If chicks dig the long ball, they may need to stop watching college baseball.
The NCAA issued a new standard for aluminum bats this season, which make their power more comparable to wooden bats.
LSU coach Paul Mainieri said it “is definitely going to impact the game,” and it may limit the number of home runs throughout college baseball.
But for the 2011 LSU baseball team, it shouldn’t spell disaster.
Many of the Tigers’ true power hitters were drafted in the offseason, including former first baseman Blake Dean, who is No. 4 in team history with 56 career home runs.
LSU also lost designated hitter Matt Gaudet, who dropped 19 bombs last season, and catcher Micah Gibbs, who added 10 home runs in 2010.
Sophomore outfielder Mason Katz said the new-look roster is filled with more contact and line drive hitters who don’t need the power of the old bats.
“We’ve got a lot of sound hitters, doubles, gap-to-gap hitters, which definitely helps us,” Katz said. “We’re not going to hit 100 home runs like the old Skip [Bertman] teams did.”
Of the returning players, only junior outfielder Mikie Mahtook hit more than 10 home runs last season (14). No other returning player hit more than five.
“We’re not going to change our approach,” said junior shortstop Austin Nola. “This team right here was never a very powerful team, and I think we’ll still do well with the line drives.”
Mainieri said he’s not concerned about the power struggles that may ensue from the new bats. He said he is more concerned the ball won’t travel through the infield as fast.
“I’m not a big fan of these new bats quite frankly,” he said. “I didn’t think there was a need for that dramatic of a change.”
What Mainieri said will happen is a change on the base paths. He said the Tigers are especially quick this season and he plans to take advantage of the speed.
Base stealing was not a forte of the 2010 LSU baseball team. LSU stole only 75 bases in 2010 after snagging 114 in 2009, thanks in large part to former Tigers Jared Mitchell and Ryan Schimpf.
Mainieri said he expects junior outfielder Trey Watkins and Mahtook, who stole 22 bases last season, to be excellent on the basepaths, while many of the rest of his starters have “underrated speed.”
“Probably the only guy that’s not capable of ever stealing a base is [freshman] Tyler Ross, our catcher,” he said. “He runs like a catcher.”
Mainieri said he will also incorporate more hit and runs and bunts than any LSU team “in the last decade and a half or two decades.”
“Coach [Javi] Sanchez is going to be maybe the most valuable person on the team this year as the third base coach, because he’s got to make those decisions on when he should try to gamble and take an extra base,” he said.
Nola said pitchers may be more tempted to throw pitches inside because they think hitters will have less of an opportunity to turn on it and send it out of the park.
But senior pitcher Ben Alsup said that’s not the case.
“I like to throw inside either way,” Alsup said. “It really doesn’t change that much to a pitcher. With these bats, if you hit it in the right spot, it’s going to go.”
 
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Contact Rowan Kavner at [email protected]