The use of metal baseball bats in youth baseball programs is currently being questioned.

Gunning Sandberg, a pitcher for Marin Catholic High School,  was hit in the head by a baseball during a game on March 11.  He was very seriously injured as a result of the accident.  As a result of this incident, many schools and organizations across Northern California are re-examining  the usage and safety of metal baseball bats.

One rreason why the blame is being cast on the metal bats is that a baseball hit by a metal bat travels faster than a ball struck by a wooden bat.  This means that they are typically considered more dangerous than their wooden counterparts and are not used in the minor or major league level.

Although It has not been proven that the use of wooden bats would have avoided this tragedy, the Marin County Athletic League has placed a temporary ban on metal bats while the problem is investigated.  In the meantime, wood bats will be used.

“I think it’s going to come down to money as opposed to evidence,” said Lucas Borgo, Skyline’s assistant baseball coach.  “How much will schools need to spend for the playoffs?”

But what does the situation mean for Skyline College’s baseball team?  No one can say for certain what the future may, but Joe Morello, dean of the physical education, athletics and dance department at Skyline, does not think that enough evidence will be found in the Marin investigation to permanently ban metal bats at any level.

According to Morello, there are so many factors that could have been the cause of this incident.  For example, either the bat or ball used might not have conformed to one of the set standards.

Head baseball coach Dino Nomicos stated that if metal bats were banned, the Skyline team would be primarily affected in a financial manner.  The school does not provide bats and if Skyline were to switch to wood bats, Nomicos said he would have to fundraise approximately $15,000 a year.  If he were unable to get this amount, then the baseball players would have to supply their own equipment.

The greatest advantage that the metal bats have over their wooden counterparts is that they cost a lot less.  Nomicos said that even though one aluminum bat costs $300 and one wood bat only costs $75, one can go through wood bats very rapidly.  On the other hand, aluminum bats are more sturdy and therefore are a more cost effective solution in the long-run.

Performance-wise, the aluminum bats do tend to make the balls fly through the air more quickly.  However, some recent studies in the past decade have revealed that metal bats increase the speed of a baseball by only about 5 mph. 

According to Nomicos, the strength of an athlete is more influential in affecting the speed of the ball than bat composition.  The strength of metal bats comes from a wider available area with which one can contact the ball.  

Morello emphasized the fact that any sport has risk factors.

“The cold hard reality is risk exists in playing any sport,” Morello said via e-mail. “The participant accepts this risk in order to play. Effective safeguards are essential. But, it is impossible to eliminate all risk. The young man struck from Marin Catholic may well have suffered the same injury if the ball had come off a wooden bat. No one has any way of knowing conclusively that the aluminum/metal bat was the cause of the injury except that it was the instrument used to strike the ball.”

Borgo believes that metal bats won’t be banned, but the limitations on velocity speed might be changed.

The North Coast Section Board, one of the committees working on the logistics of the Sandberg case along with the Marin County Athletic League, will be having a meeting on April 26 to decide on the ramifications this accident may have.