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Tim, the reason hitters s***** in the "old days" is because pitchers FAR outworked them - both in the men's and women's game. The pitchers have always been restricted from using techniques that allowed them an advantage. They had to stay strictly within limits to gain any advantage. And even today, you have noticed the chalked pitching lane that began to be used in NCAA play. Pitchers are not allowed to use devices beyond their own physical ability, and within the rules, to gain an advantage. Advantage must come from work ethic and physical ability.
Fast forward to today - the pitchers are still restricted by the same old rules. The batters received a wake-up call a few years back and began working hard (if not harder) at their craft than a lot of pitchers. The increased knowledge of effective swing mechanics has pretty much leveled the playing field, much the same as it has always been in baseball. So by those standards the "pitcher / batter" battle would be a fair proposition. It's skill vs skill. No more rotten swings. Heck, the top levels of baseball use the old fashioned wood bats and STILL gain advantage over the pitchers. I think it's a pretty fair matchup. And you have to discount pitch speed - when you factor batter reaction times, fastpitch and baseball are nearly identical.
But then batters were given another distinct advantage when allowed to use bats and balls that take advantage of all technology has to offer. Can you imagine playing baseball with Superballs? When a batter can nearly bunt a ball to the outfield, that is not a skill that evolved from work ethic - it's purely a technological advantage that has nothing to do with physical skill. I STRONGLY encourage kids to become the best and smartest hitters they can be. Build strength, increase bat speed and swing mechanics. They are absolutely cheating themselves if they don't!
I would use the standard that when a kid can consistently hit a softball over a 200' fence with a wooden bat in batting practice, they have arrived. Until then, they are relying on technology to make their power hitting skills something above what they are in reality. Of course someone could argue that going to "mushy" balls to reduce exit velocity isn't fair either, and I would agree. However, there needs to be a happy medium. I think that standard is right before our eyes. Why not use BBCOR standards that would apply to major league baseball? The women's game is already scaled proportionally in size for their ability. Pitch speeds are already similar to baseball - when you consider batter reaction times. Why not use technology to "scale" the batted ball velocity to match? Reward the hitters who have the discipline to better their skills, not whomever is willing to plunk down $300+ for technology in lieu of a work ethic.
Yes I know - fastpitch is a different game than baseball. But for a game that started indoors with "soft" balls, I think it has been distorted to something that is beyond what was originally intended. When technology ALONE is allowed to alter reaction times beyond what a major league baseball player could react to, something is wrong with the game.
I welcome the conversation!
). The reasoning was to use aluminum - which was relatively lightweight but difficult to break - in order to save money by not having to replace broken wood bats PERIOD. Regardless of the prevalent bad teaching about swing mechanics back then, there were a few top NCAA players in those early days who could flat out hit - wood, low tech bats and all. They didn't need a technological advantage as a crutch - they did it with their own ability. And they did it with crappy bats by today's standards. Are you telling me that girls today need the advantage of technologically advanced bats to keep up with batting averages that would be equal in baseball?
