Is college baseball ruined?

[Matt Cotcher]

Armadillo Slim Jim Schlossnagle had some interesting comments last night. There is some momentum gathering on the subject - it's more than just a disgruntled coach talking...

"It's hard to get upset with your offense when you're facing that type of pitching, and I've got to be careful here before I say some things about this ballpark that I'll regret," Schlossnagle passionately said. "It's just a travesty what we've done to college baseball. But it's very impressive by Howard, very impressive by Ferrell."

 

[streettopeschel]

There's a large middle ground between the 21-14 days and the 'dead ball' era of today which is more a dead bat era. The games i've watched it looks like the outfield is playing at little league depth. That's not a function of the ballpark so much as the bats. There's no fear of a ball being hit over their heads so balls that might drop in are now caught.


Put just a little more spring in the bats and i think your issue is resolved.  

 

[Matt Cotcher]

So much focus is being put on ballpark changes that it makes me wonder if "baseball people" think it's easier/faster to move fences than it is to get the NCAA to change BBCOR?

 

[utisdabomb12]

They are changing the ball for next year. The ball will have flat seams which is suppose to make it carry deeper. We will see I guess if that has an impact. 

 

[utisdabomb12]

https://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/9932172/ncaa-hopes-new-baseball-reverse-dip-offense

 

[JimR]

pitchers will hate a ball with flat seams no matter what the carry issue is.

deep fences and prevailing wind howling in are issues in Omaha.

I think the hand-wringing at the CWS is hilarious. These are the best teams in the country. Of course the pitching is dominant. 

 

[SFlonghorngirl]

Baseball folks: What's the difference between MLB and NCAA balls? What are the pros and cons to adapting to wood bats like MLB?

 

[streettopeschel]

pitchers will hate a ball with flat seams no matter what the carry issue is.

deep fences and prevailing wind howling in are issues in Omaha.

I think the hand-wringing at the CWS is hilarious. These are the best teams in the country. Of course the pitching is dominant.

Dominant pitching is one thing, but there hasn't been a single HR in 8 games and of the games i've seen very few flyballs anybody would consider deep.
Low scoring games don't bother me. Actually i prefer them. Just seems to me the pendulam may have swung too far back as a reaction to the gorilla ball days.

 

[drgilbert]

Maybe we should move the cws to another venue/state One with a lower wind mph

 

[armadillo slim]

pitchers will hate a ball with flat seams no matter what the carry issue is.

deep fences and prevailing wind howling in are issues in Omaha.

I think the hand-wringing at the CWS is hilarious. These are the best teams in the country. Of course the pitching is dominant. 

Jim's a pitcher, if anyone didn't already know 

 

[armadillo slim]

i've been preaching this message for close to three years now.  when i first started, people howled in derision and made great fun of me.

you have three choices:

1.  change the f'cking bats

2.  move the fences in--changing the ball is not going to do what we need to do.  

3.  say good bye to offense

as bad as gorilla ball era was, this is just as damn bad in the opposite direction.  the frickin' ncaa simply cannot get anything right.  they have to be told to change things NOW.  not study the shit out of it for three damn more years.

change it now.  it's easy as pie.  here's how you do it.  you pick up your frickin' cell phone and call whoever you need to call and say, "put out a press release that says the 2009 and 2010 bats are OK".  that's it.  done.  finished.  fixed.

we don't need to study this shit anymore.

oh, and fire the idiot that thought this was a good idea in the first place.

 

[Matt Cotcher]

My prediction...

NCAA says, "We recognize the changes the BBCOR bats have made in the game. To counteract the change, we are mandating a change to the baseballs used in games. Until we have enough data to conclusively detail the changes in the game that are a result of the new baseball, there will be no other changes to the rules and/or equipment. Baseball stadiums are properties of universities, so the NCAA will not mandate changes to ballpark dimensions."

 

[streettopeschel]

i've been preaching this message for close to three years now.  when i first started, people howled in derision and made great fun of me.

you have three choices:

1.  change the f'cking bats

2.  move the fences in--changing the ball is not going to do what we need to do.  

3.  say good bye to offense

as bad as gorilla ball era was, this is just as damn bad in the opposite direction.  the frickin' ncaa simply cannot get anything right.  they have to be told to change things NOW.  not study the shit out of it for three damn more years.

change it now.  it's easy as pie.  here's how you do it.  you pick up your frickin' cell phone and call whoever you need to call and say, "put out a press release that says the 2009 and 2010 bats are OK".  that's it.  done.  finished.  fixed.

we don't need to study this shit anymore.

oh, and fire the idiot that thought this was a good idea in the first place.

BBCOR and ballpark size had little to do with it. We were going to deride and mock you anyway.

 

[texasdobbs]

— Twitter API (@twitterapi) November 7, 2011


There's no crying in baseball. ...

 

[bcherry168]

Why don't we just replace the NCAA?

 

[joeywa]

TD Ameritrade is set up differently than Rosenblatt was. 

In Omaha, over the last four years, the prevailing winds in June are predominantly from the SSE at a rate of almost 2:1. 

While this wind pattern was blowing out to LF in Rosenblatt, it is blowing straight in from CF at TD Ameritrade.

 

[Donald Boyles]

pitchers will hate a ball with flat seams no matter what the carry issue is.

deep fences and prevailing wind howling in are issues in Omaha.

I think the hand-wringing at the CWS is hilarious. These are the best teams in the country. Of course the pitching is dominant. 

A different spin on this...

In most Select Teams tournaments that use the balls with a flatter seam on them. A true Pitcher will still be able to get the ball to do what he wants the ball to do..

So, this will be a none issue..

 

[Duke C #11]

Pitching and defense SHOULD win championships. Not one person here has mentioned the significant increase in 95+ mph fastballs on CWS staffs.

 

[JimR]

You are really nuts if you think seams make no difference to a pitcher. Of all the people on earth, there is no one who cares less about what "select" teams do than I.