Altered bats at All-star tournament

[Momo'sDad]

I've just returned from a day at ASA B Westerns where one of the officials informed me that over 20 bats had been confiscated in the 1st 2 days of the event. If that's all sites combined, that's 1 altered bat for every 4 teams. But if it was just for that site alone, that's 1 altered bat for every 2+ teams.

Not that it matters, but this is the 10u/12u tournament.

 

[BretMan]

Are they all being confiscated because they're altered, or is it because they're illegal (cracked, rattling, etc.) or maybe even non-approved?

Those are three different things and they're covered by different rules. Altered is usually the result of flat out cheating. Illegal or non-approved are usually just the result of not knowing any better.

 

[Comp]

It does not necesarily mean the bat is altered, it just means they either did not pass the compression test or had other visible flaws that rendered them illegal. Small western nationals I worked a couple of years ago, I believe aroudn 18 or 20 teams there were 24 or so bats pulled during pre tournament bat inspections and another broke during the tournament. Virtually all of the bats pulled were obviously older bats and failed the compression test. The only ones I would personally have suspected of having been altered were 2 identical bats, both very new that failed the compression test. And, both of them were from the same team.

 

[goinglefty]

When my dd was in 10u all stars our team had 3 bats taken out because they were slightly dented/misshaped. Very slightly. Those bats were returned after the tournament was over but the next round the umpires deemed those same bats as legal.

I might be naive but its hard for me to imagine that teams in a 10/12u tournament would have parents altering their kids bats for performance.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

I don't doubt that there are altered bats in that age group. Who else is buying the 30 inch shaved bats on Ebay? But, they could just be illegal bats. Every season, I tell someone that they can't use their baseball bat and they continue to argue with me about it.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Here is a source for altered little girl bats.
Bats - rolled & shaved - The Bat Doctor

 

[Comp]

Shaved bats are not nearly as prevalent as everyone seems to think. Couple of years ago the local high school scene had everyone screaming about how many shaved bats were being used. The athletic association got a compression tester and did random unannounced pregame tests throughout the season. They found exactly 1 bat that failed, and it turned out to be a brand new bat that was broken right out of the wrapper.

 

[CoreSoftball20]

Lets not go off the deep end and think every confiscated bat is altered. They could have just failed compression, cracked, rattle, or any reason the tester didn't want to allow it.

Doesn't mean all these bats were altered

 

[CoreSoftball20]

They found exactly 1 bat that failed, and it turned out to be a brand new bat that was broken right out of the wrapper.

Really, already broken?

 

[CoreSoftball20]

It does not necesarily mean the bat is altered, it just means they either did not pass the compression test or had other visible flaws that rendered them illegal. Small western nationals I worked a couple of years ago, I believe aroudn 18 or 20 teams there were 24 or so bats pulled during pre tournament bat inspections and another broke during the tournament. Virtually all of the bats pulled were obviously older bats and failed the compression test. The only ones I would personally have suspected of having been altered were 2 identical bats, both very new that failed the compression test. And, both of them were from the same team.

Btw, an altered used bat will fail more miserably than a beat to heck stock bat. What the bat compresses at should tell you a lot