Wood vs. Aluminum: A World with Wood Bats

Editor's note: This is the third of a three-part series as North Dakota high school baseball officials consider impact wood bats have had since state converted from aluminum in 2007. On Monday, coaches, players and a scientist from NJIT examined how each type of bat can alter the game. On Tuesday, area baseball officials considered the risks of aluminum bats.

The coaches in North Dakota have spoken. After completing its third year of high school baseball with wood instead of aluminum bats in 2009, the vote was almost unanimous (67-1) to keep the crack of the bat instead of the ping of metal.

In 2007, North Dakota became the first state to make the switch, citing injuries and unusual weather. The average temperature during baseball season in the Flickertail State was 46.4 degrees over the last five years, and is even below freezing at times, according to Joel Swanson, a North Dakota coach and member of the state's baseball advisory board.

As a result of the odd baseball temperature, aluminum bats warped and snapped often. With aluminum bat prices as high as $400, it was seen as more cost effective to switch to wood. According to Swanson, there has been an average savings of $561.75 each year per school since switching to wood—even with the players breaking more than three times as many wooden bats as metal.

The use of composite wood bats (made with multiple types of wood) reduces the risk of bats breaking and shattering. The composites lasts up to three years. Even without the composites, the idea of the bats shattering and splintering into weapons has not been a concern.

"That's more so at a very high level of play," said Matthew Fetsch, assistant to the executive secretary for the North Dakota High School Activities Association. "In our case, I don't think it's considered a danger."

In fact, the game overall has been safer since switching to wood, Swanson said. While using aluminum, which North Dakota still does during it's summer American Legion season, there were several injuries from batted balls. Those incidents are still occurring during the summer season, Swanson said.

"I can honestly go out on a limb and say in North Dakota we have not had a single pitcher or infielder hit or hurt with a batted ball since we made the change to wood," said Swanson, who was one of the original authors of the initial bill for the switch.

The biggest changes included game times taking 20 to 30 minutes less, scoring is down about a run per game, power numbers have decreased, pitching statistics have improved and there has been more of an emphasis on the strategy of baseball.

Members of the Don't take My Bat Away Coalition argue switching to wood might result in players losing interest. That has not been the case so far in North Dakota, according to Swanson.

"The good players and the good hitters like the wood. The poor players and the poor hitters don't," Swanson said. "To hit with wood you have to be strong. So you have to make the commitment to get into the weight room."

The decreased power has forced hitters to learn the art of the bunt, the sacrifice, stealing third base, hitting line drives and making solid contact with a level swing (batting averages reduced from .301 to .271 on average since the change) rather than going for home runs every at-bat. The premium in North Dakota is now on pitching and defense, which purists would argue is the way the game was meant to be played.

Pitchers have learned to pitch to contact instead of fearing it and have been forced to take their chances going after batters rather than walking them.

In 2006, the last year of metal, North Dakota's Shanley High School gave up 187 runs, 35 percent were from runners who reached on a walk. The next season, they gave up 114 runs, with 50 percent coming from runners who reached on a walk.

"It really levels the playing field," Swanson said of wood. "It makes the bottom teams more competitive and the unbeatable teams more beatable."

But how would college scouts evaluate players in a state where it's all wood when most of the country was still using aluminum?

"If we did that in this state, it would put our baseball players at a disadvantage in terms of college," said Larry White, the head baseball official for the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. "Batting average, home runs and RBI would all go down."

Others argue the use of wood would actually give colleges a better indication of who the premier players are.

"There's no doubt that states that used aluminum would have higher batting averages, home runs, RBIs and slugging percentages," Millburn baseball coach Daryl Palmieri said. "[Wood] would expose the weaker hitters, but it would show the colleges who the really good hitters are."

According to Swanson, colleges have praised the well-rounded players North Dakota has produced since making the change.

"We have a lot of kids going to Division-I schools. We are getting a lot of compliments from college coaches that the kids are more well-rounded," Swanson said. "They know how to bunt, they know how to run the bases, they know how to move runners over... To go from wood to metal is an easy transition, to go from metal to wood is tough."

However, North Dakota has faced a few hurdles with wood as well. One drawback has been infielders needing time to adjust when switching back to metal either in college or American Legion because of the ball coming off of the bat faster than it does with wood.

In addition, pitching statistics can often be misleading when comparing those who face players using wooden bats and those against batters with aluminum. 

North Dakota is clearly in a different situation than the Garden State, not only because of the climate conditions but because of the population and talent pool. North Dakota has a population of less than 650,000 and has 76 high schools with baseball teams. New Jersey has a population of more than 8.7 million and has more than 400 high school baseball teams.

What has worked in North Dakota may not translate as easily in New Jersey. Throughout the country, with about 10,000 high schools, the task of providing wood bats for every player in each state, not to mention youth programs, would be difficult to accomplish.

But Swanson couldn't be happier in his position.

"I love wood. I recommend it to everyone," Swanson said. "I'll probably go to my grave saying that wood bats were the best thing to happen to North Dakota."