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by BrechtVds 4316 days ago
> Its latest composite bat, the Avenge L140B, has special construction that allows the hitting side to flex like a spring.

I'm not familiar with baseball (Belgian here) and was wondering how these things are regulated? Does each player have its own bat? So one team can already be at a technological disadvantage when the game starts?
1 comments
bwhite 4316 days ago
The spec for baseball is available. [0]

Regarding the bat itself, the regulations say it must be "round" (1.10), which probably rules out this particular handle. Other than round, the maximum weight, length, and diameter are specified. While bats close to these maximums were once widely used, almost all modern bats are well shy of those figures. Presumably the lighter, smaller bats of today more than make up in control and speed what they lack in mass.

[0] http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/downloads/y2010/official_rules/2010_O...

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stoolpigeon 4316 days ago
The big market for these wont be with MLB players. It's going to be amateur softball and baseball leagues. They have rules about bats but they are much more generous and not as rigorously enforced. Though what you say about the bat being round must not apply to the handle as the article says these bats are already in use by at least one MLB player.

I saw them for the first time this summer. We were in the US for a bit and I had the chance to get my son some batting instruction. (We live in Hungary and he plays little league here but it's harder to find coaches and such.) We did it with a friend and his son uses these bats. They are expensive. The wooden Axe bat he was using is around $100. And those only last so long. But anyway - when you have people dropping $300 - $500 on softball bats it's not hard to see how a company can do well selling to recreational players.

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bwhite 4316 days ago
Sure enough, it's been MLB-approved! One thing in particular that might be useful for non-pros is that the handle is CNC-cut to orient the grain in the correct way.
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bkmartin 4316 days ago
This will help in soooo many ways. This will reduce the following dangers: 1)broken and splintered bat shards 2)bats flying out of a hitter's hand and endangering fans, player, and coaches 3)potential to reduce hammett bone injuries.

If the power and accuracy claims hold up then it could also help level out the current status of the game being tilted in favor of pitching since the end of the steroid era. There had been talk of lowering the mound in the MLB to help level the playing field, mind the pun :)

It is definitely an interesting concept. I'm not sure how well the bat will hold up over time vs a traditional bat since you are hitting the ball the on the same side every time. This is going to slightly flatten the face of the bat over time and it will be interesting to see how that plays out.

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