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Using pitching machines for batting practice sometimes get a bad rap because they are used to throw the ball down the middle of the plate or they cannot throw at game speed. While this may be true, it is not the pitching machines fault - it is just a tool. In this post I recommend ten benefits and tips to more effectively use a pitching machine during your batting practice.
Develop Hitting Mechanics To develop skilled batters, a coach needs to use the proper tool from his toolbox to develop his player's skill. Developing the proper fundamental hitting mechanics is best done with a tee drills or soft toss drills with a high number of swing repetitions regularly during practice to develop batter muscle memory. Once the hitting mechanics are solid then a coach can introduce the mental selective hitting approach and fine tuning with a pitching machine.
10 Benefits and Tips to Using a Pitching Machine
Develop hitting mechanics at game speed: Facing game speed pitching, many batters with good soft toss hitting mechanics will revert back to poor mechanics. This is particularly true when a fixing a flaw in their swing or a large increase in pitching velocity. At game speed, the batter does not have time to think through their swing mechanics. It is all reliant on muscle memory and confidence. By providing your players a chance to practice batting at game speed, they can develop game speed hitting mechanics and confidence.
Developing the batter's timing: Pitching machines are very useful in developing a batter's timing. Pitching machines can be set to consistently throw pitches around a specific velocity. If you expect the pitcher in the next game to throw 50mph then set the pitching machine to throw at 50mph +/- 5 mph. From my coaching experience, I have found that setting the machine at 10 to 20% above the expected pitching velocity to work the best. When players are batting in a game situation, especially their first at-bat, they are typically a little tense which slows down their reaction time. Adjusting the machine's pitching velocity in practice can compensate for the slight uneasiness batter have during their first plate appearance.
Practice hitting mechanics based on pitch location: Good pitchers will hit their locations, particularly the low outside and/or inside corners. Set the pitching machine to throw to the low outside corner for 20 pitches. After a couple of days of hitting pitches thrown low and outside, the batters will get pretty good hitting that pitch to the opposite field.
Practice hitting mechanics based on type of pitch: As pitchers mature from about 12 years through 18 years, they start to develop more than just a fastball and change-up and are able to throw them consistently for strikes in specific locations. Batters in this age need to learn how to hit the more advanced pitches. If you have a two-wheel pitching machine then have the pitching machine throw 20 pitches of a specific type of pitch. The next day, pick another type of pitch and work on that.
Practice focusing on the release point: The release point is where the location that the pitcher lets go of the ball. When a batter steps into the box they should be generally looking at the chest of the pitcher. As the pitcher's arm goes behind their back, the batter's eyes should move to intently focus on the location where the pitcher will release the ball. Pitching machines naturally train batters to do this because batter focuses on when the ball is leaving the machine. To simulate right handed pitchers, set the pitching machine on the right side of the rubber. For left handed pitchers, set the machine on the left side of the rubber.
Target reaction time, not pitching distance: The reaction time is the time from when the pitching machine releases the ball till when it crosses the plate. If the pitching machine cannot throw fast enough or a windy day is making the pitches inconsistent, move the pitching machine closer to the batter and adjust the speed. Batter timing is based on the reaction time from the pitcher's release till the ball crosses the plate. To calculate the desired pitch speed from the actual pitching machine speed, you can use this formula: desired speed = machine speed + machine speed * (mound distance - machine distance) / machine distance
React to the ball instead of the pitcher's motion: A good pitcher will hide the ball for most of the wind up and/or have a deceptive motion to throw the batter's timing off. With the batter watching the the pitching machine release point, you are training the hitters to block out the pitcher's motion, focus on the release point, and react to the pitched ball.
More quality pitches per minute: A good coach can pitch about 50% strikes from distance at game speed for a handful of batters or about 80% strikes at a slower speed from a shorter distance to a dozen batters. A pitching machine should throw over 95% strikes at game speed to all batters. The more strikes thrown during batting practice, the more swings a batter can get in a shorter period of time. If the machine is not throwing 95% strikes then you might need to replace the wheels or move the machine closer to the plate.
Make the pitch change location: Well used dimple pitching machine balls grip the pitching machine's wheel differently than brand new dimple balls that can change the pitch location by as much as six inches to one foot. Mixing balls makes the pitch location less predictable that requires batters to adjust to the pitch location and timing.
Supplement with live batting practice: A great way to keep your pitcher's fresh during a long break between games or just to change up practice a little is to have your pitchers throw live batting practice. It keeps both the pitchers and batters fresh. A coach just needs to plan to use multiple pitchers and allocate more time for batting practice because the number of good and bad pitches thrown.
Pitching machines are very good at throwing a fastball down the middle, but they can also be use to practice hitting specific types of pitches or pitch location. They teach the batters to react to the ball and focus on the release point plus a whole lot more.
Tryout some of these tips in your next practice and leave me a comment. Alternatively, if you believe I missed a way to use a pitching machine to improve batting practice, drop me a note below.
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Your core is the part of your body that connects your legs and feet to your arms and hands. In proper hitting mechanics, the bat speed generation phase occurs when you body moves from the loaded position through the swing and bat-ball contact. This requires that the power from the initial forward movement started by legs to transfer through the core and hip rotation to the hands on the bat. Not only does the batter want an efficient power transfer through the core, but also wants the core to add additional power to increase the bat swing speed. So, what type of core training is needed to increase your bat speed?
Traditional Core Training If you Google core training or core exercises, you will find lots of information pertaining to "Six Pac Abs" and developing a "ripped abdominal." The problem is that washboard stomach muscles will not increase your bat speed. These programs develop muscle bulk, not rotational power. Their exercises and training work on building the slow twitch muscle endurance through maximum weight lifting. A baseball swing is a short duration forceful muscle contraction that utilizes the fast twitch muscle groups. Getting ripped is great for the beach, but it is not going to help increase your bat velocity through the strike zone.
Sport Specific Core Training To develop an explosive powerful swing, an athlete needs to train using quick and powerful rotational exercises. In the post, Increasing Your Bat Speed, I provided one example of overload and underload sport specific resistance training.
Another example is the rotational medicine ball throw. To do this, you will need a 3kg to 5kg[1] medicine ball and a concrete wall. An athlete should line up with their shoulder line pointing to the wall, just like a batter facing a pitcher. Start as a right handed batter with the medicine ball on their right hip about 5 to 7 feet from the wall. The athlete quickly and powerfully rotates their core and throws the medicine ball against the wall and catches the ball when it returns. Reloads and quickly rotates and throws the ball again. They should do the rotate, throw, and catch 10 times. Take a short one minute break. Turn around to be a left handed batter, placing the ball on their left hip, rotate and throw 10 times. Take a short one minute break. Turn to be a right handed batter for 10 throws. Take another short one minute break and become a left handed batter for 10 throws.
It is important to do this exercise from both the right and left side to keep your muscle development in balance. When one side of your body is developed more than the other, it can lead to injuries and loss of your range of motion.
Additional Recommended Resources Below are two very good resources and free newsletters that I have found and subscribe to for player development, additional training exercises, and sport specific drills.
Baseball
Softball
Trainer
Dan Huff Dan is a NSCA certified strength and conditioning specialist, the author of three baseball specific strength and conditioning manuals, and is currently the strength and conditioning coach for NCAA Division 1 athletic department.
Marc Dagenais Marc is a certified coach, has coached at the university level, and worked with the Canadian Women's Softball National Team. He currently an elite amateur softball coach and provides training to amateur and professional athletes.
Free Newsletter
Dan's free newsletter provides easy to implement, sometimes challenging to do, baseball specific exercises.
Marc's free newsletter provides core training exercises and softball drills and tip.
Summary Developing your core strength increases your bat speed by developing explosive rotational power and increases the efficiency of the transfer of force from the initial forward movement in your legs, through the abdominal section, and into the hands. The medicine ball drill, done three to four times per week for a couple of weeks, will provide noticeably more "pop" in your swing within a month.
Try this drill out for a couple of weeks and leave a comment below letting me know how your new found bat speed in working for you in your game.
[1] The proper medicine ball weight needs to be evaluated based on the athlete's current age and core strength. A key requirement is that the athlete is able to quickly and explosively rotate while maintaining proper rotation mechanics when throwing the medicine ball against the ball. As a general guideline, athlete's under the age of 14 years should use a 3kg to 4kg ball, athlete between 14 to 18 years use a 4kg to 5kg ball, and college athlete's can use 5kg and above. If in doubt about which weight to use, choose the lighter weight to enable the explosive rotation. Too heavy of a weight will slow the rotation down and develop slower core muscle memory.
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What is the performance of a baseball bat or softball bat and how is it measured? Bat performance standards are set and regulated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), Little League, USSSA, and Amateur Softball Association (ASA) in the United States and many countries around the world. Bat performance measurements for non-wooden bats are used to bring the game back into balance between offense and defense and to maintain the sport's safety due to high batted-ball speed as new metal bat technology evolves. The study of bat performance gets interesting when you realize that their is not a common test or testing methodology between all these organizations, such that batted-ball speed (BBS), bat performance factor (BPF), batexit speed ratio (BESR), and bat-ball coefficient-of-restitution (BBCOR) are different measurements trying to accomplish the same goal.
NCAA and NFHS Bat Performance Measurements In 1999, the NCAA developed a bat performance regulation based on the BESR of the reference 34" long wood bat with an assumed pitched ball speed of 70 mph and a bat swing speed of 66 mph. It was quickly realized that BESR, which measures bat-bat collision efficiency, also needed the accompany bat swing speed measurement, called the moment-of-inertia (or MOI), to estimate the ball speed coming off a bat. The targeted maximum batted-ball speed using the reference bat is 97 mph. Please note that this is not the maximum batted-ball speed possible, but a target, since both wood and aluminum bats can produce higher speeds if the pitcher is throwing faster or the swing is faster than the reference measurement. This target is set as a reference point so that wood and aluminum bats will produce the same ball speed under the same conditions within a few mph. A fact that has be validated in several field studies.
In 2000, the NCAA and NFHS decided to establish the maximum collision efficiency (BESR), maximum barrel size, and bat drop[1] (for the same batter, a heavier bat has a slower swing speed) to keep the estimated batted-ball speed of an aluminum bat around the same speed of the reference wood bat. To be NCAA and NFHS certified, the bat must have a BESR of 0.728 or less, maximum barrel diameter of 2 5/8" and cannot have a drop greater than -3.
In the fall of 2008, the NCAA announced that they will change their bat performance measurement to use BBCOR, which is the ratio of bat-ball speed before and after the collision and measures the elasticity of the bat-ball collision. The date for mandatory BBCOR certification for bats is the 2011 season and there will be no grandfather clause for bats certified under BESR. This change will not affect the current testing methodology but will eliminate the small discrepancy between bat lengths and more directly align the measurement of bat performance with the ball's exit speed. In order to achieve certification, the BBCOR will need to be 0.50 or less with a maximum length-to-weight difference (drop) of -3 and a bat diameter less than 2 5/8 inches.
Note: I have not seen it yet, but I would expect the NFHS to follow this mandate for high school baseball.
ASA Bat Performance Measurements Also in 2000, the ASA established a bat performance regulation by directly measuring the batted-ball speed (BBS) of a slow pitch metal bat called the "ball-in, ball-out" measurement. The ASA reference measurement is based on a ball being pitched at 10 mph and a bat swing speed of 60 mph hitting the bat at the maximum batted-ball speed performance point, called center-of-percussion (COP). From this, the ASA determined that the maximum ball speed of a hit ball should be 85 mph or lower for the bat to become certified.
In 2004, after a field study conducted at the National Tournament in Montgomery, AL, the ASA adjusted their reference metric to more closely resemble the pitched ball and bat swinging speed of the game. While maintaining their current measurement method, the ball pitched speed was increased to 25 mph and the bat swinging speed was increased to 85 mph. Additionally, the field study showed that the maximum batted-ball speed performance point (formerly labeled COP) actually varied from bat model to bat model and bat maker to bat maker. This required that the bat being certified initially undergo testing to determine the maximum performance location first and then the pitched ball is to be targeted at that location. Based on these updated assumptions, the ASA determine that for a bat to be certified the maximum batted-ball speed should be 98 mph or less. Even though the numerical value of BBS with the 2004 standard is higher than the 2000 standard, it is actually a much stricter standard.
In 2008, the ASA updated their testing procedure to account for the fact that composite bats reach their peak performance after they are broken in by hundreds of bat-ball collisions and the composite fibers and resins loosen up to provide a larger trampoline effect. Starting with the 2009 composite bat models, the ASA will simulate up to 1000 swings before a composite bat will be tested against the ASA 2004 certification tests. Composite bat models certified under the old testing procedure will be grandfathered and can be used until they are no longer safe for use. This testing procedure change will not affect 2009 metal bats since their performance decreases with use.
USSSA and Little League Bat Performance Measurements During the early 1990s, Little League reached an agreement with bat manufactures to limit the performance on non-wood bats to the expected performance level of the best wood bats at that time. They created a metric called the bat performance factor (BPF) which must be less than 1.15 in order for a bat to be certified for Little League play. The BPF metric is equal to the ratio of the "bounciness" of a baseball off a bat (called bat-ball coefficient of restitution or BBCOR) to a baseball off a hard wall (called bat-wall coefficient of restitution or BWCOR). The BPF metric does not include any assumptions pertaining to bat speed so it is more effective at testing shorter youth bats since the effective bat speed can vary by bat length and the location of the bats center of mass (ie., end loaded or handle loaded). The USSSA uses the same bat performance metric but allows for a slightly higher BPF = 1.20 or less.
For the 2009 season, Little League has made two changes: 1) all bat must have a BPF label printed on them, and 2) all "big barrel" used in junior league (age 13 years and older) can have a maximum barrel diameter of 2 3/4". Most bat manufactures have been complying with these rules for years so little change is expected.
Summary Over the past 10 years, the governing bodies of baseball and softball have been regulating the performance of non-wood bats (usually made of aluminum) to perform statistically the same, in terms of how fast the ball exits the bat, as the best wood bats. The organizations have chosen the best wood bats to encourage and allow the use of wood bats within their organization's teams. Although their testing methodology and batted-ball performance metric may differ, they all include some type of measurement of how "springy" a bat-ball collision is based on a preset bat-ball speed collision. Their two-fold object is to maintain the defense and offense balance and the safety of the game players.
Here is a recap of the current testing methodology.
Regulate Batted-Ball Speed Directly: ASA is based on slow-pitch reference point of a pitch traveling at 25 mph and the bat swing speed of 85 mph after determining the maximum performance location on the bat barrel. For a ball to be certified, the BBS must be 98 mph or less. Due to the testing methodology of measuring the "ball-in, ball-out" speed with a stationary bat, the "whip action" from the flexible bat handle bats, the testing of shorter youth style bats, and the higher pitching velocity normal in the fastpitch variant of softball can produce results that are either higher or lower by a few mph.
Regulate Batted-Ball Speed Indirectly: NCAA and NFHS BESR, maximum barrel size of 2 5/8" and drop standard of minus 3 limit the collision efficiency and bat swing speed. They will certify a -3 bat that has a BESR equal to or less than 0.728. For the 2011 season, the BESR certification will no longer be allowed and the new BBCOR certification will be required.
Regulate the Collision Efficiency Indirectly: USSSA softball and Little League regulate the BPF, which is a metric of the efficiency that a bat can make the ball bounce versus a ball bouncing off a wall. Due to the testing methodology of "ball-in, bat-out" with a stationary bat used by Little League, the measured results have greater variability than the "ball-in, ball-out" testing methodology used by ASA. This is due to the low bat elasticity and the ball-bat collision producing up and down vibrations that dissipate energy.
Over the past ten years, organizations have changed their bat performance metric and assumed bat-ball collision speeds to more realistically represent game situations. It can be anticipated that during the next ten years more changes will occur as organization continue to work to maintain the offense-defense balance and the safety of the game.
[1] Bat drop is the difference between the bat length and the bat weight. For example, a bat with a minus 3 drop (-3) could be 33" long and weigh 31 oz.
Resources:
Professor Alan M. Nathan - Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - Physics of Baseball
Baseball Research Center- the bat and ball testing facility at University of Massachusetts/Lowell that certifies NCAA baseball bats for the NCAA
Sports Sciences Laboratory - the bat and ball testing facility at Washington State University that certifies softball bats for the Amateur Softball Association (ASA)
ASTM International - organization that standardizes bat performance testing
Considering purchasing a new bat for the 2009 season? The 2008 off-season brought about many new bat rules, but surprisingly, Little League and USSSA did not adjust their bat performance factor (BPF) requirement down to 1.0. Here is a summary of the changes:
Little League:
All bats certified for LL must have a label stating BPF = 1.15 or less. This is only a bat labeling change. The testing procedure and certification level remain unchanged. In fact, many bat manufactures have been putting this label on the bat for a few years.
Junior League bats maximum diameter is now 2 5/8" (instead of 2 3/4"). This rule change aligns Jr. League with all the other non-wooden bat rules. Wood bat still are allowed to have 2 3/4" inch diameters.
ASA:
ASA (Amateur Softball Association) changed their testing procedures so that composite bats are broken in to an equivalent of 1000 bat-ball collisions before certification testing. Bats certified under the 2008 and prior certification process can be used until they are considered no longer safe for use. Metal bat certification remains unchanged.
NCAA (and probably NFHS):
NCAA announced that starting in the 2011 season, all bats must have a BBCOR (bat-ball coefficient-of-restitution) = 0.5 or less. No exceptions. This is an interesting change since the current bat speed exit ratio's (BESR) consists of two major influencing components: BBCOR and MOI (moment of inertia). BBCOR measures the "springiness" of the bat and MOI is how fast you can swing the bat and is dependent on the bat weight and the location of the bat's center of mass. This change removes the player's strength assumption from the equation.
NFHS (National Federation of State High School Associations) has followed the NCAA in the past for bat certification. I have not seen an announcement saying they will change to BBCOR certification, but I think it is a pretty good bet they will.
Question of the Day: Does Little League's bat performance factor (BPF) = 1.15 mean that metal or composite bats can have a higher batted-ball speed (i.e., "hotter") than wood bats?
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Softball players want to develop their throwing arm strength need to consider using weighted softballs as a training aid. Underloading and overloading training techniques have been shown in several scientific studies to increase your throwing velocity by 4 to 6 mph when used consistently during a 10 week training period. Weighted balls, when used correctly, can develop a player's arm without incurring either short term or long term damage and, in fact, it has worked better than the traditional "long toss" method previously used. Here is how I worked this technique into softball practices.
Overload and Underload Explosiveness Training Overload and underload training, also called explosive resistance game training, is to develop maximal strength and then convert those gains into explosive power and increased game speed. This is accomplished through using sport specific movements with the muscles under heavier and/or lighter loads. Previous examples of explosiveness training are provided in Increasing Your Bat Speed and Throwing Weighted Baseball to Increase Throwing Velocity.
Whether it is weight training or strength and conditioning, a player's strength and endurance cannot be increased unless the muscles are stressed beyond their normal workload. A player can increase the workload by increasing the frequency, duration, and intensity of the exercise program.
Specifically for softball, the heavy ball and light ball develop throwing velocity in two different ways. The overweight ball develops arm strength while the underweight ball develops arm speed. To effectively and safely increase throwing velocity, intensity is increase by using +/- 20% regulation ball weight, duration is increased gradually by increasing the number of throws and the distance, and the frequency is increased by the number of days of throwing workouts.
Is Using Underweight and Overweight Softballs Safe In the last few years, several baseball studies have concluded that not only is throwing underweight and overweight balls safe, but that when used correctly they do actually increase a players throwing velocity. One example study published in the April 2000 issue of American Journal of Sports Medicine[1] had this to say:
The purpose of this review is to determine how throwing overweight and underweight baseballs affects baseball throwing velocity and accuracy. Two studies examined how a warm-up with overweight baseballs affected throwing velocity and accuracy of 5oz regulation baseballs. ... Data from these training studies strongly support the practice of training with overweight and underweight baseballs to increase throwing velocity of regulation baseballs. Since no injuries were reported throughout the training studies, throwing overweight and underweight baseballs may not be more stressful to the throwing arm compared to throwing regulation baseballs.
This study and others below lead me to develop a warm-up routine that used both underweight and overweight softballs as part of the team's regular warm-up. The recommended ideal weight for explosiveness conditioning and performance enhancement is to use underload and overload softballs that are +/- 20% the weight of a regulation softball. Regulation softball weights 6.8 oz. This restricts the weighted softball's from 5 oz to 8 oz, which being conservative when dealing with a player's health is well within most parents and coaches comfort level.
Warm-Up Softball Drill After the players have initially warmed up their throwing arms at the beginning of practice, they move into the weighted ball drill. The players line up on the third baseline with their partners in the base path between first and second (60 feet apart) and do the following with good throwing mechanics and a crow hop, if necessary.
Ten throws with the heavy softball (8oz) at 75% of maximum effort
Ten throws with the light softball (5oz) at 100% maximum effort
Ten throws with a regulation softball (6.8oz)
Repeat steps 1 to 3 three more times (total of 4 repetitions)
After completing the 4 repetitions, take a quick break or a light jog to give the players a moment to refresh their throwing arm.
After a three practices, instead of increasing the ball weight, the team would increase the number of throws per ball from 10 to 20 to 30. After the team reaches 30 throws, then we would increase the distance the players throw from 60 feet to 75 feet and then to about 90 feet (a little more than the distance from home to second). With each increase in distance, we would restart back at 10 throws per stage. If you practice two or three times per week, the players throwing velocity will be noticeable faster after one month (or about 10 practices). At these distances, players can maintain good throwing mechanics and still receive the velocity benefits.
For off-season training, the intensity of this drill can be increased since the players will not also be throwing during regular infield and outfield practice. For off-season training the number of throws can be increased in increments of 10 up to 50 heavy ball, regulation ball, and light ball throws.
Summary Underweight and overweight baseballs are typically not sold at the standard retail sporting outlets but can be purchased at several online stores like WeightedBalls.com. My experience with WeightedBalls.com has always been positive: getting the order correct and delivered in a timely fashion.
By using underweight and overweight softballs in the manner this post described, the players are able to increase there throwing velocity. Safety is a key concern of any parent and coach. By keeping the variation of the ball weight within +/- 20% of a regulation softball and gradually building up frequency and duration, athletes can be closely monitor for proper throwing form and development.
Sources: [1] Effects of Throwing Overweight and Underweight Baseballs on Throwing Velocity and Accuracy, American Journal of Sports Medicine, Volume 29, Number 4, April 2000 , pp. 259-272(14) by Escamilla, Fleisig, Barrentine, Andrews, Speer
[2] Effects of Under- and Overweighted Implement Training on Pitching Velocity, The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research: Vol. 8, No. 4, November 1994, pp. 247?250 by DeRenne, Hetzler, Ho
[3] Effects of General, Special, and Specific Resistance Training on Throwing Velocity in Baseball, The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research: Vol. 15, No. 1, 2001, pp. 148?156 by DeRenne, Ho, Murphy
[4] Power Baseball by Dr. Coop DeRenne and Dr. Tom House, 1993
10.00 out of 10 (1 Votes)
Traditional Core Training
NCAA and NFHS Bat Performance Measurements
In 2000, the NCAA and NFHS decided to establish the maximum collision efficiency (BESR), maximum barrel size, and bat drop[1] (for the same batter, a heavier bat has a slower swing speed) to keep the estimated batted-ball speed of an aluminum bat around the same speed of the reference wood bat. To be NCAA and NFHS certified, the bat must have a BESR of 0.728 or less, maximum barrel diameter of 2 5/8" and cannot have a drop greater than -3.
Also in 2000, the ASA established a bat performance regulation by directly measuring the batted-ball speed (BBS) of a slow pitch metal bat called the "ball-in, ball-out" measurement. The ASA reference measurement is based on a ball being pitched at 10 mph and a bat swing speed of 60 mph hitting the bat at the maximum batted-ball speed performance point, called center-of-percussion (COP). From this, the ASA determined that the maximum ball speed of a hit ball should be 85 mph or lower for the bat to become certified. 
from bat model to bat model and bat maker to bat maker. This required that the bat being certified initially undergo testing to determine the maximum performance location first and then the pitched ball is to be targeted at that location. Based on these updated assumptions, the ASA determine that for a bat to be certified the maximum batted-ball speed should be 98 mph or less. Even though the numerical value of BBS with the 2004 standard is higher than the 2000 standard, it is actually a much stricter standard.
During the early 1990s, Little League reached an agreement with bat manufactures to limit the performance on non-wood bats to the expected performance level of the best wood bats at that time. They created a metric called the bat performance factor (BPF) which must be less than 1.15 in order for a bat to be certified for Little League play. The BPF metric is equal to the ratio of the "bounciness" of a baseball off a bat (called bat-ball coefficient of restitution or BBCOR) to a baseball off a hard wall (called bat-wall coefficient of restitution or BWCOR). The BPF metric does not include any assumptions pertaining to bat speed so it is more effective at testing shorter youth bats since the effective bat speed can vary by bat length and the location of the bats center of mass (ie., end loaded or handle loaded). The USSSA uses the same bat performance metric but allows for a slightly higher BPF = 1.20 or less.