When I played LL in the 80s every player brought their own bat
to the ballpark because the rec. department only supplied the coaches with 3-4 bats. There were a couple that opted to use a wooden bat instead of an aluminum bat. So I would not think much has changed in the last 30 years or so.
I don't disagree that HS and college opted to use aluminum bats to keep cost down. However, given the push in college for player safety (specifically head injuries), college may be forced to eliminate the aluminum bat some day. Players have gotten bigger, stronger, or faster over the years which is increasing the risk of pitchers being injured from a line drive.
I believe a recent study on head injuries, the one that brought a lot of attention to football, mentioned baseball as one of the sports that saw larger percentage increase in head injuries even though football was receiving most of the attention. I found this study done in 2008 that focused in on head injuries in HS baseball. If baseball decides against increasing the amount of protection pitchers wear, then HS and college may be forced to look at alternative solutions to increase the amount of protection given to pitchers. Eliminating the usage of aluminum bats may be 1 of those options.
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In response to this post by Atlee Hokie)
Link: HS Baseball Study
Posted: 03/07/2017 at 10:47AM