Composite baseball bat
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Composite baseball bats, opposed to aluminum or wood baseball bats, incorporate a reinforced carbon fiber polymer, or composite, into the bat's construction. This composite material can make up all or part of the bat. Bats made entirely of this polymer are referred to as composite bats. Bats which only incorporate a portion of polymer (and the rest either wood or an aluminum alloy) are referred to as composite hybrids.
Composite bats can also be constructed to improve their trampoline effect over time. That advantage, namely the improved trampoline effect over a break in period, put the use of composite bats under further NCAA scrutiny during the 2009 NCAA Division I baseball tournament. Composite bats, tested after they were already broke in, showed performance standards well beyond the accepted ball exit speed ratio (BESR) Test.[1]
As a result, a new standard, known as the batted-ball coefficient of restitution (BBCOR), was put in place in 2011 which required an accelerated break in period and testing to measure the trampoline effect of composite bats.[2] Since the new restrictions on composite baseball bats NCAA hitting production has been noticeably dampened.[3]