Baseball: New bats broken down

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This new protocol – Ball-Bat Coefficient of Restitution (BBCOR) – is a complex formula designed to ensure that composite bats perform more like wooden bats by measuring the how much energy is lost at the point of contact. That is, it measures the “liveliness” of the bat. Consider the moment of contact between a wooden bat and a pitched ball. When the two collide, the solid wooden bat can cause the softer ball to compress up to one-third of its original size. The bat absorbs the ball’s subsequently lost energy, so the ball travels slower and shorter after contact. The composite bats used by college players, however, have thin walls that give at contact and compress the ball less. With less compression, the ball retains more of its original kinetic energy and travels faster and farther than it would off the surface of a wooden counterpart. Slept through Physics 101? Think of it as jumping up and down on a wooden floor, as opposed to a trampoline. With less energy, you can jump far higher on a trampoline, which gives with your weight to conserve your energy. The old bats were like a bouncy trampoline, but the new BBCOR-approved bats are like the thick floors of the unused dining room at your grandparents’ house.

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