bats out of metal alloys, why can’t they make a temple protector for pitchers? The mask could be made of some clear, light-weight material, such as acrylic plastic so the pitchers line of vision would not be impaired when trying to hold runners on base. One suggestion is to have longer, heavier bats so the batters cannot swing as hard. Another solution is to make the balls bigger or softer so they won’t travel as fast and they won’t hurt as much if you get hit. There are many solutions to this dangerous problem but the problem is that it would ruin or compromise the traditional baseball ways of the game.

Baseball is part of America’s past life and we have been using wood bats since then. To me, I think High School athletes are capable of playing and performing at there best with a wood bat. As a high school baseball player I think metal bats are somewhat a cheat due to the quality and technology of each bat. Some bats may not have as much “pop” as some others bats do. Most metal bats used nowadays are made from alloys so the bat can be longer, thicker, lighter, and with technology, the ball pounce of the bat as if it weren’t even there. Wood bats have a few advantages depending on what type of wood is used but it is a much smaller advantage than metal bats. Getting hit by a baseball by a metal bat is definitely dangerous and painful but one cannot say getting hit by a baseball from a wood bat traveling 90 mph or more would not hurt. I don’t know why high school and college teams are not using wood bats especially if their trying to make it to the top level where players always use wood bats. Another reason why I say wood bats should be used is because they make batters hit with better technique and it forces them to hit the ball on the “sweet spot” of the bat head. Wood bats are much safer than metal bats because they are heavier therefore the bat is not swung as fast and the ball will travel slower and not as far. However, wood bats are not totally safe either, because they can crack or splinter on impact of a hard thrown baseball, therefore, sending a sharp wooden missile towards players and fans.