The Danger of Metal Bats

Since the 1970s, little league, high school, and college baseball have used metal bats. The bats have made significant advances over the years and are as powerful as ever, presently. Metal bats have a bigger sweet spot than wood bats and they are easier to hit a baseball with. Metal bats also have a lot more power than wood bats. A baseball bounces off a metal bat incredibly harder and faster than wood. The metal bats are hollow, so they cause a type of "bounce-back" effect that wooden bats don't have. Since the metal bats are so powerful, the game of baseball is a lot more dangerous when it is played with metal bats than when it is played with wood bats.

Last summer, a 16-year-old boy in Illinois suffered major brain trauma after being hit in the head with a line drive off of a metal bat. The boy's father wondered if his son would have been able to get out of the way if the ball was hit with a wood bat. That extra second could have saved him. There have been numerous incidents with kids getting hurt from metal bats. It's not that wooden bats don't cause problems, because they do. But, metal bats pose a greater risk than wood bats do.

I have played baseball since I was 4 years old and for the majority of my career, I always used a metal bat. Metal bats are lighter than wood bats and help you hit the baseball better. Metal bats also last longer than wood bats. I could use the same metal bat for a few years, as opposed to buying a new wood bat and it breaking the first game I use it. Wood bats are much cheaper to manufacture than metal bats.

Some organizations around the country have banned metal bats in their youth leagues. New York City banned metal bats from high school games last year. I think metal bats should be banned for two reasons. Obviously, one is the safety issue. The second reason is Major League Baseball players use wood bats, why not let everyone use wood bats? Yeah, you can hit the ball harder and better with a metal bat, but the real players use wood bats. Wood bats could be promoted to young players using their favorite Major Leaguers. There will always be safety issue with baseball and every sport. Converting from metal bats to wood bats in youth leagues will make the sport a little bit safer.