Brandon Patch Death: Family Gets $850,000 From Baseball Bat Maker

Attorneys for the Patch family argued the bat manufacturer, Hillerich & Bradsby, did not provide proper warning about the dangers of using aluminum bats, meaning that the jury did not find the bat itself to be defective. The special verdict says the failure to warn was the cause of the accident.
 

However, there's a potential chilling effect. Now that there is that precedent, it won't be much of a leap for future lawyers to argue that a league would be negligent by continuing to use these bats. Next time this happens, an attorney will say, "You knew this put players' lives at risk, but continued to use them anyway." And without vouching for the strength of that argument, all they'd need to convince would be a handful of jurors.

Legal matters aside, not much changes for those at risk. It's scientifically proven that the ball comes off a metal bat faster than a wood one. But it's also been shown time and time again that pitchers can't always dodge balls off a wooden bat either.