Power outage in college baseball?
Published: Wednesday, May 4, 2011 at 11:51 p.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, May 4, 2011 at 11:51 p.m.
In 1997, Brandon Larson of LSU hit 40 home runs in one baseball season. A year later, there were 62 home runs hit in 14 games in the College World Series. Florida was the No. 1 seed in Omaha and went two-and-through despite scoring 23 runs in its two games.
College baseball had seen enough.
Following the 1998 season, the sport tried to get its hands around the “nuclear bats” issue. For the next 12 years, the bats were tweaked. Nobody would get close to Larson's 40 homers, but the average SEC leader was still hitting 24.8 home runs a year.
Then came the biggest change of all. If chicks dig the long ball, they're not digging 2011.
The new composite bats — designed to react like wooden bats — have taken much of the power out of the game. Just last year, Auburn led college baseball with 131 home runs. This year, Florida on Tuesday night took over the SEC lead with 37.
It has been 14 years since Larson's 40-homer season. With three weekends left in college baseball's regular season, there isn't a team in the SEC with 40 home runs.
“It gives pitchers a little bit of an advantage,” said Florida freshman pitcher Karsten Whitson. “Guys who can hit are still going to put the bat on the ball. I've seen balls hit that if the bat was still juiced up were going to go. I remember watching games where I saw guys make really good pitches that ended up being homers.”
How many times has it happened this year? A ball is driven to the outfield, the crowd gets excited and the ball lands softly in an outfielder's glove short of the warning track.
The national earned run average is more than a run lower. Batting averages have dropped an average of 22 points, skewed slightly by a Florida team that is actually hitting 21 points higher than it did a year ago.
“You're not really playing for the big inning anymore,” said UF's leading home run hitter Preston Tucker. “Your approach has to change. We're trying to shoot for the gaps, hit line drives.”
Tucker has hit nine homers this season, a total that puts him second in the SEC.
And yet, he says, “I'm still trying to figure these bats out.”
Florida coach Kevin O'Sullivan said that his team has adjusted to the new bats even if they are still trying to find their smaller sweet spots. (Former major leaguer Nomar Garciaparra said on a national TV broadcast he hit with the new bats in a cage and couldn't find a sweet spot.) The bats also have less of a trampoline effect that the bats of 2010 had.
Even those old bats didn't arrive ready to launch home runs. It usually took around 50 to 75 hits before they would spring to life. After another 50 to 75 contacts, they would lose the springboard effect.
But with the new bats, that's not the case. Not only have they maintained their integrity throughout the season, they have taken an often-mocked characteristic out of the college game.
The ping is gone.
Instead of the pinging sound of the old aluminum bats, college games even sound like baseball now.
But the question is still out there — is it good for the game?
Some coaches, like Virginia Tech's Pete Hughes and North Carolina's Mike Fox, have voiced their displeasure with changing the power numbers in the game.
“I don't see what was wrong with the bats last year,” Fox said. “There were just enough runs to keep it interesting.”
And that is one of the problems now. A team gets up by four runs and interest in the game wanes because it is less likely to rally. In the past, all it took was an infield single, a couple of walks and a bomb to tie the game.
“Now, four runs feels like 10,” said Andy Lopez, the former UF coach who now coaches at Arizona.
But count Lopez among those who likes the new bats.
“It's baseball again. You gotta throw strikes,” Lopez said. “You get rewarded if you throw strikes.”
The new bats combined with the pitching clock used to make pitchers waste less time on the mound have combined to make games go faster. Florida has played only four games that have been three hours or more while playing 16 that lasted less than 2:30.
“You see more pitchers attacking the strike zone now,” said Florida catcher Mike Zunino. “They're not afraid to throw strikes.”
Major league scouts like the new bats because it allows them to better judge which players have true power instead of taking advantage of hot bats.
“It's not like guys aren't hitting homers,” said Tucker. “Guys who can hit are still going to hit. But you have to square up on the ball now. You can't fist one over the fence.”
Said O'Sullivan, “You want a home run, you have to earn it.”
For O'Sullivan, there is no doubt that the new bats are a good thing and it has nothing to do with his pitching staff or his defense.
Last March, Charleston Southern hitter Derek Smith hit a screaming liner up the middle that caught Florida pitcher Tommy Toledo in the face. Toledo was down on the ground for several minutes before leaving the game with a bloody towel pressed against his face.
He missed two months and lost 20 pounds while recovering from surgery to put two plates in his face. Toledo suffered a broken nose and multiple fractures in his face.
“I have a different perspective because of Tommy Toledo,” O'Sullivan said. “You go through a situation like that, you know, there needed to be a change.”
There was and there is another benefit that Mississippi State coach John Cohen feels is being overlooked in the great bat debate.
“I don't have any statistical evidence to prove it, but people seem to be missing this point,” he said. “I truly believe the amount of arm injuries has diminished greatly because of the bats. Kids pitching against these big physical line-ups used to try to force it, to reach back for something extra and that's when the injuries occurred.
“Kids are just pitching now. And I think it will help in recruiting, because kids aren't going to be afraid to pitch against lethal aluminum bats. It has really changed the game.”
Contact Pat Dooley at 352-374-5053 or at dooleyp@gvillesun.com. You can listen to The Pat Dooley Show weekdays from 4-6 p.m. on 104.9 FM. And follow at Twitter.com/Pat_Dooley.
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