I heard that they are going to move home plate out 10 ft. I don't like that at all. I like it the way it is now, but I feel I'm maybe in the minority. I just don't want it going back to home run derby. Those games used to be ridiculous.
1998 USC beating ASU 21-14.....that was ridiculous. I was at that one and just shook my head. But a lot of that was the bats.
I once heard Kyle Peterson talking on the radio about how during the CWS years ago (and he might have been talking about that 21-14 game), a pitcher threw a change up, fooled the batter, and the batter was way out in front. The batter made contact, and under normal circumstances that hit should have been an easy pop fly for an outfielder. But with the old bats, the ball just , carried, and carried out into the bleachers for a HR. When the pitcher does everything right, fools the batter, and still gives up a home run, that is a problem, and no one should want to see that again.
The bbcor bats being used in college today, are IIRC extremely similar to the performance of wood bats. They probably still have a larger sweet spot than wood, but they have nowhere near the trampoline effect the bats used to have.
I think my math is correct below, but I've been burning the candle at both ends for too many days in a row.
Until next year, this is the data of hits for the CWS at TD Ameritrade. 1402 hits......50 home runs. 3.6% (rounded up) or 1 of every 28 hits at that ball park have been home runs. How many CWS games does it take to get to 28 hits? This year (if I counted right), 10 home runs, in 17 games. So .588 home runs per game.
http://dataomaha.com/cws/hits/
Compare that to MLB parks. The below link keeps track. As of when I am typing this, the lowest HR
per game this year is 1.38 at AT&T Park. (SF) The highest is 3.14 at The Great American Ball Park (Reds). So the lowest allowing MLB park had roughly 2.5 times the amount of homers per game vs TD Ameritrade Park.
http://www.hittrackeronline.com/stadiums.php
Now compare the 3.6% or .03566333 etc and compare that to all MLB teams in 2015.
http://www.sportingcharts.com/mlb/stats/team-home-run-percentage-hits/2015/
The Braves were the lowest HR hitting team last year with 7.4% of their hits being home runs. So TD Ameritrade Park allows home runs at half the rate that the lowest producing MLB team produced last year? Yes I realize I am comparing MLB batters to college, but the college batters are not facing MLB pitching either.
I don't want to see pitchers get punished, but batters shouldn't either. When batters guess right and smack the hell out of the ball, only to have it fall short at the warning track (repeatedly) due to hitting into prevailing winds blowing in, and having dead center be 408, and 475 in left and right center, a change needs to be made. Had the ball park been laid out like just about every other outdoor ball park is, maybe it wouldn't be an issue. Also, for the first time in my life, I know numerous people (including myself) who flat out could not GIVE CWS tickets away. When that happens, you really have to do something, because it is known around Omaha that there won't be much offense at the CWS. There needs to be the possibility of more excitement. JMHO.
