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« on: April 08, 2024, 05:50:10 PM »
Old college/hs bats were hotter than any bat a hs or college player can use today. There were no certifications, and the technology was pretty advanced at that point. Hs and College players were also using drop 5s.
The first certification was BESR, which tamed the bats and required hs/college players to use drop 3 bats.
Several years later BBCOR became the certification, and deaded bats even more. So, now the bat companies do all they can to max out the bats within the BBCOR certification. So they come out with new bats all the time, and new technology, but it really doesn’t amount to much other than combinations of swing-weight, sweet-spot/forgiveness, and pop. Today’s bats can’t hold a candle to the bats of the late 90s and early 2000s.
It’s different for USSSA certification, which is what little kids use, especially competitive teams. They make those bats as hot as they can and turn youth baseball into an industrial complex for rich suburbanites. USSSA cert is generally for -10 to -5 bats.
Compare a drop 5 usssa to a drop 3 BBCOR and you will see the difference immediately.
There is also USA baseball certification for little league, etc. which significantly deadens the bat and minimizes forgiveness and sweetspot.
Edit: every so often a USSSA bat will be released that is deemed “too hot” and get removed from tournament use.