Nov 02 2009
I Call ‘Em as I See ‘Em: Aluminum Bats
There are few things sweeter than the sound of the ball hitting the sweet spot of a baseball bat. Well, as long as it’s a wooden bat. There’s a reason the expression is “the crack of the bat” not “the ping of the bat.”
While less than impressive, the sound of the aluminum bat is not the real reason for my dislike of the aluminum bat.
Aluminum bats can reinforce bad mechanics in a swing. This is because when you hit the ball off the end of the bat or get jammed, you can still hit the ball pretty far. You don’t have to worry about hitting the ball with the sweet spot.
I’m not proposing that we stop using aluminum bats. For younger kids they’re great. They’re lighter and you don’t have to replace them as often.
But by the time kids get to middle school, they should only use wooden bats. That when they’ll have enough experience to know what they’re doing, but still be young enough to not be totally set in their ways. Plus they’ll have enough time to get used to wooden bats and fix their swing before high school and college.
