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re: Should college baseball use wood bats?

Posted on 6/23/16 at 7:52 am to
Posted by BraveTiger225
Atlanta, GA
Member since May 2008
17662 posts
Posted on 6/23/16 at 7:52 am to
I think offense honestly is mostly OK during the season. You're just seeing the effects of a graveyard ballpark in the showcase event of the year.

Changing the bats definitely put a damper on offense, but the change to the ball has brought a good bit back on the whole.
Posted by slackster
Houston
Member since Mar 2009
84767 posts
Posted on 6/23/16 at 8:04 am to
quote:

Wood bats are too expensive because they break and need to be replaced more than once a year




Yeah, way more than once a year. You've got to consider all of the BP and cage work that is done too.

Another major issue would be availability. If you make all colleges go to wood, you've probably tripled the demand for wood bats.
Posted by slackster
Houston
Member since Mar 2009
84767 posts
Posted on 6/23/16 at 8:10 am to
quote:

I think there would be alot more homeruns with the wooden bats. Look at ABreg, he has around 15 hr's and the most he had at LSU was 9 I think. Wood bats are better.. period



I think he's just getting stronger. He had 4 HRs in more plate appearances last year.
Posted by kkhere
Member since Nov 2009
428 posts
Posted on 6/23/16 at 8:10 am to
Keep as is. Scouts can evaluate college players with wood during the Cape league.
Posted by Pilot Tiger
North Carolina
Member since Nov 2005
73143 posts
Posted on 6/23/16 at 8:20 am to
I thought the whole "wooden bats are cost prohibitive" thing was a myth?
Posted by JJ27
Member since Sep 2004
60264 posts
Posted on 6/23/16 at 8:36 am to
Wouldn't really work. Just too much wood needed and price of bats as well. You're going to need 4-5 minimum to make it through 60 games. As far as offensive numbers, I truly believe they would go up with wood. Watching high school kids in wood bat tournaments, I've seen more homeruns than the regular season with BBCOR. The new bats suck.
Posted by texastiger38
Member since Sep 2007
25138 posts
Posted on 6/23/16 at 9:00 am to
quote:

Look at ABreg, he has around 15 hr's and the most he had at LSU was 9 I think.


He's also put on 20 lbs and all but said he was told to be a contact hitter in college.
Posted by More beer please
Member since Feb 2010
45050 posts
Posted on 6/23/16 at 9:07 am to
quote:

I think there would be alot more homeruns with the wooden bats. Look at ABreg, he has around 15 hr's and the most he had at LSU was 9 I think. Wood bats are better.. period




He was taught to hit for contact at LSU
Astros specifically told him to focus on hitting for power
He added weight
Currently playing baseball full time
Different coaching
Oh and the field at Corpus Christi is actually a decent bit smaller than Alex Box

But yeah, its just the wood bats
Posted by YeahYeah
Member since Jun 2016
2177 posts
Posted on 6/23/16 at 9:24 am to
If money was not an issue then I'd love to see college use wood bats
Posted by Snoopy04
Republic of Texas
Member since Aug 2015
3015 posts
Posted on 6/23/16 at 9:26 am to
An LSU home baseball ticket cost $15 for grandstand and $10 for bleacher. Alex Box capacity is 7,760 (2,800 grandstand and 4,522 bleacher). For just one game lets fill each section up by only a third. This relates to an attendance of about 2,440:
Grandstand:(2,800*.333)*$15 = $14,000
Bleacher: (4,522*.333)*$10 = $15,000 ($15,073 exact)
Total:$29,000
This is just for ONE game! LSU had 41 home games. $29,000*41 = $1,189,000

Now let's use Baton Rouge proud Marucci. A middle of the pack Marucci bat costs about $80. This year's squad had 17 position players. Let's say a player goes through 15 bats. LSU played 66 games this season. A player going through 15 bats means they're using a new bat every 4 to 5 games. That seems reasonable.

Louisville Slugger website says an MLB player will order approximately 120 bats in a season. Seems like a bit much to me, but they have that luxury. I doubt they all go through 120 bats.

17 pos players * 15 bats * $80 = $20,400

inb4 someone says: it's LSU/SEC, so they bring in more money. Yes, I am aware of that. But I will even go as farfetched to say at the lower level conferences, the players' skill levels, pitching and hitting, aren't as pristine and may correlate to less bats needed using less money. I could be full of shite on that though haha.

Long story short, LSU can definitely afford wood bats for a season.

Posted by slackster
Houston
Member since Mar 2009
84767 posts
Posted on 6/23/16 at 9:37 am to
Of course LSU can, but you're assuming the price stays the same when demand is more than tripled, which obviously isn't the case. I've also read that there is going to be a shortage of Ash in the coming years due to some sort of beetle.

The point is that it isn't practical for the majority of programs, but that doesn't mean I'm against it.
Posted by ProjectP2294
South St. Louis city
Member since May 2007
70173 posts
Posted on 6/23/16 at 9:42 am to
College programs would go through more bats because of the inferiority of the wood and lower level of skill of the players.
Posted by Snoopy04
Republic of Texas
Member since Aug 2015
3015 posts
Posted on 6/23/16 at 9:55 am to
If we ever get to witness a power four conference system, then I think it'd be bad arse to switch to wood then. The lesser conferences at that point can choose to stay with ShittyCOR
Posted by More beer please
Member since Feb 2010
45050 posts
Posted on 6/23/16 at 10:00 am to
quote:

LSU can definitely afford wood bats for a season.


LSU affording it isnt the problem. Of course we could. They also wouldnt be using just the middle of the road bat.

I also think you are severely underrating how many bats would be used. You are forgetting about BP, fall, practices, etc. Just worrying about games is half of the battle.

You think programs like Nicholls, Southern, etc. could afford to do that? No way.
Posted by JJ27
Member since Sep 2004
60264 posts
Posted on 6/23/16 at 10:39 am to
quote:

$1,189,000


Ok, so you just paid for Mainieri. Now what about the other coaches, recruiting budget, feeding the players/coaches, travel expenses for the away games, etc?
Posted by Dr RC
The Money Pit
Member since Aug 2011
58058 posts
Posted on 6/23/16 at 10:42 am to
no.

in fact, I'll take it a step further and say the pros should actually use the college bats now that they've been nerfed down to more wood like levels.

its high past time for players and fans to no longer have to worry about shards of a broken bat flying their way now that we have the bat tech.
Posted by StrongBackWeakMind
Member since May 2014
22650 posts
Posted on 6/23/16 at 10:45 am to
quote:

pros should actually use the college bats
boooooooo
Posted by Snoopy04
Republic of Texas
Member since Aug 2015
3015 posts
Posted on 6/23/16 at 10:52 am to
Yes I understand there are other factors and I didn't say my reasoning was the main one saying wood bats are affordable. It's just a small piece of the puzzle to make it work. But I highly doubt upwards of $30K to any SEC athletic program puts a huge dent in their budgeting.
Posted by Diamondawg
Mississippi
Member since Oct 2006
32230 posts
Posted on 6/23/16 at 10:54 am to
quote:

But I highly doubt upwards of $30K to any SEC athletic program puts a huge dent in their budgeting.


Very few athletic departments actually have revenue in excess of expenses. So, it would be $30K more in the hole. I wouldn't want to operate that way.
Posted by More beer please
Member since Feb 2010
45050 posts
Posted on 6/23/16 at 11:04 am to
quote:

It's just a small piece of the puzzle to make it work. But I highly doubt upwards of $30K to any SEC athletic program puts a huge dent in their budgeting.



Again, there are many many more teams in D1 than just SEC. Even most all SEC schools operate in the red still.

It would have to be sport wide change, which every single directional school athletic program cannot afford.

I found the average is from 80-175 so a "middle of the road" one would cost more than 80. So for ease lets say 100

Sticking with the extremely underestimating of 17 position guys using 15 bats per season. Thats 25k. And that is still on the low side for both bats and cost of bats.

Realistically its closer to at least 40k.
This post was edited on 6/23/16 at 11:08 am
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