Bat Regulations - BBCOR + Youth Baseball

As most of you already know, all high school, Babe Ruth (13 yrs+) and Dixie League (10-12 yrs) players are to start using ONLY BBCOR regulated bats starting January 1, 2012.

I started this thread with the intention of starting discussion around these regulations...what is BBCOR? What's going to be different? As well as to discuss reviews of BBCOR bats that you've purchased and had experience with.

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BBCOR stands for “Batted Ball Coefficient of Restitution” and these particular bats are going to be focusing on what is referred to as the “trampoline effect” which has to do with the barrel of the bat and the ball which impacts it. Although many say that these new aluminum bats are going to be the same as wooden bats because of the way they will have to be manufactured, the truth is that it is still a completely different material and therefore will produce a different effect when hitting the ball. The idea behind BBCOR bats is that they will create a stronger trampoline effect even after being used over and over. When these bats were initially designed, there was a certain standard of quality in mind which makes them last longer so not as many replacements are needed as with wood bats.

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So, BBCOR bats are going to be aluminum and are going to be built "stronger" so they are more durable (I think they are comparing to wood bats, not necessarily the current aluminum bats). They are going to have a thicker aluminum wall which I understand is going to lessen the speed of the ball off the bat considerably.

My main concern about the new bat regulations is how certain players are going to transition to the new bat specs. All of the 12 year old kids on my son's team this year are nervous about the bat regulations for next year. Most of them are using 29"-31" aluminum bats with a -10 drop and tons of trampoline effect (Tritons, Surges, Catalysts, etc). From doing a little research and some internet window shopping, almost all of the bats I'm seeing that are BBCOR certified are 32" - 34" and are all -3 drop bats (which meets current HS specs). What I'm not sure of is what kind of bats will be produced for younger players. The kids that are almost 13 or so. I don't see any big barrel 29"-31" bats that are currently BBCOR certified. My son currently uses a 2009 29/19 Triton (-10 drop). That bat has an enormous amount of pop. Next year is he going to have to transition to a 30/27, or do you think they will make BBCOR certified bats with a "drop" greater than -3 for these players. I think if bat companies only make -3 bats to be certified for BBCOR, a lot of players his age are going to struggle. It's not easy to transition from a -10 drop to a -3 drop in one year, and not only that, these bats will have way less "trampoline effect" than the current bats they are using. In the long run it may help their development and make the transition to HS regulations easier, but in the short term, hitting could get real ugly next year.

Please post any thoughts, experiences, or anything else related to BBCOR or BBCOR certified bats below.

Maybe the bat manufacturers haven't started concentrating on BBCOR youth or senior league bats yet? Maybe they won't make anything higher than a -3? Not sure, but everything I'm seeing on the internet is telling me all BBCOR bats are -3 so far.

There will surely be drop 5's in the new BBCOR bats. They probably just haven't started producing them yet.

COR is also the standard used on drivers in golf.

The trampoline effect on modern metal-woods plus the advances in ball technology have really changed the game of golf.

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Originally Posted by RANDY IN CHAR NC

There will surely be drop 5's in the new BBCOR bats. They probably just haven't started producing them yet.

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It'll be interesting to see how they do it, if they can do it. The easiest way to reduce trampoline effect to meet the standards is to use thicker metal. Go lighter or thinner on the metal to get a bigger drop and you're raising the trampoline effect again. So to get a bat that meets BBCOR standards yet has a bigger drop, it probably involves an alloy they haven't hit on yet. I'm sure they'll come up with something eventually.