Technology plays a role in sports, no doubt. The materials they use and construction techniques have come a long way since the first aluminum bat was developed. If we only talk about the sweet spot when comparing these bats, these technologies allow hitters to hit the ball a lot further than when using wood, and a lot harder. Is it good or bad? In my opinion, it's all relative. As long as the rules are the same for everyone, then the competition is fair and everyone is playing on the same playing field (pun intended). Pitchers may have a tougher time getting people out than they did when bats were made from wood, but every pitcher has that problem and every team has that problem. Good hitting teams work on the fundamentals of hitting regardless of bat choice. However, if these bats lead to injuries because the ball jumps off the bat too much, then we have a problem. Pitchers are vulnerable, being only 60' 6" away from balls that are hit back at them with a higher velocity than the pitch that they hit, and since most are off balance from delivering the pitch (it's an art for pitchers to be good fielders, to be in a position to field and still pitch effectively - Mike Mussina was a master of this). Hitters also have an advantage that hitters of the past didn't have, better technologies in baseball construction, and better materials. This to contributes to the advantage. Now how has technology helped the fielder (and pitcher too)? Better baseball gloves. It's not as evident in recent times, but up until the late 1950's, baseball gloves were much different and much less effective. Better designs and materials improved the gloves so much that it took the edge away from hitters, not only getting hits, but from getting on base due to errors that didn't happen any more. And, during the early half of the last century, baseball gloves fingers weren't even stitched together. Most were pretty much the same size with the exception of catchers and first basemen gloves. Now, back to bats. I don't think that they should be used at any level regardless of cost. It hurts the game. Why? Because they have to (as TFB alluded to) learn the skills to be better players at the plate and in the field to make it to the bigs. They don't use aluminum in the majors. When these aluminum bat hitters lose some pop in their bat, they aren't as competitive as they should be unless they've developed good technique. So, all levels below should do the same. That's my opinion and maybe unfounded, but I'm an old schooler. A pitch that jams a hitter with a wooden bat has the potential to break the bat, another pitchers tool that has been taken away.
