CHICAGO -- After a year of research and collecting data relating to baseball equipment, the NCAA Baseball Research Panel has made several recommendations that will enhance equipment standards already in place to preserve the integrity of the game.

The panel, which met June 2, voted to recommend changes to the ball standard, the establishment of a "moment-of-inertia (MOI)" requirement, the use of a swing-speed sliding scale for nonwood bats in testing, and a uniform ball-exit speed based on a 33-inch wooden bat as the standard for certification of nonwood bats.

These recommendations, which will be funneled through the NCAA governance structure for approval, are projected to become effective January 1, 2002, to give the baseball community ample time to adjust to the changes.

"Obviously, college baseball has needed some stability, and I feel we have accomplished that," said Milton Gordon, president at California State University, Fullerton, and chair of the panel. "We have achieved what we were charged to do -- create a safe, fair set of standards for baseball. Now, we must continue to make sure the standard we have is a good one and that changes are made in a timely manner as necessary."

Primary in the panel's review was the issue of safety, including two incidents of pitchers sustaining broken jaws from batted balls during the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship regional competition a week earlier. Based on its review of available data, the panel agreed that bats are performing at an acceptable level of risk.

"No one wants to see players injured," Gordon said. "Unless we fundamentally change the game, however, playing baseball will never be risk-free. Despite the two unfortunate instances in the regionals, I am confident we have reduced risk overall.

"The panel has been pleased overall with the standard. What we are doing now is taking what we've learned from a year of testing and collecting data and trying to make what we have in place even better.

Ball standards, testing protocol

The panel voted to recommend changing the standard for baseballs used in NCAA play. The current standard allows baseballs that meet a coefficient-of-restitution (COR) standard of .525-.555. The panel voted to make the range .515-.535.

"What this means is that the baseball will be a bit less lively," said panel member Ken Johnson, professor of physics at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. "This is an important addition to reforms that have been made with the bats."

Moment-of-inertia, which measures the ease with which a bat may be swung, also was discussed at the meeting. The current testing protocol does not call for an MOI standard. The panel, however, agreed to recommend a minimum standard based on the length of the bat. The result of the new standard would make metal bats feel and swing more like a wood bat in the field.

Finally, the panel examined adjusting the protocol in such a way that would make the testing procedure more closely replicate field conditions. The panel voted to raise the pitch speed to 80 miles per hour, set a more specific standard for baseballs that are used during testing and recommend that bats of different lengths be swung at different speeds during testing.

"With regard to different swing speeds, it only makes sense that you can swing a lighter bat faster," Johnson said. "The additional speed you can generate is offset by a lower mass, however. Changing the swing speeds should make for a more accurate test."

The panel also asked James A. Sherwood of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, who runs the NCAA's baseball testing system, to assist in creating a set exit speed limit based on the highest-quality 33-inch wooden bats available.

The original protocol, finalized in September 1999, stipulated that no changes could be made to the testing procedure or standard until August 2000.

The panel's recommendations will be forwarded to the NCAA's Baseball Rules Committee for discussion at its annual meeting in July. Any approved changes would be sent to the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet for review this fall.

Work-hardening

Early data examined by the panel indicate that a phenomenon known as "work-hardening" occurs in nonwood baseball bats. Bats seem to improve their performance after being used in the field. The panel instructed Sherwood to collect additional data on the subject.

The NCAA will notify manufacturers of the data collected during random testing and re-emphasize that bats may fail testing due to work-hardening and would be ruled ineligible. The panel noted that manufacturers should be aware that bats could increase performance after use and should allow room for this increase.

The panel also recommended that the NCAA continue to support work-hardening experiments in addition to certification testing. The panel asked Sherwood to have a proposed protocol change with reference to work-hardening prepared by October 1, 2000, with additional data for potential implementation by January 1, 2002.

Further, the panel recommended that the NCAA collect data to determine the accuracy of the testing procedures.

Overall, the panel hopes the recommended changes will enhance the testing procedure and provide stability to what has been a controversial issue.

"The panel's feeling is that the standard is a good one," Gordon said. "We have some changes we would like to see made, but these are not major alterations."

Early returns point to decline

Though this season's final baseball statistics will not be available until mid-July, data compiled so far indicate that batting averages, home-run rates and earned-run averages will be lower than they were a year ago.

"We base our minimums on last year's data, and I'm actually having trouble getting enough players and teams that qualify under our minimums to make top 20 lists," said John Painter, NCAA senior statistics coordinator. "So the numbers clearly are down."

Midseason statistics released by the Association in April indicated that batting averages, home-run averages and pitchers' earned-run averages were lower than last season in Division I. The drop was more dramatic when compared to the 1998 statistics.

"We've have had to change the minimums for some of our offensive categories twice, which I've never had to do," Painter said.

Midseason batting averages went from .303 in 1999 and .306 in 1998 (an all-time high) to .294 at the middle of the season this year. Home runs per game stood at 0.77 this midseason compared to 0.95 in 1999 and 1.06 (another all-time high) in 1998. Earned-run average has improved from a 1998 high of 6.12 to 5.94 in 1999 and 5.49 by midseason this year.

-- Ty Halpin

Proposed swing-speed sliding scale

The Baseball Research Panel's proposed sliding scale for swing speed to be used during bat testing. The scale incorporates greater swing speeds for lighter bats.

Length Speed at tip -- (inches) of bat (mph)

36 -- 80

35.5 -- 81

35 -- 82

34.5 -- 83

34 -- 84

33.5 -- 85

33 -- 86

32.5 -- 87

32 -- 88

31.5 -- 89

31 -- 90