Before we get into this, full disclosure.... WebBall is heavily in favor of wood bats, will only sell wood (solid or composite) bats, and will not use metal - although we accept that it is still the common choice for most youth baseball.

Our concerns, and those of others, have been documented elsewhere on the site. But the purpose of this survey is to find out what you think, what you use, and what - if anything - you'd like changed.

More disclosure - we would not call the results a reliable sampling of the greater baseball universe, partly because we suspect somewhat of a bias withing our community, and partly because  there is often a chasm between what we'd like to do and what we accept willingly.

Still, the results are interesting because it included a lot of pre-varsity votes, and even though almost everyone agrees that metal might perform better, the voting was still in favor of wood: provided everybody has to use it. First, some graphed results, then select comments.

Who gave us opinions... What bat weight do you use... Which game bats do you use now... Which bat swings easier, or make the ball go farther... If you use wood, which type... What would you like your league to do... If your league still allowed metal, would you use wood...

This is a representative sampling of the opinions...

As the father of a pitcher and corner infielder, I would prefer wood for obvious safety reasons.

There are some High School leagues in Massachusetts that only use wood. Those teams' pitchers suffer in the playoffs against metal bats. I would like to see the end of metal bats. Leave them to Senior slow pitch softball leagues.

Wood bats make baseball special. It's ridiculous that a 90lb 5-footer can smack a ball 310-320 ft for homeruns. The wooden bats don't allow that, you have to have good fundamentals and a know-how when it comes to hitting.

There needs to be a ban on this stuff. We have kids showing up with 2 3/4 inch barrel metal bats exhibiting a terrible swing and they happen to get lucky and the ball hits their bat and takes off like a rocket. It's not reality for these kids. Metal has been around long enough to where a kid grew up with it: when they were a youth, used them in HS and college and now are in the MLB. I would love to hear from collegiate athletes who have made the transition.

Why put a player at a HUGE disadvantage by using a wood bat?  A lot of players benefit from swinging a 'light' bat as opposed to a wood bat that is heavy (as compared to metal) Also...the ball comes off much 'hotter' of the metal bat and travels a whole heck of a lot further. [Editor's note: that last point is made by both sides of the argument.]

Let's use metal but monitor it.  Use BESR. When LL changed the age limit they put bigger kids swinging more lethal bats at a ball going toward a young pitcher 46 ft away.  Somebody wasn't taking the well being of our kids to heart when they changed that rule.  In spite of a kids age he's likely going to want to play with kids in his own school grade anyway.  This comment may be more about age than bats but given the current scenario we better control the bat pop.