The controversy over metal bats has simmered since they were introduced in 1977.
However, there are relatively few scientific studies comparing the performance of the bats, and the speed balls hit by them take.
In light of the lawsuit involving the New Jersey boy, the NJ Chapter of the American College of Cardiology issed a statement:
"We firmly believe that every youth bat used within our state should be built to reduce the speed of baseballs, either through technology or by construction, i.e. wood bats. The metal bats with this technology are readily available and designed to replicate the performance of a wood bat. With a media frenzy surrounding the issue and an alphabet soup of technologies that reduce the speed of ball, we want to make our position clear: limit the velocity of the ball. By enforcing a low ball exit speed, we believe players using the enhanced bats have a lower risk of commotio cordis, a potentially life-threatening condition in which blunt trauma to the chest results in a fatal cardiac arrhythmia (if untreated) and thus a loss of blood flow to the brain and other organs."
