High flying home runs, rockets down the line, and a hard hit double in the gap are some of the greats hit you see in the MLB. In the MLB these hard hit shots are still possible with the use of wood bats. Why would youth level and even in some cases high school level ballplayers be using aluminum bats. The main pro aluminum bat argument is that they help cut down costs as wood bats can break and become unusable when hit in the wrong spot. However, I’d argue that there main pro aluminum point is invalid and better yet completely irrelevant. Wood bats are definite less durable, there is no arguing that, but the prices of the bats make this insignificant. For a top of the line wood bat you’re looking at a price range of about $100-$140, Metal bats are priced significantly higher. To purchase a top of the line metal bat you’re going to be spending $350-$500 about. You can buy 3 wood bats for one baseball bat at these prices, so how is price an argument here. These wood bats aren’t as weak as a pencil either, they are very difficult to break even for the pros, 3 bats should be able to last any ballplayer an ample amount of time.

Now, that we have debunked the most prominent pro aluminum argument we’ll begin talking about the dangers of aluminum bats. In a study done by Greenwald it showed an average bat-exit speed of 98.5 mph for wood bats and exit speeds of 100.8 to 106.5 mph for aluminum bats. With pitchers standing 60 feet 6 inches away, and after throwing a pitch a pitcher is significantly close, a pitcher can be incredibly hurt by both bats, but at least they have a better chance of getting out of harms way when wood bats are used. From 1991 - 2001 15 deaths had been recorded with the use of metal bats, and in this same time period only 2 deaths had occurred with the use of wood bats.

This is an issue of serious debate. The answer is clear, would we rather have Americas game be ridden by horror stories, or would we want to restore the great memories many of us have associated with the wonderful game of baseball. Wood bats are the future of the game, and as a society we need to make the swift transition now.