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"  On March 11, 16 year-old Gunnar Sandberg was pitching for Marin Catholic in a game against Kentfield when he was hit in the head by a line drive. Sandberg suffered a traumatic brain injury, which left him in a medically induced coma for more than two weeks and forced doctors to remove part of his skull to relieve pressure on his brain. In the wake of that accident, California Assembly member Jared Huffman introduced a bill that would institute a one-year statewide moratorium on the use of aluminum bats in California high schools.  &amp;quot;This tragedy was a wake-up call for my entire community,&amp;quot; Huffman says. Similar bans have been put in place in New York City and North Dakota. Brady Lee Frazier, a 13-year old pitcher from St. Regis Falls, N.Y., died after being hit by a line drive in a practice earlier this month.  Bat-Exit Speed Standards Aluminum bats are used in college, high school and little league ball, but they&amp;#039;re illegal in the major leagues where hitters must use wooden bats. The issue is the velocity with which balls come off the bat, otherwise known as bat-exit speed. &amp;quot;The exit speed is a function of swing speed and elastic properties of the bat,&amp;quot; says Richard Greenwald, assistant professor of engineering at Dartmouth and the founder of the National Institute of Sports Science and Safety. Proponents of the bans suggest that aluminum bats allow for higher ball-exit speed, which endangers pitchers, while opponents suggest that existing regulations are sufficient to restrict batted-ball speeds.  The current standard\u2014Bat Exit Speed Ratio, or BESR\u2014has been adopted by the NCAA, and most high school and little league teams follow the NCAA&amp;#039;s lead. NCAA standards also limit a bat&amp;#039;s minimum weight and its moment of inertia, a measurement of weight distribution which affects the swing speed of the bat.  Huffman argues that the BESR standard, found by calculating the ratio of the ball-exit speed compared to the sum of the speeds of the pitched ball and the swing speed, isn&amp;#039;t tough enough. &amp;quot;There&amp;#039;s a built-in fudge factor,&amp;quot; he says. While the goal is to keep ball-exit speed below the 97 mph measured for a reference wood bat, professor Daniel Russell of Kettering University posits that ball-exit speeds of over 102 mph are possible for a strong player with a fast 115-mph swing using a BESR certified nonwood bat.  Wood vs. Aluminum Huffman further notes that while the BESR testing is done on new bats, aluminum and bats, unlike wooden models, actually gain power as they&amp;#039;re broken in. This effect is even more pronounced in expensive composite bats which flex more as the adhesives break down. &amp;quot;Some savvy kids will take a bat, wrap it up in a towel and run it over with a car.&amp;quot; Some companies provide professional &amp;quot;bat rolling&amp;quot; services to mimic this effect.  The issue is muddled with a lack of solid empirical data. Greenwald&amp;#039;s definitive study on real-world bat-exit speed was done in 2002, and showed a bat-exit speed of 98.5 mph for a wooden bat and speeds of 100.8 to 106.5 mph for aluminum bats. However, four of the five aluminum bat models tested would be illegal under today&amp;#039;s BESR standard. The bat that fell within BESR parameters registered the lowest ball-exit speed of 100.8 mph. A new study, performed by using current-spec bats, is expected to be released in September. Bat standards have also been a moving target. In 2009 the NCAA banned all composite bats, and in 2011 will institute stricter standards that measure the ball\u2013bat coefficient of restitution, or BBCOR. A more direct test of the ball\u2013bat interaction, the BBCOR standards will likely result in less lively legal bats.  Things get even muddier when the question is moved from the testing lab to the diamond. Some experts suggest that the small increase in batted ball speed from today&amp;#039;s aluminum bats makes relatively little difference in real-world situations. &amp;quot;I find it very hard to believe having an extra 0.02 seconds to react to a line drive would make any difference in whether or not a pitcher would be able to protect himself,&amp;quot; Russell says.  The Rare Tragedy Batted-ball injuries are, thankfully, rare events, which makes compiling research a challenge. &amp;quot;There&amp;#039;s no data that I&amp;#039;m aware of that suggests there&amp;#039;s any increase in injury rates from batted balls hit by alum bats compared to wooden bats,&amp;quot; Greenwald says. A three-year study by the National Center of Sport Injury Research that compares regular-season games in which aluminum bats were used to summer league games in which college players used wooden bats shows a small increase in the number of batted-ball injuries with wooden bats. &amp;quot;The number of injuries is very small,&amp;quot; says UNC Chapel Hill professor Fred Mueller, an author of the study, and a consultant to USA Baseball. &amp;quot;But the injuries off the wooden bats in the summer leagues were more serious.&amp;quot; Since the goal of the bat restrictions is to protect pitchers, other changes could be enacted. One option suggested by Greenwald is the use of softer Reduced Injury Factor (RIF) balls. Another potential solution is mandating protective headgear for the pitcher. In March, Matt Hiserman of USF was hit by a line drive during practice which left him in intensive care for four days. He had also been seriously injured by a batted ball during his high school career. Hiserman now wears a pad, made by Evoshield, similar to a wrestler&amp;#039;s headgear, under his hat. Why doesn&amp;#039;t he wear a batting helmet? &amp;quot;One, it&amp;#039;s uncomfortable. Two, it obstructs my vision. And three, it just looks goofy,&amp;quot; he told the San Francisco Chronicle.  Since the California legislation calls for a one-year moratorium, one possible outcome is that it will pressure bat manufacturers to adopt stricter BESR standards. &amp;quot;I could care less whether the bats are made of bubble gum or space-age metal,&amp;quot; says Huffman. &amp;quot;I don&amp;#039;t want to micromanage the sport. I just want to create conditions for the sport to fix this problem.&amp;quot; The proposed California ban has been released by a Senate Committee and will be considered by the full Senate later this spring. Huffman suggests that lobbying efforts by bat manufacturers leave its future in doubt. &amp;quot;This is going to be a long, drawn-out fight.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/adventure/sports/a5741/minor-league-metal-bat-ban/>