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2004 REBL SEASON BAT RESTRICTIONS
For the upcoming season, the REBL will restrict the type of aluminum bats allowed during game play to BESR certified bats only. This was done in order to help protect our players from the potential injury caused by "souped up" aluminum bats and the excessive speeds (called "exit speeds") generated by these bats. Over the past decade, aluminum bat manufacturers have engaged in a competition of one-upping each other, each one trying to create a better aluminum bat that would provide the player with extra pop. This extra pop is more specifically referred to as an exit speed, which is the speed of the ball as it comes off the bat after contact. Extensive research has concluded that the best performing wood bat would create an exit speed of 97 mph, but these high-performing aluminum bats were generating exit speeds of up to 110 mph, thus severely limiting the reaction time for a defensive player to protect himself from a batted ball. As a hitter, you can definitely see the difference in reaction time between a pitcher throwing 80 mph and from one throwing 90 mph. Now imagine a pitcher trying to defend himself from a line drive hit at 94 mph, opposed to a screamer at 105 mph. The fact is that he just doesn't have enough time to react to a ball traveling at that speed, but hitters were happy with the results of using these new bats and the robust offensive numbers they helped generate.
Finally in late 1999, prompted by ridiculous offensive scores in the college National Tournament, the NCAA moved to outlaw these high-performing bats. The NCAA Executive Committee moved to support a recommendation from the NCAA Baseball Research Panel that solid northern ash wooden bat performance should become the standard for setting limits on all baseball bat performance (click HERE for the complete article). The panel concluded that a batted-ball exit speed of 97 mph should be adopted for non-wood bats which equates to the highest average exit speed using Major League Baseball-quality, 34-inch, solid wood bats. The committee reaffirmed two other standards approved in August, 1998, that limit the diameter of the bat to 2 5/8 inches and reduce the difference between weight and length for bats to three units (a 34-inch bat can weigh no less than 31 ounces). Therefore, only bats adhering to these restrictions would be BESR (Ball Exit Speed Ratio) certified and allowed for NCAA baseball use. Shortly thereafter, the governing body of the nations high schools then followed suit and adopted the same restrictions.
How do you know if a bat is BESR certified? The aluminum bat manufacturer sends its bats to a research center at the University of Massachusetts, which tests these bats for adherence to the NCAA standards. If the bats pass the test, they receive a BESR certification stamped on the bat itself. So, if there exists a BESR certification on the actual bat, it is then allowed for college and high school use. For a complete listing of allowable bats in 2004 and an explanation of the process of certification, click HERE.