Eric Rabe can’t recall all of what happened, just enough to keep a pitcher’s nightmare alive.
In April, the junior at Rock Canyon High School fired a pitch to Douglas County’s Tyler Servais, only to have it returned faster than he threw it. Servais’ line drive struck Rabe to the right of his chin. He dropped as if he had been shot.
“I remember the ball coming off the bat, then lying there,” Rabe said. “In the same game, I had a couple of other balls go right past me, but nothing like that. I had no time to react.”
The ball broke Rabe’s jaw. Knocked out a tooth. Filled his mouth with blood. A plate and screws came with surgery.
This is an example of why prep players nationwide are switching to a solid alloy bat next year that has significantly less of a trampoline effect and more resembles the traits of traditional wood.
“The time has come,” said Bert Borgmann, Colorado High School Activities Association assistant commissioner.
Saturday’s championship games for Classes 5A, 4A and 3A were the last to be played with the old bats. The change to the new model is mandatory next season.
Say goodbye to bats tested by the BESR (ball exit speed ratio) and say hello to bats tested by the BBCOR (bat-ball coefficient of restitution).
The BBCOR-tested bat’s cost should remain similar, Borgmann said, from $200-$400 plus, depending on the model. In its first season of use in collegiate ball this year, the bat looks like the latest models of the metal bat that debuted in the 1970s to enhance offense and offer more longevity than wood, but it is solid alloy and has a considerably smaller sweet spot.
It doesn’t regularly propel a baseball near 100 mph like the BESR that struck Rabe. The well-known ping will sound more like a thunk next spring. And high school baseball will change with the introduction of the new bats — from a video-game sport to a game that puts more emphasis on pitching, defense and manufacturing runs.
Offense silenced
The numbers don’t lie. Auburn hit an NCAA-leading 131 home runs in 2010. As of last week, the Tigers had 38 home runs. A year ago, Northern Colorado homered 80 times. Before the Bears’ first-round Great West Conference playoff game on Tuesday, they had hit only 20.
At midseason, NCAA statistics showed batting averages down 26 percentage points, nearly 1.5 fewer runs per game and less than half of the homers of a season ago.
Just as when non-wood bats were introduced, new sticks mean a new game.
“Honestly, they’re different, you can tell right away,” said Bears second baseman T.J. Berge, who played at Dakota Ridge in Jefferson County.
Like others, Berge laments that many of his long flyballs have died on the warning track.
“People are going to have to find different ways to get on base. I don’t think they’re like wood,” he said. “Wood is more true. With these bats, I think wood is stronger than an earlier version of these bats. When you miss with wood, it’s more punishing. These are still more forgiving. I just don’t think it’s as solid contact.”
Colorado Christian outfielder Corey Gaudet, formerly of Chaparral, said, “Not only is the sweet spot smaller, but the temperature really has an effect on the new bats.
“When it’s colder, the bats aren’t as responsive. I noticed that when it was warmer, the bat was a little bit more peppy.”
Walt Weiss, the former Rockies shortstop who assists at Regis Jesuit, applauds the change.
“If I had it my way, they’d all be swinging wood, but it’s a drastic change from one year to the next. It would have been nice if the adjustment wasn’t so dramatic, but I think that will probably get worked out in the next year when (high school players) have to use them,” he said.
“These bats that they have now are weapons. I’m just saying to go from that dramatic of a change is a little bit flawed. They don’t have all of the kinks worked out. But I imagine they’ll make some adjustments.”
Columbine coach Chuck Gillman foresees batting averages going down, which he said will upset some players, as well as parents, “but that should be OK in our small parks.”
Small ball will be welcome, Cherry Creek coach Marc Johnson said, “With bunting, defense, stealing bases, pitching . . . real baseball. I wish this would have happened sooner.”
Strategy, Regis Jesuit coach Steve Cavnar suggested, will become more important. “Before,” he said, “a lot of times you just sat back and let (the players) go.”
Change to wood bats?
Rocky Mountain junior shortstop Nick Komar said he will be prepared for 2011. Most prep teams play several games using wood in the offseason and he’ll “use BBCOR as much as I can. I don’t think it will be too much of a transition. I mean, it swings the same, it’s just a different bat.”
And, perhaps most importantly, it will be a safer game.
“Colorado has been extraordinarily lucky in that we have not had more serious injuries,” Borgmann said.
Rabe’s coach, John Cronican, agrees. “You kind of know it’s an occupational hazard (when pitching), but when we started talking new bats, I just said, ‘Let’s do it now.’ “
Borgmann said this move is a step toward eventually using wood bats in high school play again. It has remained legal, but competitors have been leery of forfeiting the offensive advantage of using metal bats.
Going all-wood, as various prep leagues in New York and California have done, may be as close as it has been in four decades.
“I’ve been hearing from coaches in the know that they may start to look at wood bats,” Borgmann said.
“This may expedite it.”
Paul Willis contributed to this report
Neil H. Devlin: 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com
“If I had it my way, they’d all be swinging wood, but it’s a drastic change from one year to the next. It would have been nice if the adjustment wasn’t so dramatic, but I think that will probably get worked out in the next year when (high school players) have to use them.”
Walt Weiss, former Rockies shortstop who assists at Regis Jesuit
