Just what have we done to baseball?

notanative

notanative

1,000+ Posts
TCU coach holds back on comments, but not happy with 'what we've done to college baseball.' Announcers last night all into the fact that there have been no home runs at the CWS, and no walk-off homers (which would have ended in for TCU earlier, as that late-game ground-rule double would have gone over the wall).

Is it the size of the park(s) they're grousing about? TCU's Lupton Field is supposedly as unfriendly to homers as UFCU-DFF and TDAmeritrade.

What is it?
 
Actually it is the bats. They have deaden the bats and some would argue it is harder to get an extra base hit than if you used a wooden bat.
 
To me, everything is down to about where it should be as far as numbers.

However, the new park in Omaha is aligned AGAINST the prevailing winds of June, unlike Rosenblatt which was aligned such that the prevailing winds blew out. Therefore, the biggest stage has the extreme end of the spectrum.
 
We hit 5 HR's in 33 games at DFF (less than 1 per 6 games) and the college bats/balls are where they should be? I doubt very seriously we just don't have enough natural hitting power to do much better with all things being equal even in a big park. Let the coaches and players vote on what they think of the current state of power hitting due to equipment...wouldn't even be close that the vast majority feel the current state is handcuffing hitters. How's this even a debate if you've watched college baseball over the last 20 years? This dead bat nonsense blows and is watering down an exciting product.
 
There’s a movement to change the raised-seam ball in college baseball to the flat-seam ball used in pro baseball. The NCAA Bat Certification lab did a study on the “drag effect” of the flat-seam ball, and found that the flat-seamer would carry an extra 20 feet, which would be significant. It's important to note that the velocity of the new ball off the bat wouldn't change (and thus wouldn't create a safety issue for the players); the ball would just carry further through the air. The flat seams would also take away some of the pitcher's advantage in terms of throwing curves and sliders.
 
Because I enjoy pitching battles just as much as offensive outbursts. And I've been watching college ball for more than 20+ years.

I enjoy the aspect of everyone in the lineup having solid fundamentals (which includes bunting) rather than having a number of hitters just swing for the fences.
 
I like wooden bats.
I cannot stand metal bats.
Doesn't even sound like baseball.
 
This simple...used to be absurdly favored towards power hitting as 3/4 of the team could park one with decent regularity. Games had NFL scores and few leads were safe even late. That's not true baseball. The pitching element was all but washed out.

They overreacted like a scorned woman and now it's the complete opposite. HR's are few and far between and only a small fraction of the lineup is much of a threat. But still very few hitters who can leave the park with any regularity.

They can retain the power element and also preserve solid pitching matchups...how hard is balance to find...really? Both sides can be happy with a balance between the two. We can all enjoy real baseball again. How f'n boring would pro baseball be without the HR element of any regularity? Imagine if the Rangers hit one out at home every 6 games...no thanks.

I don't want to see aces getting hammered for 5 runs in 5 innings because a baby tap on the end of the bat parks one like Gorilla ball. At the same time I don't want to see average 3rd and 4th pitchers looking like All-stars with regularity because scoring more than 2 runs requires excess hits, walk, and long rallies to reach that in an inning.

I mean really is it too much for your pitching-love side to compromise with those who enjoy some power element with reasonable regularity? How many years over the last 3 decades have the bats been this dead? Not many at all in the grand scheme of things. And I remember a hell of a lot of exciting college baseball with pitching duals. Along with guys you wouldn't dare pitch to in the 9th with 1st base open and a 2-run, 2 outs lead. Walking dangerous power hitters is part of baseball in crucial situations. Wonder how many times we've faced that situation above this year or one similar. None I've seen.

And there's nothing off about that, huh? I love solid pitching duals just as much as the next guy...doesn't mean I want the HR element to be a bday treat every 6th game at DFF. That's bs.

FYI, we allowed 6 HR's in 64 games. 3 in 33 home games. Guess we are just the best damn HR avoiding staff around.
 
It's no movement the lower seamed ball will be used next season in college baseball. It's like the balls used in MLB.

Been talking about it since last November and it was voted in, but too late to go into effect this season.

The wind at the new park in Omaha blows in most of the time this time of the year which is a problem. A south wind is the predominant direction in warm weather months. At the Disch that would be blowing out to left.

At Ameritrade park that is straight in and that and a large park is a killer for the long ball. Home runs have a long and proud tradition in all levels of baseball even back to the "dead ball" era of Babe Ruth.

To almost completely remove this aspect of the game is just as bad as "Gorilla Ball" was. Home runs were part of the CWS before the bats got out of hand and after it was halted. Texas has been on good and bad end of them during both of these periods.

Baseball should be baseball and not favor either the defensive or offensive side. It has been constantly adjusted in all levels to do that from lowering the height of the mound to cracking down on PED's.

Yes, the too lively bats created a farce of the game and the 21-14 CWS final was the last straw. Just like all steroids and other PED's made a mockery of MLB.

Going to far in the other direction is just as bad though and now finally adjustments are coming. Gorilla ball was not baseball, but neither is this type.



El-Paso-Chihuahuas-Unveil.jpg


"Chihuahua Ball" has already spread to El Paso and must be stopped.
 
I can get on board with that.

And sure, I know DFF is a pitcher's park due to its size and prevailing winds during most of the season. Personally, I like that more than playing in some of the band boxes around the Big12 and especially the SEC. You actually have to (gasp) hit for average for constant success in this type of park rather than relying so much on strength and power.

I am most interested to see the effect of the new ball. But I am absolutely dead set against bringing in DFF's fences. Let's play a few years with the MLB equivalent bats and balls and see where we are across the country.

TDAmeritrade has some serious problems though. Maybe they can put a retractable roof on it to kill the 30+ mph winds. Given the way they've aligned it, I can't think of much else without some major reconstruction.
 
Not really. There would have been a number of HRs without the 30+ mph winds blowing straight in.

Just find a way to neutralize the wind and balls will find their way out of the park. Even with these bats.
 
The Link

Here is the article on the new baseball for 2015. I remembered making a post about it when they were still considering it in November and then they voted it in easily as most everybody that replied to that post thought they would.

The ball will be like those used in the Minors, but not quite as lively as those in MLB. If it adds 20 feet of distance as they suggest it will then it will be a great help.

I don't want the fences moved at the Disch. Players were hitting homers there back in the 70's and 80's and will again when they get things back in balance.

Something has to be done in Omaha though and the coaches or whoever has the authority should suggest some kind of committee to look into it after the CWS is over.
 
I get the idea of enjoying great pitching duels. But when your environment essentially precludes anything getting to the warning track, it's no longer about good pitching. That's like saying that if you made everyone hit with whiffle bats and the numbers went down, you'd be watching great pitching duels. If we handed out corked bats and the wind started blowing out, is the pitching quality going down?

It's more fun to me to watch a pitcher keep a big-hitting team under control by keeping them off balance than to see him basically just throw fastballs and dare them to hit since he knows the ball's not leaving the park.
 
Hinojosa's wonderful blast tonight was treated by the entire CWS crowd like a woman opening a 2-carat Christmas present. All I know is even the NCAA lead guy said tonight in the booth that their goal and what the fans want is balance. They will use the new ball, see where that brings it, and then decide if more adjustments need to be made to get to where it needs to be.

They would never admit those deficiencies with the way it is now if it wasn't a vast majority opinion things are unhappily swayed away from hitting. Another interesting stat they showed was the overall batting averages between the 2 CWS parks were around 50 points difference. Wow. 280-something to 230-something if I remember correctly. That's nuts with all the solid hitting teams in TD Ameritrade since 2010. Just balance it out and make it fair for both sides.
 
people complaining about metal bats haven't watched college baseball in a few years - the *PING* is gone with the new bats.

the new baseballs seem like a good compromise, hitters will see better pitches because pitchers will have less to work with and if the ball carries a little better….
 
Hinojosa's homer was like rain in the desert. The crowd in the stands almost all stood and gave him an ovation.

It's easy to see that this part of the game must be brought back to the CWS and the game in general. Hopefully the changes being made will help and if more is needed like in Omaha at TD Ameritrade Park it should be done.
 
Augie's never been able to coach hitting, it's Nicholson's fault, but he seems to be doing a little better since we've been winning.


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Pitching is almost MLB now. Bats stink...just use real wooden bats. The Wind is an amazing duel........just depends on which way it's blowing. Congratulations to C.J....just shows you it can be done!
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It may take a couple of years after the ball change to get back to some increase in hitting average and home runs.

The announcers were noting this, IIRC, with the NCAA guy, that a caution right now is that (my words follow) because of the "dead" bat and "sluggish" ball, otherwise "Gorilla ball" hitters may have gone straight to A and AA ball rather than go to college and be labeled as a .265 hitter with 5 HRs for the season rather than .325 and 15 HRs in college for the pros to consider in a couple of years.

Sure, the pro scouts should know better, but the current state of bats and balls may have steered high school kids with power hitting skills and size directly to the pros. It may take a couple of years for new recruits to now consider college again instead of direct entry to the minors/majors.

And whoever is the architect/engineer for TDAmeritrade should be investigated as to their design. I'm far from a lawsuit junkie, but I am a civil engineer, and don't like to see "professionals" like these design facilities lacking common sense.

When airports are designed, for example, local winds are evaluated extensively so that runway(s) orientation(s) are laid out to benefit aircraft takeoff and landings. You usually see the major strip along prevailing wind direction with another one along a line of secondary wind direction when winds shift.

An architectural/engineering group that specializes in baseball park design should have studied this. Perhaps they did; maybe they did and noted to the CWS board/NCAA, etc. that the orientation should be in a certain direction. Maybe the CWS board/NCAA overrulled the design team.

I'd like to know. Wouldn't surprise me that the design team's suggestions might be overridden by a political decision to benefit local wants (land use, traffic patterns, etc.) and others' (that overhead view by TV on ESPN of TDAmeritrade with the river just in the back of center field is 'nice') --- at the expense of common sense and integrity of the game.

Although the hard drives might have already been erased.
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BradAustin's sexist comments do not sit well with me, but even more, I am bothered by the fact that -- using the same kind of bats and balls as the Horns do -- players on other teams seemed to have no trouble hitting for average over the course of the season. I haven't gotten to watch a lot of the CWS this year, but I have noticed a lot of hitters with averages significantly higher than .300. Most of these hitters do not play for Texas. I'd like the Horns to become more proficient at hitting with men in scoring position, or even getting a sac fly with a runner on third.

I prefer games that feature strong pitching rather than overblown offenses. I like a game in which every single pitch matters.

I can be happy with the new baseballs if they're not going to cause what should be routine flyouts to sail over fences.
 
Texanne, I publicly apologize if my comments were taken as offensive and sexist. The context is certainly not used in an upset nature towards women or putting them down. I wouldn't have chosen to go that route even majority of the the time in an analogy making a smiling sarcastic remark. I guess I forget it's impossible to tell how a person is talking in context with strongly sarcastic comments through written words even when he is smiling while doing so.

This is a sport played by all males (men's college baseball) and guys discussing these things jokingly make those remarks from time to time when speaking of it in more of a male athlete perspective between us. Doesn't mean in any way we look down upon women in a truly negative light. I meant it nothing more than a man telling another man who is taking forever getting dressed that he was taking all day to get ready like a woman. Sure we all may take a while from time to time, but men tend to say those things between us.

It's my bad to forget men and women alike are discussing the team and games here and I should be more conscious of that. I do apologize and will be more cognizant of that fact. I value reading your comments here just as much as I do the males.
 
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