Let’s make a simple point: the catcher is wearing protective equipment behind the plate to protect himself mostly from foul balls.

The batter is wearing a helmet, at a minimum, to protect himself from errant pitches when he is unable to duck out of the way in time. The pitcher who stands the same distance away as the batter is unprotected from a ball that travels faster off the bat than it arrives at home plate -- which means the pitcher has less time to perceive and react to a ball than a batter would.

We all know that metal bats perform better than wood bats. period. If they did not, we would not be seeing $200-$400 price tags for a non-engineered device. Thinner handles, larger sweet spots, and lighter bats spell doom for the undersized pitcher who throws a good pitch to an oversized hitter of the same age who happens to hit it right on the nines.

Children of a certain age do not possess the brain power that adults do to perceive and react quickly enough to get out of the way in time. These injuries do not happen with wood bats because they cannot. Wood does not perform at the same level as composites and metal. No one understands the engineering that goes into a metal bat until a parent tells you that, as quickly as the ball was hit, their son, the pitcher, hit the ground. It happens that quickly. Metal bats are engineered to hit the ball faster and farther, and Little League has fallen in love with them to the extent that in most leagues, wood bats are banned!

Imagine the thought that an 11-year-old could shatter a wood bat to the extent that pieces are flying all over the field, as you would see in the major leagues. never happened. Never seen it happen. Restrictions and/or a ban on metal bats need to be placed to protect the player/pitcher, just as we have protective devices in place for football and hockey, where players are at risk of injury from being struck by a small, hard object or by bigger, stronger players.

At one time, cigarettes and steroids were also deemed safe. Now look and see what we have learned. How many more injuries and deaths do we need to our kids before we put a stop to something that can be easily prevented? This is not an assumption of the risk. Assumption of risk is when you strain your thumb sliding into second base or twist your ankle hitting the bag at first. This is a known preventable danger to our kids. Stop it before it kills again.