NCAA STAMPS & BABYCOR BATS: INTEGRITY IS BACK (ALONG WITH MORE SKUS)

Remember this nugget?

"[t]he USA Baseball bat standard establishes a wood-like performance standard for youth baseball bats, a standard that will provide for the long-term integrity of the game."

Ahh, integrity. That word you just know, but USA Baseball can't ever seem to define. It's very similar to how Ted Lasso explained offsides when asked by Trent Crimm.

There's two issues at play. The first is the new NCAA stamp. The second, and the much more juicy and concerning issue, is USA Baseball's creation of -4, -5 and -6 BBCOR bats.

Ok, I'll coin the phrase now -- "BABYCOR." Go trademark that now. Or don't, just give me credit. You saw it here first.

There is so much integrity overflowing here I had to change my shorts.

As to the NCAA stamp, which as of now is not affecting NFHS, it's obvious what's in play. Bat manufacturers get to gut the entire secondary market for old BBCOR, forcing new models to be used in the NCAA.

According to my search engine BatGPT, there are 942 NCAA teams across Divisions 1-3. Bat contracts are likely with the top D1 programs. Next, use a conservative estimate of 20 rostered players that are hitters.

Do the math on who now has to buy at least 2 new bats, then, average price. I'll wait.

So, disrupting an entire market but not changing the standard or ball while EVs climb to 110+ mph in both Mid-Major and Power 4 Schools? Oodles of integrity.

I guess it cuts down on bat tampering because as with every product in this world, the old stuff was always better than new stuff. However, that would have to mean that the NCAA thinks that bat tampering is rampant? No, that can't be true.

And now, does the junior or senior in high school have to stress that if he's not using a newly stamped BBCOR he's going to be somehow "behind" when he arrives on campus? Or that a coach cares in the recruiting process? Now you've taken that new NCAA stamp and flooded the upper echelon of HS baseball, where FOMO is real and parents and kids always like new toys. Four bat bags didn't just get created out of thin air. I see you, integrity.

Now for the main course.

In what can only be described as the biggest money grab since the USA Bat standard was created, USA Baseball is taking over a new bat standard and allowing -4, -5 and -6 BBCOR bats. No, BABYCOR.

You probably thought I used up using the word integrity in this article. Wrong.

When I first saw the press release, I could not believe that someone pitched this idea and it was accepted. Then again, the entire bat industry is self-regulated, and you're seeing what happens when industries self-regulate. I think "self-regulation" really means that all the people that should be with the decision-makers and actually have a say in knowledge of what's truly important are excluded from being at the table.

Just like we have the business model of consecutive years of club baseball from 4U to 18U, we now have bats that range from -13, down to -3. Wow. Well, not every drop. Minus 7 and minus 9 just sit there like losers.

My first thought is I cannot wait to weigh these bats on a scale, and still having to hear about "weight tolerances." I'm sure the warranty language will be updated appropriately.

Second, is this intended to promote development or reward weakness? Some of the best hitters I've seen are tiny dudes that can barrel a BBCOR in High School. It's almost as if some Karen complained to bat manufacturers and this is the participation trophy they were provided.

I would like to speak with your manager Big Bat. We know who that is -- PE.

Back to integrity. We all know the change to USA Bats was because the ball was coming off like missiles off of 1.15s. At least Perfect Game had the guts to finally say the soft part out when they started to ban some of the old composites. I can't believe I just said that.

(I'll die on the hill that there was a USA Bat slide that mentioned that a kid could field the ball more easily when the USA bat came out and it disappeared from the web immediately. I can't find it on the Way Back machine and ChatGPT confirms that something like that existed, but they can't locate it).

Now, you could've changed the ball, but that's a whole different discussion where no one makes money but the ball manufacturer.

Back to this alleged "development."

You don't even need to separate college bound athletes with non-college bound athletes. Let's assume that college bound athletes are not going to try to swing a -5 senior year.

But what if they do? And the one time they do, that ball comes off harder than ever before. There are a tons of great hitters in High School with bat speeds well above 70mph that may or not play at the next level.

While every kid develops differently, I cannot comprehend the potential damage my son would've done if he was allowed to use a -5 his senior year. That's the part that should be on everyone's radar.

If you do not specifically limit age groups across the entire country for these bats, this gets worse before it gets better.

Now that we're past safety and "development,"

think of the windfall this creates for bat manufacturers. I mean, if you're going to buy a -4, you might as well buy a -5 and a -6, right?

There's a SKU party going on and all parents are invited! Sizes 27" to 32". Or maybe 33" and 34". Plus half sizes! Assuming they start and stop there, you just added potentially 30+ new bats on the market out of nowhere. I'm sure one of these bet companies will also create the OctoBag. (Another great trademark idea).

Hitting statistics will increase. Showcase numbers will increase. But are they real? In high school, no one cares because it's all about winning. You can't tell me a school trying to win their sectional championship really cares if their 3 hitter decides to pull a -5 out of the bag instead of -3 against the other team's ace. You might as well.

Pitch counts will increase, eating into arms and rosters in high school. And that three hitter can probably foul off 3-4 more pitches per AB and push that kid out of the game sooner because of state pitch counts. Well done USA Baseball. Where PitchSmart collides with BatDumb.

A normal market adapts to the needs of its customers. Who asked for this? If you want a real hoot, check the comments on USA Baseball's social page regarding this announcement l,

unless they are turned off by now. That tells you all you need to know. The amount of reels I've seen criticizing this decision over the past week is incredible.

What will be interesting is how certain players will feel about other players using those bats. That's where I'd love to be a fly on the wall. It's crazy when "back in my day" is literally 2 years ago.

It takes integrity to change the ball, make bats tamperproof and consider a slightly different bat rating for NCAA play.

It takes zero integrity to flood the market with bats that are lightweight, expensive and create more problems than solutions.

BUT BABYCOR BABY!