New to the Scene in 2015

Each college baseball season brings new rosters, new rankings, and new feelings of hope for teams across the country. This 2015 season brings an even greater list of reasons to be excited about this great game. The baseball has changed, the Southeastern Conference is going to be televised, and, for the Razorbacks, the newly constructed Fowler indoor practice facility is being utilized.

In 2009 college baseball banned composite bats and we saw an increase of .10 homeruns per game (.95 HR/g). Two years later college baseball changed to a new BBCOR bat and in the 4 years of using them there has been a 0.6 homerun per game (.35 HR/g) drop. This is the lowest average since 1970 when balls were being hit out at a pace of .40 per game.

What’s the big deal, right? I mean after all we are talking less than a homerun being hit per game anyway. How can this possibly matter so much?

Let’s say on average 50 games are played in a season (this varies by team). Last year, based on that number of games, an average of 17.5 homeruns were hit per team all season in college baseball. Compare that to 47.5 in 2009 and it is easy to see why your common fan who wants to see runs scored is no longer interested in the game and the ticket office is taking a hit.

But not just home runs are going to fall off when deadening a bat. Line drives in the gap are weak flares that the outfielder can outrun; there goes a 2 run double. Infielders are able to reach more soft ground balls in the hole; averages are going down. Runs-per-game has dropped from 7 to 5 and batting averages from .305 to .270. This is nation wide. It changes so many phases of a game when hitters are swinging bats that hit more like there is a sponge around the barrel.

Pitchers have loved it, though, as ERA has gone from 6.00 to 4.25. However, I’m sure the lack of run support has not been appreciated.

These fun facts have completely changed the game and completely changed the way many coaches (including Dave Van Horn) have recruited. There has been more emphasis on recruiting pitching, the contact hitter, defense, and speed. In the past 3 years no team has pitched better than Arkansas. They have a nation low cumulative 2.47 ERA over the last 3 years and have been the only team to finish in the top 15 in ERA in each year.

So what is a new ball going to do?

The new balls have two distinct features that are going to work in the hitter’s favor. First, the ball has flatter seams. Raised seams allow the pitcher to grip and spin a ball better, creating more movement on the pitch to deceive the hitter. With flatter seams, this ball will be troublesome to the average pitcher while the good pitchers will still be able to make the ball do whatever they want. This will cause more pitchers to make mistakes to hitters and more solid contact to be made. Second, the ball is wound tighter and, therefore, harder. The harder the ball is, the harder it will come off the bat. In the major leagues they used the hardest, most tightly wound balls there are. That is why a wood bat has the effect it does on their baseballs.

The new college ball will even the playing field after a 4 year spell in which much less potent bats have been the demise of offenses across the board. In short, the game should become more like the way common fans want it to be, while not going over the top for the more knowledgeable fan.

When the SEC Network came to life I was unsure what exactly that meant for less popular sports. It has turned out to be a very impressive, broad network in which you can even watch low revenue sports such as volleyball and gymnastics. When the baseball television schedule was released I was very surprised to see that all but 1 game is now being televised.

As someone who will miss being present for opening weekend for the first time since 2004, I am very fortunate that the SEC Network exists. I am slightly worried, however, that putting games on TV will keep fans from consistently going to the games, and diminish the impressive and entertaining crowds that have become so common at Baum.

I couldn’t count on all my fingers and toes how any times I have heard Van Horn say in a past press conference that his team “would be able to practice more if we had an indoor facility”. The weather in Fayetteville during the heart of the baseball season is next to none. However, the off-season work that it takes to compete during the season is done in some of the most windy, brutally cold and wintry weather in the region.

The availability of the Fowler indoor facility has been praised to no end by players and coaches alike this off-season, and has even been utilized by former players that are being paid to play the game now.

I have only seen pictures of the facility so far but hope to take a tour soon and report on just how nice and big it really is. It boasts batting cages, pitching mounds, and a full sized, artificial turf diamond in which hitters can hit or defenders can work on drills. The building is a massive structure to see from the outside, which would allude to the ability to work on fly balls as well.

These additions to the game that I love will hopefully enhance the experience that the Arkansas Razorbacks bring each year. I will be in Baum cheering them on as much as possible as they hopefully hit better. But if I cannot make it to any given game at least I will have access to it from afar.

Statistical info was received from http://www.acs.psu.edu/drussell/bats/NCAA-stats.html