New Little League Rules For Baseball Bats

Before the first pitch is thrown today at the 65th Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pa., umpires will be studying the bats.

Equipment checks aren’t new, but what they’ll be checking for is. There is a new rule that restricts the type of non-wood bats that can be used. Similar to mandates issued by the NCAA and the national high school federation, Little League issued a moratorium on bats that contain composite materials in the barrel. All Little League bats must have a BBCOR (Batted Ball Coefficient of Restitution) designation. The new standard ensures that non-wood bats perform more comparably to wood bats.

And similar to the California Interscholastic Federation’s waiver list that exempted certain bats last year, Little League subsequently allowed some composite-barrel bats if they did not exceed the performance standard after what is called an “accelerated break-in” process.

“All three organizations were going in the same direction at the same time,” Little League International spokesman Steve Barr said. “I don’t think one was in reaction to the other. We had a standard and the bats were exceeding the standard. It’s illegal to use one in a Little League game or practice.”

Read more at signonsandiego.com.