OT: LLWS

[HooperScooper]

When you see multiple HRs a game that are 75 feet over the fence I think the natural question is - is the field big enough?

Pushing the fences way back doesn't cut back scoring much though because most of those home runs just become triples - it's not like they are going to make the plays on those drives. If they play back they get singled to death.

Restrict the bats further. That would make amature and college baseball safer and a better game.

Just wait until you see what happens next year. Currently all LL bats need to be 2 1/4" maximum barrel diameter and all composite barrel bats (all teams in the LLWS use these) are approved by LL if they adhere to a certain standard exit speed (USSSA 1.15 BPF Certification). Next year LL will adopt the new USA Baseball standard for bats which will have an exit speed more like wood bats. All composite barrel bats will not be legal but the barrel size of the bats will increase to 2 5/8" maximum diameter. I'm curious to see what this does to home runs. While the exit speed of hits should decrease it's also much easier to hit a ball with a bigger barrel. The change was instituted to protect all players from batted balls.

Little League® to Adopt New USA Baseball Bat Standard Starting with 2018 Season

LL had recently discussed going to a 50-70 diamond (increasing the distance of the pitching mound from home plate from 46 feet, as it is currently, to 50 feet and extending the distance of the bases from each other to 70 feet from 60 feet) as a way to protect players. AAU teams as young as 9 years old have been using this 50-70 field for years. There has been resistance to do it since it would make all local Little Leagues spend money to adjust their fields and some have complained that they just don't have the room on some of their fields to make this change. So the new bat standard must have been a compromise solution.

 

[dogfan96]

When you see multiple HRs a game that are 75 feet over the fence I think the natural question is - is the field big enough?

Pushing the fences way back doesn't cut back scoring much though because most of those home runs just become triples - it's not like they are going to make the plays on those drives. If they play back they get singled to death.

Restrict the bats further. That would make amature and college baseball safer and a better game.

This. The field is too small to me. Not just the fence but the distance to bases and everything.