Aluminum bats: good for college baseball? — Great for players and the game

See also: POINT – DESPISING THE SOUND OF THE DING

Ask a scout in the major leagues about… See also: POINT – DESPISING THE SOUND OF THE DING

Ask a scout in the major leagues about Marshall McDougall and he’ll probably tell you that McDougall isn’t projected as a power hitter in the major leagues — and that’s if he ever makes it out of the minor leagues.

But how could this be?

If you recall, McDougall is the man that owns the NCAA record for hitting six home runs in a single game. That season, he went on to win the College World Series MVP award while posting outrageous offensive numbers of a .419 average, 28 home runs and 106 RBIs.

A lack of power, though, forced McDougall back to Florida State for his senior season after not being selected in the draft until the 26th round by the Boston Red Sox.

According to Baseball America, the perception among scouts was that he lacked athleticism and owed a lot of his power to the aluminum bat.

This is what a lot of players go through when attempting the jump from high school or college baseball to the minor and major leagues — a sense of failure with their usage of a wooden bat.

Think of all the collegiate players who already begin with no shot at advancing their careers and just enjoy playing college ball.

What if these kids were forced to use a wood bat? College baseball would be a lot more boring, for one, and would not appeal to the masses as it does now.

The College World Series is widely known throughout the baseball world and is featured on ESPN every June, thanks in large part to the offensive game you can expect to see because of the bats.

Now switch to the minor leagues — a league with much better and more established players than the college game, but that doesn’t provide the excitement that a collegiate game does. How often do you see its championship televised on a national network?

It’s this extra offense, however, that many use to argue against the aluminum bat. The NCAA, though, took note of the number of slugfests occurring during games and made significant changes after Southern California defeated Arizona State 21-14 in the 1998 College World Series.

After this series, NCAA officials decided to regulate the size of aluminum baseball bats being used. Up until this time, the bats featured a barrel with a diameter of two and three-fourths inches and a negative 5 ounce-to-length ratio.

Since then, even at the high school level, all bats now must be lowered in size down to 2 and five-eighths inches around with a ratio of negative 3 between the ounce and length, and it has made a world of difference.

With these changes, long gone are the days of constant double-digit scoring and the likes of McDougall hitting six home runs in one game.

Last year, Cal State Fullerton won the championship, 3-2, over Texas, a sign of how far the collegiate game has come even with the continued use of the aluminum bat.

And furthermore, who doesn’t love the sound of a solid home run ball bouncing off a Louisville TPX?

I know I sure do.