This is a big day in college baseball: junior colleges begin their seasons today with games, while Division I teams begin practices and scrimmages today.
This should be an interesting college season, as the NCAA is instituting a few rule changes that should be quite apparent to fans. The first covers bat speed and bat composition: bats must now conform to Batted Ball Coefficient of Resolution (BBCOR), which basically means metal bats must act more like wooden bats than in the past. That should bring down the number of hits and home runs per game, and it will also be a great boon to pitchers as well. As a bonus, college coaches will actually have to coach: without scrawny second basemen being able to bang out doubles because of a Gorilla Bat, coaches will play smallball more.
The other big change: the installation of a 20-second pitch clock. If a pitcher fails to deliver before the clock goes off, he will first be issued a warning and then assessed a called ball. If a batter fails to settle in the batters box, he will first be issued a warning and then assessed a strike.
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