Baseball Bats

Outline

Thesis Statement: College and High School baseball players should convert to using wooden baseball bats instead of metal bats because metal bats have been proven to be much stronger than wood and can be harmful to position players.

I. Metal baseball bats perform better than wood and they are easier to swing.

A. When a ball is hit off metal, the exit speed of the ball is significantly faster than the exit speed of a ball hit off a wooden baseball bat.

1 The exit speed off a wood bat averages around 88-90 miles per hour while the exit speed for an aluminum bat can range from 90-103 miles per hour (Are Composite Bats).

2 The speed of the ball is measured by using light traps, before and after it impacts the bat and this can measure the differences between the strength of a metal bat and a wood bat (Are Composite Bats).

3 Experts named Crisco and Greenwald created a study with 19 minor league baseball players where they tested out two different wood bats and five different metal bats. The study shows that metal bats outperform wood by a landslide. In the study, the wood averaged around 98 mph, while the metal bats exit speed is 106.5 mph which is 8 mph in difference (Are Composite Bats).

B. Metal bats are much lighter than wood bats.

1. The barrel of an aluminum bat is hollow, so the distribution of mass along the length of a metal bat is a lot different than it is for a wood bat (Russell).

2. The difference between the two in regards to weight is the balance point of the bat. In the wood bat, the balance point is the same regardless of the weight, but the balance point of a metal bat is more than an inch closer to handle which is why the metal is easier to swing (Russell).

C. Aluminum bats have the "trampoline effect".

1. When a ball hits the metal bat, the barrel acts like a spring when the ball impacts it. The ball isn't compressed as much and it will not lose energy meaning the ball will go farther and faster (Russell). Also if the barrel of the metal bat is stiff, then the ball compresses more which means the ball will lose a significant amount of energy at contact. However if the bat is made softer, then the barrel compresses more resulting in the ball going further with more energy at contact (Are Composite Bats).

2. When a ball hits the wood bat, the barrel compresses to nearly half its diameter which means the wood bat absorbs 75 percent of the energy which means most of the energy isn't being returned to the ball but is being lost in the bat (Russell).

D. Aluminum bats have a wider sweet spot.

1. The sweet spot of the bat is defined by where on the bat where the highest exit speeds were obtained when the bat hits the ball. The sweet spot is just a little bit bigger on the aluminum than the wood but not by that much (Russell).

2. Even though the two types of bats have similar sized sweet spots, the batted balls display that metal bats having higher exits speeds (Russell).

3. Although, Crispo and Greenwald's experiments show that balls hit outside the sweet spots for both bats demonstrate a significantly higher exit speed for metal bats over wood bats (Russell).

E. Aluminum bats don't break.

1. Wood baseball bats have very thin handles and tend to break upon impact with the ball near the middle of the bat. On average, one or more players will break a bat in a major league game. Professional players typically go through several dozen wooden bats each season (Russell).

2. College changed from metal to wood because of the cost of good quality wooden bats and because metal bats do not have tendency to break as easily as wooden bats (Russell). The average price is 100 dollars but a high quality bat can reach up to 200 dollars (Moore). While aluminum bats can run up to 300 dollars but you do not run the risk of the aluminum bat breaking.

3. Aluminum bats are much more durable than wood bats because the handle of an aluminum bat is made out of a thin cylindrical tube that has thick walls and with the thick walls the bat handle is very strong and the bat will not break (Russell).

F. There are different types of aluminum bats that can produce a higher exit speed.

1. The different types of aluminum bats can include the stiff handle