Seth Johnston

[ViperHorn]

Is anyone aware of the reason for Seth's batting to have gone to hell? His average is down to .231.

 

[Beau Vine]

San Antonio is one of the worst hitters' parks in all of the minors, so that's part of it. .231 is still pretty sad, though.

 

[Alex_de_Large]

Probably the same reason a former Southwest Conference Batting Champion I know from Baylor quit pro ball after 1 year because he found out how hard it was to hit with a wood bat.

 

[scottsins]

that's why they have wooden bat leagues for college guys in the offseason.

 

[Thorp]

It can be tough playing every day. The road trips get tiring for the guys also. Wooden bats are a transition.

 

[Alex_de_Large]

In reply to:

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[HornStar]

Are wooden bats technically legal in college ball? If someone just decided he wanted to go wood, could he?

 

[iowahorn11]

I know the Mizuno bamboo ones are BESR certified, therefore legal. But no player would use one nor any coach ever allow one because it does make it tougher to hit. College ball is not a practice session/tryout for pro ball. That's what the summer leagues are.

And there are TONS of wood bat college leagues now. There's Cape Cod, Alaska, Northwoods (Wisconsin, Indiana, etc.?), MINK (Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas), Redwoods? (California) and I'm assuming Texas collegiate league. Any legit pro prospect can get a summer league invite.

Hell, there are tons of competitive wood bat tournaments in HS for legit prospects to play in. Perfect Game even puts on a wood bat League with about 20 wood bat games for HS players each year.

Plus, who doesn't hit with a wood bat a large percent of the time in batting practice anyway? Every kid on my HS team uses a wood bat on non game days because it teaches you to square the ball and hit the sweet spot.

Its not the bat that causes the problems, its his swing with that bat. You can't fist balls for singles with wood. You can't hit end of the bat home runs. If he hasn't fixed it by now, its gonna be tough to correct his flaws.

 

[Valmy77]

Yeah unless aluminum bats are outlawed in College at some point we will not be seeing wooden bats except as a gimmick.

I do hold out hope to see aluminum bats removed from Div 1 but hey I sorta like saying 'The ping of the bat! The roar of the crowd!'

 

[iowahorn11]

I'd rather listen to fingernails on a chalkboard than "the ping of the bat." The last few months (we play summer ball in Iowa) have made me want to kill myself. After two more weeks i will hopefully not hear another "ping" in person for at least six months.

 

[madscientist]

didn't texas play their opening game or series a few years ago when they did not have a contract ironed out with a bat manufacturer? i think the other team agreed to hit with wood as well so they played that way. or maybe that was just a dream i had.

 

[ninerhorn]

mad,

you are correct. Was against Stanford.



mammy

 

[iknowipromise]

when did Texas and Stanford open the season against each other?

 

[eindiet]

It was against USC.

 

[LITNIN HORN]

I believe it was either a PAC 10 or USC contract issue, and we were the ones who agreed to go with the wooden bats for the series.

 

[Lat22]

We played with wood bats against USC.

 

[Alpine]

It was a California team in february about 10 years back. Their new metal bats had not come in for some reason. I forget what their story was. Any way, they showed up w/wood bats and the longhorns went out and bought wood bats just to keep it sporting.

 

[HookemHrns03]

Pretty sure they opened the season with a wood bat DH against Concordia one year. Might've been 2002.

 

[iknowipromise]

incorrect