- Nov 26, 2023
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The use of slap hitters has dissipated in recent years what has attributed to the change?
Sorry - did I miss another post somewhere that mentioned Rylie Boone?When referring to Riley Boone I was referring to what you refer to as a triple-threat slapper. Hence by inquiring was regarding the disappearance of the traditional slapper. And what I too see is the transition to your label triple-threat slapper
The use of slap hitters has dissipated in recent years what has attributed to the change?
Good read!It's been covered on here before but as a biased parent of a slapper I will go on the rant. The NCAA changing the slapper rule was one of the worst examples of a solution looking for a problem. There was already the beginnings of a power explosion in the sport, can't imagine why the powers that be felt a need to curtail the speed game. Instead they made a completely illogical rule targeting part of the game that wasn't an issue.
Why do I say illogical? Well in softball (and baseball) the line is in. We all know the foul pole is really the fair pole, strikes only have to touch the outside edge of the strike zone, and my favorite pitchers only have to have some part of their foot on the lane line. The NCAA decided the one place in the sport where this shouldn't hold true is for slappers who can not have any part of their foot over the line even 1 cm.
So this off-season after much complaining over this being called during the WCWS what rule changes come down the pike, a liberalization of pitching rules of course.
Edit to add:
All.that said I think the OP's observation is most likely based on the softball they watch on TV where the P5 schools can recruit HR hitters up and down the lineup. At the mid major D1 level where DD plays we still see most teams employing a slapper in the lineup and one team we faced uses 3
Its the coaches that vote on the rules in NCAA, so the coaches are ultimately the ones to blame for the rules changes. 15 years ago NCAA and the other rulesets all used to be pretty similar with only a few minor differences. Now, NCAA has made so many rule changes about the only things that do compare between all the rule sets are the number of strikes/balls per batter and outs per inning.It's been covered on here before but as a biased parent of a slapper I will go on the rant. The NCAA changing the slapper rule was one of the worst examples of a solution looking for a problem. There was already the beginnings of a power explosion in the sport, can't imagine why the powers that be felt a need to curtail the speed game. Instead they made a completely illogical rule targeting part of the game that wasn't an issue.
Why do I say illogical? Well in softball (and baseball) the line is in. We all know the foul pole is really the fair pole, strikes only have to touch the outside edge of the strike zone, and my favorite pitchers only have to have some part of their foot on the lane line. The NCAA decided the one place in the sport where this shouldn't hold true is for slappers who can not have any part of their foot over the line even 1 cm.
So this off-season after much complaining over this being called during the WCWS what rule changes come down the pike, a liberalization of pitching rules of course.
Edit to add:
All.that said I think the OP's observation is most likely based on the softball they watch on TV where the P5 schools can recruit HR hitters up and down the lineup. At the mid major D1 level where DD plays we still see most teams employing a slapper in the lineup and one team we faced uses 3