The NCAA Baseball Rules require all non-wood bats used during competition be reviewed by baseball bat testing conducted prior to each regular season series or single date of competition. This new test led to the banning of composite bats and the 2010 rule that all college bats had to be made of alloy materials. According to a University of Missouri study, alloy and wooden bats lose more energy on contact compared with composite bats, which retain more energy and have dangerously high BBCOR ratings. Prior bat regulations simply measured the exit speed or speed of the batted ball. The Bat-Ball Coefficient of Restitution, or BBCOR, is a new method the NCAA uses to judge the force of bats on a baseballs.
According to Dick's, graphite and titanium were popular composite choices, which made bats lighter and stronger and increased player's bat speed. Players learned to roll composite bats, which made them hit balls harder and farther due to an increased trampoline effect inside the barrels. After the 2009 season, the NCAA banned the use of composite bats due to unsafe batted-ball exit speeds.
Composite bats were the popular choice and most widely used bat until 2009.
