Experts Warn that Lower COR and Compression Softballs Won't Solve Safety Issue courtesy of Softball News Report
2003 is shaping up to be the Season of the Ball.
And some ball experts are warning that most major national softball organizations are making a dangerous mistake by lowering ball COR and Compression ratings to make up for hot bats.
Associations arent paying close enough attention, said Kevin Schullstrom, national sales manager for TRUMP Softballs . They think by simply lowering the COR and Compression requirements they have made the game safe. Its not that easy.
This year, most of the National Softball Organizations are changing their ball standards, requiring .44 COR balls with a low (375 per square inch) Compression rating.
Those standards, however, may do nothing to make the game safer for pitchers and infielders, according to the ball experts.
Most of it (ball-standard change) is being done because of the perception that it will be safer for the third baseman and the pitcher, said Tom Decker, president of TRUMP Softballs . of Omaha.
In reality, its not safer, he said. In the first 60 to 70 feet from the point of ball-bat impact, the travel distance is not going to change.
Decker said the only change will be the distance the ball will travel from home plate to the fence - not its speed through the infield.
The net effect for reaction time for the infield is no different. If they get hit in the head with 44 COR it will be just as fatal as if they get hit in the head with a 47 COR ball at the same speeds.
I dont want players under the false impression that they are not going to get hurt because they are using a 44 COR ball, said Decker.
According to at least one expert, the lower COR balls may create an even more dangerous situation.
If safety is the objective, associations should require a more elastic or rubbery .50 or .47 COR ball with lower (375) Compression, said Trumps Schullstrom. Thats because the lower the COR the less elastic - the harder - the ball.
The COR of a ball is determined by the distance it rebounds after it is hurled against a wall. The farther it rebounds, the higher the COR rating. Thus, the more it rebounds, the more elastic, lively or rubbery the ball.
The Compression rating tests hardness: it is the amount of pressure it takes to compress a softball one-quarter inch.
The bottom line is that associations are trading the .47 COR for a more dense .44 COR, exactly the opposite of what they should be doing, said Schullstrom.
A Dudley spokesman agreed that associations were looking at the wrong numbers - and using the wrong tests.
Exit velocity is what they need to address, said Chris Sims, longtime territory sales and marketing manager for Dudley Sports .
The standard tests use bat speeds of 60 miles per hour, but tournament players are swinging at 100 or 120 mph, said Sims. Balls come off the bats a lot quicker at those speeds.
And bat speed apparently makes a significant difference in ball ratings - and may force softball sanctioning organizations to take a new, closer look at the ball-rating system.
A recent report showed that lower COR balls actually came off the bat faster than higher COR balls.
The report, The Effect of Softball Compression and Coefficient of Restitution on Batted Ball Speed, was based on a new study technique that used actual bat speeds and new high-tech bats.
Using the new, more realistic techniques, a .40 COR ball came off the bat 3.57 miles per hour faster and went 11-12 feet farther than a .47 COR ball.
There are a couple of possible explanations for this surprising result, wrote co-authors Dr. Michael Ciocco and Dr. Mark McDowell, of the US Department of Energys National Energy Technology Laboratory in Morgantown, West Virginia.
It may be that the actual COR of the ball at real impact speeds (100 mph) may be very different from the balls stated COR, they wrote. The COR tests use an impact speed of 60 mph . . . and it has been shown that COR is a strong function of impact speed.
The change in the ball velocity can be seen in fundamental changes in the game - especially on defense.
You see more and more infielders standing 15 feet back on the grass - that is a function of increased ball velocity, said Sims.
While the new tests raises questions about ball COR ratings, Compression ratings have emerging problems of their own.
One of the biggest issues is consistency.
A recent set of tests by a major ball manufacturer that found ball compression differed markedly on each of the balls four sides. That means that a ball may meet the compression standard on one or two sides, but be too hard on the other two sides.
While ball experts have known that compression varies from ball to ball, this is the first test showing an individual ball can vary from side to side.
The tests, done by Prof. William Brandt, director of the Sports Science Center of New York University for Anaconda Sports , maker of TRUMP softballs, found significant variation in individual