Wooden bats find home in North Dakota

ENDERLIN, N.D. – The change from aluminum to wooden bats in North Dakota high school baseball this season was done primarily for safety.

Now high school officials across the country are watching to see how this plays out. No other state league has switched entirely to wooden bats.

“It’s probably premature to say much about it right now, but I think the common feeling is people kind of like it,” said Elliot Hopkins, baseball rules editor for the National Federation of State High School Associations.

The wooden bat movement can be traced to this rural town of 900, where people have long believed there’s something right about the reunion of wood and leather.

“I like the sound off the bat,” pitcher and catcher Zach Michaelson said while waiting his turn in the batting cage. “Just listening to batting practice is awesome. It’s baseball the way it’s meant to be played.”

Coaches and players in Enderlin, which shares a baseball team with the town of Maple Valley, have long promoted the change. One weekend each year for the past decade, the team put down the metal bats for a wooden bats tournament.

Ten years later, their idea became a rule.

“The idea behind that whole thing was to bring back real baseball,” said Brian Midthun, the head coach of the Enderlin program for 19 years. “You’re got to do so many things better as a high school team when you’re playing with wood bats. You have to make every play, and every base runner is important.”

The North Dakota High School Activities Association board of directors voted two years ago to make the change, primarily to prevent injuries. Coaches grew weary of bruises, bumps and blood caused by hot line drives off aluminum bats that allowed little reaction time for fielders.

“We had a lot of close calls and been lucky the injuries haven’t been more serious,” Midthun said.

Opponents of the change have disputed the increased danger of aluminum bats and worry about the cost of replacing broken wood bats. They also argue that fewer hits or home runs could hurt players in recruiting by colleges and professional teams.

Midthun dismisses those claims.

“I don’t think statistics make a player,” he said. “Recruiters are going to see what kind of ballplayer they are, whether they are using a wood bat or an aluminum bat.”

Aluminum bats cost as much as $300 apiece. The most expensive wooden bat sells for about $50. Enderlin has broken three bats in 14 games.

Breaking a bat has become a badge of honor.

“The coolest thing is when you break a bat,” said junior Landon Fuhrman, who broke one. “I was paying more attention to the shattered bat than I was to what happened to the ball.”

Early returns show lower offensive numbers than a year ago, particularly home runs. The Falcons have two homers in 14 games, compared to six at this point last season. The combined averages of the team’s top five hitters have dropped about 50 to 75 points from a year ago.

Cleanup hitter Kyle Langland, a 6-foot-3, 280-pound first baseman, swings the heaviest bat at 34 ounces. He’s broken two of them. But he only has one home run, compared to six last year as a freshman.

“I think over time, it will come back to him,” said shortstop Kayl Hamre, who is having his best year at the plate, hitting close to .300.

Fuhrman said the wood bats show the players who have true power, “not the skinny kid who’s hitting 350-foot blasts off his fists.”

State and national athletic officials, including Hopkins, are tracking scores and statistics to compare to metal seasons. For now, Midthun said the football scores appear to be history, and the speed of play has increased. It takes about an hour on average to complete five innings, he said.

Then there’s the safety factor. Montana doesn’t have high school baseball, but the American Legion team in Miles City decided to scrap metal bats after pitcher Brandon Patch was struck in the head and killed by a line drive. The team had to forfeit some games against team who refused to use wood bats.

Enderlin played four exhibition games earlier this year in Florida, and Midthun said his pitchers were ducking for cover against some of that state’s average teams using metal bats.

“We took some nasty shots, including one line drive that went flat off the thigh of one of our pitchers,” Midthun said. “I don’t know if that would have happened up here. We haven’t seen anything like that since we’ve been back.”

Sherm Sylling, executive director of the North Dakota High School Activities Association, said the change has been widely accepted by players and coaches.

“I haven’t heard one negative word,” Sylling said. “That doesn’t mean it isn’t out there, but this changes has been one of the smoothest ones we’ve ever had.”

Metal bats will be banned from high school play in New York City this fall, after the City Council overrode Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s veto of the bill. Hopkins, who plans to attend the North Dakota state tournament, expects the issue to heat up in other states.

“We’ll see where it goes from here,” Hopkins said.