New Baseball Bat Safety Standard Announced: Will Not Require Using Wood

The California Interscholastic Federation announced its plans to help curb potential injuries in high school baseball on Wednesday and they do not include a move to wood bats.

Beginning in the upcoming 2011 season, the CIF will require all schools to adhere to the National Federation of State High School Association's new Batted Ball Coefficient of Restitution standards, which effectively rates how fast a ball can come off a bat. The change was initially scheduled for 2012, but will be implemented this year assuming the BBCOR-compliant bats are available for purchase by Jan. 1, 2011.

The new standards further limit the potential strength of a bat and will require showing a stamp or decal proving it is tamper-proof. Under the new guidelines, bats enhanced through "rolling" or shaving would be illegal.

"In addition to addressing safety issues raised by legislators, our approach is intended to minimize the fiscal impact on schools and families, who could otherwise have been required to purchase expensive bats twice – for both the 2011 and 2012 seasons," CIF State Executive Director Marie M. Ishida said in a statement. "Additionally, our decision helps protect the integrity of baseball by weeding out modified high- performance bats that provide an unfair advantage and have no place on the baseball diamond."

A high-profile Marin County incident in the spring, in which 16-year-old pitcher Gunnar Sandberg was hospitalized for several weeks after getting hit in the head with a line drive, was the rallying point for stricter standards on high school bats.

Assemblyman Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) had proposed legislation to remove metal bats from high school baseball and softball, but upon the announcement from the CIF, Huffman has suspended the bill.

Several Marin County schools used wood bats during the season, including Novato, which beat metal-bat-swinging Dougherty Valley in the North Coast Section playoffs.

The Marin County Athletic League called for a move to wood bats and proposed an immediate moratorium on metal bats in NCS in the spring, but it was voted down by an NCS committee.

"I'm really glad they decided to do this instead of wood," San Ramon Valley High coach Chris deClerq said. "Unfortunately there is no way to prevent (injuries like Sandberg's) completely, it's going to happen again at some point."

A move to wood bats was vehemently opposed by several coaches in the East Bay, who pointed to the added costs wood bats would create

"Just going to wood bats wouldn't have solved anything," deClerq said. "And there is the accessibility of them. Not all teams can go out and spend an extra $1,500 on wood bats, some schools have trouble just affording to have a program."

The CIF also announced it will encourage the use of headgear in the field by pitchers, fielders and base coaches.

From the CIF release:

In addition to the new bat standards, the CIF executive committee also announced the following other actions it has taken to promote safety in high school baseball and softball:

—CIF will propose to the NFHS Baseball and Softball Rules Committees that they develop standards for protective headgear for baseball and softball defensive infielders and base coaches in 2012;

— CIF will encourage member schools to voluntarily require protective headgear for baseball and softball defensive infielders as allowed by NFHS rules and base coaches in the 2011 season.

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