Airline baseball coach Toby Todd has an unused base sitting in the corner of his office. That might not seem to be all that unusual except for one thing: The base is green.
Yep, you knew it was coming because when the 2027 high school baseball season rolls around, the players and coaches will be dealing with the same thing that you see in an ever-growing number of playing levels.
The “extra” first base.
College baseball has it. Softball has it. Almost every level from T-ball on up has it. If you held out hope that high school baseball might break that trend, then you probably also thought they’d never switch from wood bats to aluminum. (And that was 50 years ago.)
But speaking of bats, that’s been the biggest point of discussion in the recent rule changes/suggestions implemented by the National Federation of High Schools (NFHS). Three ounces might not seem to be a lot to you, but that’s what everyone is talking about.
In the recent past, non-wood bats had to conform to a “Drop 3” rule, which means that the difference in the bat’s length (let’s say 33 inches) could only “drop” to a maximum of three ounces (30).
As bat technology began to take off, all sorts of different combinations were being used before a standardization – at least in college and high school – settled on Drop 3.
There didn’t seem to be much of an outcry to get that changed, but the NFHS did it anyway. Now, it can be up to a Drop 6, meaning a batter could have a 33/27 bat.
“I just I don’t know about it,” Todd said. “We are going to have to see what these new bats look like with these guidelines. There’s got to be some type of deadening mechanism or design to go along with these new dimensions because that’s very, very lightweight.”
The negatives are pretty obvious. Exit velocities will go up and with infielders – particularly pitchers – being so close, there’s a potential recipe for disaster. It seems strange that “double first base” is being implemented for safety reasons, but a pitcher’s reaction time will be lessened on a line drive right back at him.
Local coaches are taking a wait-and-see on how it plays out, but there are some positives. Forget about the senior who is busting out of his uniform and consider the 125-pound incoming freshman who is having to step up to a bigger field after playing U14 all summer.
“There are those kids who haven’t grown up yet and don’t have that strength,” Loyola coach Morgan Brian said. “It’ll make it easier for them to transition into high school baseball. But you worry about a pitcher going against a fully grown senior holding a 32/26 taking one off the face.”
“I wouldn’t say I’m for it because I don’t understand why they did it,” new Northwood coach Cole Downey said. “But I can see where it would make it easier for an eighth grader to make the adjustment. I know it’s not everyone’s goal to play college baseball, but if they are, they are going to have use a Drop 3 anyway.”
Fear not, says Louisiana Tech coach Lane Burroughs (who, by the way, has a son playing high school baseball). He says it won’t make much difference for college evaluators.
“At the end of the day when you are out evaluating and recruiting, you are looking at more than just the ability to hit,” he said “Will the power numbers and exit velocity go up? Yes, but you are looking at more than just to see if a guy can hit a ball hard. Defense, running and the intangibles. Honestly, I don’t think it will matter than much in evaluating talent.”
There’s no doubt that home run numbers in high school baseball – which are much lower than 20 years ago – will go up.
“We haven’t hit a home run in two years,” Airline’s Todd said. “So we will be excited to test them out.”
Contact JJ at johnjamesmarshall@yahoo.com