The wood is good
District 9 teams take to new bat material
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| ROY SYKES PHOTO West's Ben Purnell attempts to bunt in the American Legion District 9 Sr. tournament in St. Peters earlier this month. District 9 was the first American Legion district in Missouri to switch to wood bats and according to the survey below, the managers of these players agree changing was a success this summer. |
Severe weather prompted the delay of the outcome of the AAA District 9 tournament. Troy, the No. 5 seed in the tournament, came out of the loser's bracket Saturday and met Elsberry (No. 6) Tuesday night in the District 9 final. Troy had to win twice Tuesday in order to advance to the zone tournament. Elsberry had been idle for six days. Troy won the first game 2-0, but Elsberry won the district title with a 4-3 win in the nightcap.
Below are the three questions that were asked and the responses from the coaches that replied.Journal Questions
1. Was the switch worth it? Why?
2. Did broken bats become a cost issue for the players?
3. Did the kids have fun using wood bats? Did some want to go back to aluminum?
DUANE SWACKER, WARRENTON (AA)
1. Yes, it makes the game be played the way it's supposed to be played. The boys have to be able to hit the ball where it's supposed to be hit. It helps better determine who the better hitters are.
2. Not that I know of. Some players bats broke, yes. But the team did supply some bats. Not everybody bought their own. We only had two bats break this year. Our pitcher (Colby Turner) broke twice as many as that on his own sawing people off.
3. My impression is that all the boys enjoyed going with the wood. Major Leaguers use wood and they'd never used it before. It was a treat for them, they really enjoyed it.
BOB KLEEKAMP, DANIEL BOONE (AA)
1. Wood bats got more boys involved in the game. Infielders were able to make plays on balls that would otherwise have been past them if hit by a metal bat. With metal bats you rarely see a shortstop going deep in the hole and getting to the ball. With wood this summer we saw time and time again where infielders were able to get to balls and make great plays. Wood bats brings back the dimension of defense. And the same for the outfield. With metal the ball can too quickly get to the gap without the outfielders even making a play. The best they can do is take a path to cut off the ball before it rolls to the fence. But this summer, with wood bats, we saw countless great diving catches by our outfielders. It's baseball being played the way it's supposed to be played. Good pitching, solid defense, and timely hitting. You can't wait for the eight-run outburst you often get from metal. Rather, you have to manufacture runs. And these are exciting games. We won nine of our last 10 district games for a 9-6 district record and they were all close games. And we had a 15-15 overall record. Of the 15 games we won, seven games were two- or one-run victories. And of the 15 losses we had, eight of those games were determined by two or one run. We also had two extra-inning games this summer. One we lost in the eighth inning 3-1 and the other was an incredible, hard-fought battle that we won in the bottom of the ninth inning 2-1. With wood bats, coaches have to coach again. You have to be on top of your game and bunting and squeeze plays are definitely weapons you need in your offense.
2. Not for our team. If memory serves me, I think we broke three bats. One was a $59 maple bat and the other two were higher priced Bamboo bats that carried a 90 guarantee. Both of those bats were replaced free of charge by the manufacturer. And I know that our pitchers sawed off some opposition bats during the season but again that number was low . . . maybe five or six bats in 30 games. I've been around the game for a lot of years. And most ballplayers past 10 years old will get a new metal bat about every two years. And with high school age boys, they seem to think they need the new, latest and greatest metal bat with the start of each season. So that's $250 to $300 every year for a metal bat. Several of my Legion boys bought the top-of-the-line wood composite bats for $89 to $129. And those are tucked safely away for use again next season. Our coaches and parents did have concerns about the number of broken bats, even to the point that I bought three "team bats" in case boys broke bats and needed a back-up. I wanted them using a team back-up bat rather than a teammates bat. About the only time our team bats got used was by the coaches during infield practice.
3. Yes, for the most part I think they had fun. Maybe some of that was the novelty of using wood, which is what their dad's and grandpa's used. But some saw that the dink hits they used to get with metal were now pop outs on the edge of the outfield grass. Metal bats are much more forgiving. You can hit a good pitch on a bad part of a metal bat and still hit the ball into a whole. So for the boys who are not your big thumpers, they're going to get more 'excuse-me' hits with metal. I firmly believe that hitting with a wood bat makes you a much more disciplined hitter. If fact, I've heard of two college baseball programs where the coach gives freshmen ballplayers two wood bats when they come to campus and they are told to use these in the cages. Wood bats teach you to hit the ball on the sweet spot. Cause if you don't you've just given the advantage to the pitcher. Our top three hitters weren't affected much by switching to wood. The bigger, stronger guys are still going to hit for power and average. Our power hitters still had averages in the high .400's. Their overall average may be off by 25 to 50 points from metal. And power . . . well we hit three out of the park this season. They cleared 340, 360 and 365 foot fences . . . with wood bats. If you hit a ball on the screws with a wood bat, it'll go just as far as balls hit off metal.
A.J. KOENIG, WEST JAGUARS (AAA)
1. Yes it was worth it. The games were quicker and it saved on pitching. The kids adjusted to wood bats and by the end of the season they had no reservations about using wood. In addition, as a coach, I did not worry about a pitcher getting injured by a batted ball.
2. Cost was not an issue at all. Most used composite bats which are very difficult to break.
3. I think by the end of the season it did not matter what they had in their hands. I did not hear any player say they wished we were using aluminum.
JOSEPH SAPUTO, NORTH KNIGHTS (AAA)
1. I like the switch to the wooden bats. We are playing 'real' baseball. My pitchers for the most part liked the wooden bats as they didn't give up as many extra base hits and it gave their fielders a better chance at making plays.
2. The cost issue was not a factor at all. Many of the boys already had wood bats. We broke a few during the season and because they were guaranteed we were able to replace them the very next day.
3. The guys had fun with the wood bats. They enjoyed the non league and tournaments using the aluminum ones as the sweet spot is much larger on them and they didn't have to due as much to create a hit. I would like to see the wood bats in play again next year. Closer games for the most part and you just felt like you were playing real baseball.
KURT DENNINGMANN, ST. CHARLES (AAA)
1. Yes, it was definitely worth it because I think the hitters concentrated more on the fundamentals hitting the baseball. We hit better with wood than aluminum. Halfway through the season we were hitting the ball harder. The contact was amazing. All of our homers where with wood.
2. Absolutely not. We broke three bats all year. The total cost for all three bats was same as one aluminum.
3. At the beginning of the year they had a ball with it and then there were a couple games had choice to use either, ended up playing in wood. In the beginning, excited, at end they wanted some swings with aluminum.
JAY HERRING, ELSBERRY (AAA)
1. Yes, we feel that it will make better hitters out of these young men.
2. No, at the Elsberry Post 226 program we purchased a dozen bats before the season started.
3. Yes, we believe that the players had fun using the wood bats, but struggled at first. I'm sure if they had a choice they would want to use aluminum bats because the ball will go further off of it.
DAN BOXELL, O'FALLON (AAA)
1. I thought the switch was well worth it. I think it taught the kids how to hit and what I mean is that it taught them to be more selective on the pitches that they swung at. You could no longer hit the ball off the end of the bat or the fist and loop it over the infield - those swings were outs. I think it allowed the pitchers to challenge more batters and 'pitch to contact' as opposed to try and strike everyone out. The games were lower scoring and crisper and more the way baseball was meant to be played. I also do believe that over time it will be proved that it is safer to use the wood bats.
2. Not for us. We took advantage of the 60 days guarantee policy offered by Johnny Macs and most of my players used the bamboo bats that were included in the guarantee. It was a great offer that really allowed the players to control their costs if they wanted to. I also thought that the bamboo bats performed well for us.
3. After the first couple games, I truly do not think that the players cared. On my team, I did not hear any complaints other than the occasional, 'that would have been out if we were using aluminum bats' statement. I believe that some of the kids learned how to hit and when they do go back to aluminum bats, they will be even better hitters than before.
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