Baseball Bat Rules for 2012

January is just around the corner and the new high school baseball rules will be taking effect.  Here is a quick overview of the current changes taking effect on January 1, 2012:

North Dakota:  Class A (larger) schools are going to use wood and wood-composite bats only and will review the situation at the end of next season.  The Class B (smaller) schools are going to allow any BBCOR non-wood bat, wood bats, and wood-composite bats.  (Note:  There are more Class B schools in North Dakota than Class A schools.)

New Mexico:  They are only going to use wood and wood-composite bats.  Currently it is a one-year commitment to wood and wood-composite bats.  The state’s high school coaches will meet to discuss continuing the wood/wood-composite bat rule or consider adding BBCOR non-wood bats to the approved list, after next year’s high school baseball season.

New York City:  Two types of bats are allowed – wood bats and wood-composite bats, which are approved for play by Major League Baseball at the lowest level of minor league baseball.  According to New York City high school baseball coach Walter Stampfel, he doesn’t expect this rule to change since the switch to wood bats was a political decision and it’s not a matter of high school baseball coaches getting together for a meeting to discuss the matter and approving a change.

South Dakota:  Wood bats will be used.  But South Dakota – with 181 member high schools – does not have a state baseball rules committee and tehre is no official state championship.  The game of baseball is played, but it is not on the same level as high school baseball in other states.

The Rest of the Country:  High School baseball teams in all other cities and states will be allowed to use BBCOR non-wood bats, beginning on January 1, 2o12.  Those same teams will probably use BBCOR bats during any kind of “fall ball” leagues in which they play this year.

The following breakdown of rules was provided by Mike May, Director of Communication at SGMA and was featured in the Team Insight Magazine.