Two piece ASA/NF

[slapperdad]

Is there anything in either ASA or NF code which addresses the amount of flex in a two-piece bat? How about just bending it over your knee?

[Comp]

The bat is not suppose to move in the joint, if it does, the bat is broken inside the joint. The older purple/white Easton Stealths were notorious for it. The newer ones are a lot better, although I have found 2 or 3 this high school season that were broken. No I dont bend them over my knee, I just grab them on both sides of the joint and see if there is any movement. If there is, the bat is gone.

[slapperdad]

Can you quote specific code?

[Comp]

Quote specific code for what, that if the bat is loose in the joint its broken? Both ASA and FED state the bat must be free of dents, cracks, rattles or excessive wear. The bats did not wiggle in the joint when manufactured so loosenes in the joint would be an indication of excessive wear.

Somewhere there is a photo from ASA nationals a few years back with a room literally full of the white/purple Easton Stealths that were all pulled for being broken in the joint.

[LeftyHitter]

Slapper I know your a high school coach from Indiana and I'm guessing you ran into the same umpire we had at the Carmel Invitational last weekend. He was rejecting Louisville Slugger Xeno's. The first game it was just DD's. I'm told he "flexed" it like Comp described and said it had too much flex. We went back to the hotel after that game and I tried flexing it and couldn't see anything out of the ordinary to me. The second game he took another players 2012 out of play as well as my DD's and told a third player who has 2011 model that it only had a couple more games in it (not sure how he determined that). He also said that this was a common issue on Xeno's that Louisville Slugger was aware of and they have now fixed it with a design change. All of these bats had been fine all season through Thursday's game. At the last game of the day, it was on a different diamond with one Blue from the same crew, but not the one that had rejected the bats before. This time all 3 Xeno's were rejected, but this umpire held them by the handle and shook them and said he heard a clicking and felt a wobble. When I did this when we got home, I could hear a slight clicking in the barrel which I believe is the disc that is the design to keep the barrel from flexing too much and going over the 98mph standard. I'm not real sure if that happened when it was new or not. I called Louisville Slugger, they didn't act like they were familiar with the problem, but gave me an RMA and had me send it in. Said they will inspect it and replace if necessary. Long winded I know, but I'm finally getting to my questions. 1) Is anyone out there aware of this being a known issue with Xeno's? 2) I'm aware of the rule about dents, cracks, rattles and excessive wear, but I at least couldn't see anything that pertained here, is there any code or guideline to go by?

[slapperdad]

I know the umpire well, I seriously doubt he was working at Carmel, though it could have been him. I had him again last night, and there was no problem, but of course he wasn't bending them over his knee last night. Unfortunately his strike zone wasn't any better this time though.