Last March, Marin High School pitcher, Gunnar Sandberg was injured by a baseball traveling at 100mph off a metal bat, so new laws have been put in place affecting baseball teams and posing a new problem for local high school teams. After the incident, a Bay Area senator proposed a law requiring that High School baseball teams go back to the use of wooden bats.
With the season only a month away, the coaches are facing three new problems: cost of new bats, availability, and how the game play will be changed.
“We have spent so much money and new bats that are now currently unusable,” Assistant Coach Bryn Wade said.
It has also put a strain on the making of these bats since the quick implication of the law has not allowed manufacturers to catch up on the demand of the new needed equipment. The California Interscholastic Federation agreed to meet the rule of allowing wooden bats only, which is known as The Batted Bat Coefficient of Restitution. It measures the liveliness of the ball off the bat and the goal is to reduce the “trampoline effect” of the force created by aluminum bats.
“I think that the power part of baseball will surely be affected and will change our game play,” Center-Fielder Josh Guerra said.
Guerra describes that the new law will grant them less home runs and will really show who is able to meet up with the new changes. Being named the San Gabriel Valley league Co-MVP, Guerra feels and knows the changes that are expected to come when the season begins with these new bats.
“I believe that it will be more surprising to the parents than to the students,” Guerra said. “ It will be a little harder to find and less affordable to the parents.”
The Viking baseball team is less than a month away from beginning the very competitive San Gabriel Valley League Season. They have formatted their training techniques in order to prepare for the new changes with one goal in mind: to continue their success and achieve a 3-time SGVL championship.
“I feel that this year we have a really strong connection,” Third baseman Franz Jacinto said, “We have played in little league and beyond since we were little kids.”
The baseball players know that highest seeded team position is up in the air at this point. According to the Southern California Interscholastic Federation, the top spot is up in the air as the teams lost several key players form last year and the new law in effect will change their game play. Regardless, the SGVL schools are still expected to have a hard fought battle for that number 1 spot.
Currently, the Vikes are striving to play a very competitive season . In order to succeed and achieve with prominent outputs in games, the team is constantly focusing on their training. Not only are the working on drills, but they are also improving their communication between each other.
“I know that in every team there is always the goal of becoming league champs, but that sounds cliché,” senior Jared Gibson said. “ Our goal is to become league champs, but to know that we reflected on the goal of exhibiting teamwork and communication.”
For now the training will continue and the techniques will be practiced to a point where they become a habit. The baseball team hopes they become the 3-time SGVL champs of 2011, regardless of the changes in their equipment and styles.