This came out today at my home park
Use to be ASA and switching to GSL. Thoughts?
As for legal bats, we have gone to the GSL rule (“BPF 1.20”,) but will also be allowing any bat that was legal last year (ASA approved bats and/or bats that have passed our compression test in the past.) This is not a change from the 2017 General Rules that I sent out a week or so ago, but I did want to add a clarification. After doing a bit of research, we have found that the difference between GSL and ASA approved bats is primarily in the method that each organization uses to measure performance – GSL uses a Bat Performance Factor (which measures the strength of rebound on a ball after being struck – max of 1.20,) while ASA measures the Batted Ball Speed (after being struck by the bat – max of 85 mph.) According to the information we found, when comparing the two measurement systems, both have the same maximum “hotness” since a BPF of 1.20 yields, for a standard bat, a maximum initial BBS of 85 mph. To sum it up, the new GSL rule, if enforced, would not result in “hotter” bats allowed in our leagues. Regardless, we will be allowing both GSL-allowed and ASA-allowed bats this year, so it should not be an issue for 2017 at least.