Aluminum bats unnecessary in college baseball

Baseball purists often make reference to the joy of hearing the first "crack" of a baseball bat each spring. Unfortunately, that's not the sound most of us hear. Instead, we're subjected to the metallic "ping" of an aluminum bat.

While some might call the proliferation of aluminum bats in youth and collegiate baseball "progress," I beg to differ. The first issue is safety. Simply put, balls hit off of aluminum bats fly faster than those off of wooden bats. This is especially dangerous to pitchers, who are much more likely to sustain head or facial injuries due to line drives hit back at them.

Also, wooden bats teach young players to be better hitters. While they may hit fewer home runs with wood bats, they will learn to adjust to the smaller "sweet spot," and will eventually find themselves making solid contact more regularly. 

Finally, college and high school hitters shouldn't need aluminum bats to provide power. The good power hitters will still find a way to get their home runs, and we wouldn't see nearly as many kids hitting the ball off the handle or the end of the bat, only to watch the ball fly over the fence anyway. Wood bats separate the truly good hitters from the mediocre ones.

One of the major arguments against the full-time use of wood bats in high school and collegiate baseball is that they are susceptible to breaking, and are therefore more expensive. 

The price for a top-of-the-line aluminum bat can approach $400. While it's true that wood bats break, they are also much cheaper. In fact, someone could purchase as many as eight decent wood bats for the price of one aluminum bat. More durable wood bats, the "composite" wood models, are relatively cheap at around $150 and can often last for multiple summers if properly taken care of.

The bottom line is that aluminum bats serve no purpose other than to artificially enhance how hard an individual is able to hit the ball.

Baseball would be better off using wood bats at all levels, even youth leagues. Kids would become better hitters, the overall quality of the game would improve, and it would be safer for those playing in the field, especially pitchers. Besides, many wood bats are cheap enough that kids would be able to buy their own.

As far as I'm concerned, it's a no-brainer.