HARRISBURG -- Kevin Orzechowski has watched his son Alex play baseball almost year-round for the last seven years, but he hasn't been concerned about his son's safety until now.

	Pam Panchak, Post-Gazette Kevin Orzechowski with his son Alex, 12, from Franklin Park. Click photo for larger image.

Alex, a pitcher, is now 12 years old, an age when boys begin to grow in size and strength, and consequently, start hitting with power. As a pitcher, young Alex is probably at the most dangerous place on the field, just 46 feet from the plate -- a distance that gives him little time to a react when hard line drives came back at him.

"It really has become a concern as the players become bigger," said Mr. Orzechowski, who lives in Franklin Park. "The balls go farther, the balls are hit harder; they could really hurt someone."

So it isn't surprising that Mr. Orzechowski supports state House Bill 1482, which was introduced last week in an effort to make youth baseball safer. The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Mike Carroll, a Democrat from Luzerne County who's a Little League coach, would ban the use of metal bats in youth baseball and softball.

Mr. Carroll said his bill is about safety. Because metal bats allow players to hit the ball so hard, they put other players at risk, he maintained.

The idea came to him when he was coaching one of his son's Little League games and he started hoping the pitcher would walk the batters. Why? Mr. Carroll said he feared what would happen if the ball was hit sharply.

Although his legislation deals with what some people might consider a relatively minor issue, it has become part of a burgeoning nationwide debate. Pennsylvania is one of several states that's considering such a bill this year.

New York and New Jersey also have similar metal bat bans pending in their legislatures, and New York City enacted a ban on metal bats in high school games. That ban has led to a court challenge.

The legislation comes after a 12-year-old baseball player in New Jersey was nearly killed last year when a baseball that had been hit with a metal bat struck him in the chest.

But Little League Baseball International officials contend that no scientific evidence exists to prove that metal bats are more dangerous than wooden bats.

Stephen Keener, president and chief executive officer of Little League Baseball International, said his organization requires players to use metal bats that don't cause a ball to go any faster than the best wooden bats.

Little League measures how hard a bat can hit the ball, its bat performance factor, and mandates Little League players not use any metal bats with a higher BPF than 1.15.

The present rule was implemented by Little League officials in 1993, after 145 pitchers were hurt the year before, mostly by batted balls. At that time, Mr. Keener said, the type of metal bats that were being used were a problem.

But that change and another rule change that made the baseballs softer dropped the number of injuries to pitchers to just 21 over a seven-year period, 1997 to 2004, according to Mr. Keener.

Mr. Keener argued that emotional reactions, as well as anecdotal evidence that ignores the scientific data, are often the driving factors behind legislation that seeks to ban metal bats.

"Until there's provable data to support this, we're not going to make a decision based on emotion and anecdotal evidence, and we certainly don't want legislators mandating this," Keener said. "When I meet with them, they know very little about the issue; they just think it's a good idea."

Proponents of the ban on metal bats cite a 2002 study by the National Institute of Sports Science and Safety, known as the "Frozen Ropes study," that showed batted balls coming off metal bats on average went faster than balls hit by wooden bats.

But according to court documents, Dr. Richard Greenwald, one of the men who did the study, said his study is often misrepresented by those who cite it. The court documents are from a case in New York City challenging that city's rule against metal bats. Dr. Greenwald testified that there is no scientific evidence linking metal bats with an increased risk of injury.

Although his study did find that balls hit with metal bats, on average, came off the bat faster than those hit with wooden bats, he was not measuring the metal bats used in Little League International.

Mr. Keener and other Little League officials are fighting bills like the one proposed by Mr. Carroll because they think banning metal bats would mean players would get fewer hits and score fewer runs. he said Little League metal bats don't provide more force than wooden bats, but they are easier to swing, allowing hitters to make contact more easily.

"Our concern is if we reduce that aspect of the game by mandating the use of a product we don't think is necessary, we're going to see kids walk away from baseball because it's just not as fun," Mr. Keener said.

Mr. Carroll said he can understand why Little League officials would resist regulation, but he said he's glad the legislation has started a dialogue among players, parents and coaches about the safety of metal bats.

"Hopefully," he said, "we can head off a tragedy before it happens."

It's too soon to say when or if the Legislature will take up Mr. Carroll's bill, but it doesn't hurt that House Republican leader Sam Smith, R-Punxsutawney, has a major maker of wooden bats in his district, Brookville Wood Products Inc. Mr. Smith is a co-sponsor of the Carroll bill.