고교야구에서의 나무배트 사용의 문제점에 따른 대안 도출

Issues related to the current baseball bat regulation at the high school level and its affect on Korean baseball games

2004년 대한야구협회는 고교야구에서의 알루미늄 배트 사용을 전면적으로 금지시켰고, 이후 고교야구에서는 장 타부재, 지나친 투고타저 등 부작용이 발생했다. 이에 본 연구에서는 전문가들을 통해 고교야구에 나무배트 사용 의 문제점들을 파악한 후 이를 프로야구기록 및 고교야구기록으로 하여금 문제점을 도출 후 대안을 제시하고자 했다. 연구결과 전문가들은 고교야구에서의 나무배트 사용으로 다운스윙으로 일관된 스몰볼이 만연됨에 따라 기 본기가 낮은 고교야구의 특성 상 질적 하락을 지적했고, 투수들 역시 장타에 대한 부담감이 적어 기량이 정체될 수 있다고 했다. 고교야구에서 나무배트만을 사용한 2007시즌부터의 고졸신인 및 2011시즌부터 대졸신인들의 경우 나성범과 김재환 만이 홈런 10위 안에 랭크되었고, 고교야구에서도 홈런을 비롯한 타격지표가 현저히 하락된 것을 확인할 수 있었다. 이에 대한야구협회는 고교야구에서의 알루미늄배트로의 회귀 및 반발계수 수치를 줄인 알루미늄 배트 및 압축배트의 사용을 고려할 필요성이 있다.

The Korea Baseball Association completely prohibited the high school players from using the aluminum baseball bats since 2004. As a result, the number of powerful hits drastically has decreased and the baseball games have since been dominated by the pitchers at the high school level. This study attempted to identify the problems of high school players using the wood bats based on the opinions of experts and the secondary data from professional and high school baseball games in order to suggest potential solutions. The experts pointed out that the use of wood baseball bats is hindering the skill development of interscholastic baseball players because the current baseball bat regulation rather promotes downswing and small-ball plays of baseball hitters, even though high school is a critical time to develop swing and hitting skills. They also pointed out that the development of pitching skills had also been hindered by the current bat policy because the pitchers are less concerned about the long-hits. The results based on the secondary data analysis revealed that, among the young baseball players who used only the wood bats since they were high school players and started their professional career in 2007 (those who were drafted after high school) or 2011 (whose who were drafted after the college), only 2 player, Sung-bum Na and Jae-hwan Kim, were ranked within top 10 home-run hitters. Also, the batting records, including the number of home-runs, of high school baseball were noticeably dropped. Thus, Korea Baseball Association need to consider changing baseball bat regulations by reinstating aluminum bats or even allowing aluminum bats which is reduced restitution coefficient or corked bats for the high school baseball.