What the heck now?

[JC heir]

SB- actually, I am in agreement with leaving the game alone...I just feel that it defies logic that a pitcher isnt exponentially safer , the farther she is from the bat. also I have no data whatsoever to back that theory up- just common sense. if the ball is traveling about 32 feet (40 ft plate with leaper) that extra 3 feet is almost 10% which should equate to 10% more reaction time????

 

[Ken Krause]

sluggers: your post about Ken's team made me laugh

Me too. Unfortunately.

 

[SBFAMILY]

This amounts to 1/20 of a second with a ball at 60PMH and we all know a batted ball travels faster than that, so the mind cannot react that fast.

 

[absdad]

3 feet is ridiculous to think that it would do anything for safety. Using ASA's bat certification standard, a 98mph batted ball travels at 143fps. That's not even a tenth of a second in time difference. Regulating bats, I can understand the standards set, but not so much the motive. A weak hitter with an 04 Rocketech isn't going to be much of a threat. However a good power hitter with a Wallyworld special could cause problems. I personally think regulating the balls would be much easier, and cheaper for everyone, including the manufacturers.
How about just leaving it alone? Masks optional.

 

[JC heir]

in my mind, you dont have to react to the ball in that fraction of a second- you are probably allready reacting to the ball & maybe the glove is just inches away from a deflection. Keep in mind , in the hitting section, we are making a complete swing, from first movement to contact in .25 seconds. thats a lot of movement. ...a lot of movement can get done by an allready moving glove in 1/10th sec.

whats good for the goose has to be good for the gander as well here guys. if 3 more feet equates to enough reaction time to allow many more fair balls, & will cause borderline pitcher to be innefective, it just HAS to give the pitchers a safety factor.

Im not trying to be argumentative here..... I cut trees for a living, hate seatbelts, & motorcycle helmets & will also put DD on the 40 foot mound knowing the risks. I dont believe in living in a bubble, but I do see the other side of the coin.

 

[alexander58]

You can move the mound to 43', but the 3rd baseman is still going to be the same distance from home. You've given the hitter more reaction time, so a righthanded hitter is more capable of pulling pitches- right at the 3rd baseman. By moving back to 43' you've made more hitters dangerous with a bat in their hands.

 

[mkral]

There will always be a give and take. I am sure that is why ASA is looking at balls now. I was told by our ASA rep that the changes were to so much to protect the pitchers but to bring more offense to the game. IMO if it does not bring more offense to the game then they will say it was to protect the pitchers. I never gave 3B a thought on that. You are absolutely correct, the HOT CORNER will be real hot now. My girls will be wearing masks, mandatory. We told our parents last year we highly suggested it but I think as a team we will mandate it this year on the corners.

 

[MTR]

I believe the changes you see every year to rules are made by a group of people that are no longer involved in the game on any real level. I don't know how else to explain these rule changes. Maybe they can't think of anythng else to change, but feel they have to justify getting together.

For someone making a claim of others not knowing what they are doing, you seem to fall right into that catagory. Do you have any idea how changes are made?

 

[alexander58]

Some of these changes seem arbitrary to me. They say they are worried about safety, but allow cleats and jewelry to be worn. They apparently will move the pitching distance for 10u back to 40' in 2011. Most kids that age can't throw strikes at 35'. If you look at the rule changes as a whole, you'd think they were trying to make all age groups play by college rules (43', jewelry,cleats). Pardon my hubris.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

Some of these changes seem arbitrary to me. They say they are worried about safety, but allow cleats and jewelry to be worn. They apparently will move the pitching distance for 10u back to 40' in 2011. Most kids that age can't throw strikes at 35'. If you look at the rule changes as a whole, you'd think they were trying to make all age groups play by college rules (43', jewelry,cleats). Pardon my hubris.

Agreed. Our local ASA told me the same stuff, "we wanted more balls in play". I told them I don't have a problem with that. But shouldn't that be up to the individual coaches "TO MAKE THEM BETTER BATTERS"? They had no response to that.

At the rate of events over the past year......soon we won't even be keeping score.