Bat rolling, and shaving. Really??? (The Softball Zone Radio Show Thread of the Week)

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Re: Bat rolling, and shaving. Really???

Ya know how Rec League/ Church League goes.
"Who wants to pitch?"
Crickets
"Well, I've thrown BP for my daughter for 12 years. I suppose I could slow it down and put an arc on it...."
"We have a pitcher."
 
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Re: Bat rolling, and shaving. Really???

Ya know how Rec League/ Church League goes.
"Who wants to pitch?"
Crickets
"Well, I've thrown BP for my daughter for 12 years. I suppose I could slow it down and put an arc on it...."
"We have a pitcher."

If that is the case get one of these......PITCH SAFE SPORTS SCREENS: collapsible,portable,simple to use. I use one at every practice. BTW - I can get these cheap!!!

All 50/60 and over tournaments use these during play.
 
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Re: Bat rolling, and shaving. Really???

In case some of you don't realize what's been going on for YEARS, there are slow pitch pitchers that wear hockey goalie face masks, shin guards, and any other protection they can find. Bat doctoring has been going on for years. The materials used to make them are HOT and making them Hotter is a business for many people. I retired from playing when all this doctoring was starting to take off. Between the ball compressions and the doctored bats it wasn't unuaual for a small statured guy to jack a ball over 300 feet. The funniest thing I ever saw was at an out of state tourney. During batting practise the "sleeve" of a doctored bat flew out in front of the opposing team. Now that's an embarrassment to say the least. I know major players that won't let anyone even touch their bats, I wonder why?
There is far too much importance placed on the almighty home run. Personnally, I'll take pure hitter any day. You can thank men's softball for all of this.
 
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Re: Bat rolling, and shaving. Really???

If you've seen much competitive slowpitch, alot of pitchers are wearing full catcher ('hockey' style as some say) helmets, shin pads etc.

-Why I quit playing slowpitch, and phone calls "We need a player"...no thank you.
I don't want to be a 40+ yr old target for some young guy with a hot bat and overinflated ego...

I'll stick to helping the girls team(s) and doing my best to ensure they can play and enjoy the fastpitch game - - - safely!
 
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Re: Bat rolling, and shaving. Really???

In ASA the penalty for a coach found to have a player using an altered bat is severe. It is equally severe for the player. There are other angles as well:
* ASA won a trademark infringement law suit against a person that altered bats. The argument was that by doing so the person ruined the ASA stamp that stated the bat conformed to the ASA standards. The award was $100k.
* The ruling also opened up the question as to the coaches, players and the person altering the bats liability if the altered bat is used and causes injury to an opposing player. You could/should be looking at HUGE financial awards, if not criminal responsibility.

Slowpitch is leading the way in rolling and shaving technology. It is openly advertised down here. My guess is that once a pitcher is killed in that sport you will see action. USSSA in our area is relentless when it comes to checking slowpitch bats - not sure about other regions. In the larger events each team has their bats checked before the game and they are put in a trash can behind home plate. Batters can only use those bats. In regular leagues if a batted ball hits the pitcher, or is deemed to have been an injury near miss, the bat is immediately confiscated for testing. USSSA understands liability. They want to make sure they are seen as taking every precaution possible in the event they are brought into a lawsuit.

(I've been on both Fastpitch & Slowpitch circuits...have pulled myself almost completely away from slowpitch now...tg!)
Up here there are/was a couple of test machines floating around the slowpitch circuit.

Even without test machine on site, If a bat had serious suspect of tampering, USSSA Director could 'request' to take the bat and send away for testing.
The option being player can give up the bat, and returned to them following testing or face immediate suspension if they decline. (can't just forcibly take someones property from them...)

The fastpitch circuit the awareness level is so much less...there's alot of girls who play (especially below 16u) who frankly wouldn't or don't understand this issue...whereas slowpitch it was almost an epidemic at one point and everyones radar was up for every hot bat out there~~
 
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Re: Bat rolling, and shaving. Really???

Maybe this thread will hopefully cause any offender(s) to be swinging new sticks next week ? I heard the rumor , I know where the finger is being pointed . I hope its all smoke , but with this much smoke I'd expect those bats ( or at least a couple ) to be sent off for testing . If the machine is too expensive to have on hand , then over night mail it to where ever there is a testing device and get those bats tested . sounds fair to me.
 
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Re: Bat rolling, and shaving. Really???

Maybe this thread will hopefully cause any offender(s) to be swinging new sticks next week ? I heard the rumor , I know where the finger is being pointed . I hope its all smoke , but with this much smoke I'd expect those bats ( or at least a couple ) to be sent off for testing . If the machine is too expensive to have on hand , then over night mail it to where ever there is a testing device and get those bats tested . sounds fair to me.

That's the purpose of this thread. I don't feel the need to call the coach(s) out on this forum, because it will turn into a Jerry Springer episode. The proper authorities have been contacted, and are now aware of the potential of this happening. If I had a doctored bat in hand (from this coach), I would not hesitate to bring his name forward.
 
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Re: Bat rolling, and shaving. Really???

Several years ago my dd was pitching and was hit by a line drive. She was badly injured. It was well known that this team was using rolled bats. I had the bat taken by the tournament director. It was sent out to be tested and failed. We filed a law suit against the coach, player, parents and organization. It was proven that the team was proactive in the illegal bat rolling activities and was held liable. Coaches and parents need to be aware of the liability of this conduct and it is not worth the HR or extra base hit to put other players in harms way that can end their life.
 
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Re: Bat rolling, and shaving. Really???

The slowpitch pitchers have been wearing catchers helmets for a while but now they make a helmet just for slowpitch pitchers. If that does not tell you something about the bats nothing will. 20 years ago with all the aluminum bats there was a lot of major teams (steels, lighthouse worth etc. with some real big guys and a lot harder ball and you didn't hear about all the pitcher injury that you do with the composite bats.
 
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Re: Bat rolling, and shaving. Really???

Its hard to test a bat and know if it has been rolled because it has not been altered in the specs like wall thickness and some well used composite bats will fail a compression test. None the less get rid of the cheaters for life.
 
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Re: Bat rolling, and shaving. Really???

ASA has gone to a softer, 'bouncier' ball for slowpitch and modified pitch for 2 reasons. First, the softer balls are safer when players are hit by them. Second, the softer ball nullifies bat doctoring. ASA will be surveying FP pitching speeds this year to determine whether to adopt the balls there too.
 
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Re: Bat rolling, and shaving. Really???

ASA has gone to a softer, 'bouncier' ball for slowpitch and modified pitch for 2 reasons. First, the softer balls are safer when players are hit by them. Second, the softer ball nullifies bat doctoring. ASA will be surveying FP pitching speeds this year to determine whether to adopt the balls there too.
Is that the same animal as a restricted flight ball?
 
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Re: Bat rolling, and shaving. Really???

Several years ago my dd was pitching and was hit by a line drive. She was badly injured. It was well known that this team was using rolled bats. I had the bat taken by the tournament director. It was sent out to be tested and failed. We filed a law suit against the coach, player, parents and organization. It was proven that the team was proactive in the illegal bat rolling activities and was held liable. Coaches and parents need to be aware of the liability of this conduct and it is not worth the HR or extra base hit to put other players in harms way that can end their life.

In my opinion, when a coach openly ask the parents/ players if they want their bat "fixed" and he can send it up North to have it done......you have an issue.

When you see a teams 7,8,9 hitter hit a ball farther than the 3,4,5, hitter you might have an issue....especially when it is the same bat only being used by the 7,8,9 hitters.

It will be taken care of when that team plays in the future and their bats may be inspected when they least expect it.

Teach them how to hit and they do not have to cheat! We saw our Son on a ventilator for a week in a coma when he was 7 not from baseball. However it was a bicycle wreck. For those of you who do not believe in a face mask.....roll the dice as it is on you and at 65 I still remember it like it yesterday! If you condone cheating by using an illegal bat roll the dice...what do you have to loose as you are the parent and your child is the pawn!

When you see a person like Brittney Duncan hit a ball and have seen her do that since she was a young girl, it is not the bat it is the user! Like I have always said her Mother was a great hitting instructor and Tim has learned a lot from his Wife!

Howard

The coach who is doing this knows who HE is and so do several others..........
 
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Re: Bat rolling, and shaving. Really???

Howard

The coach who is doing this knows who HE is and so do several others..........

If so many people know who it is why isn't anyone reporting it. If someone gets hurt it is on everyone.
 
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Re: Bat rolling, and shaving. Really???

When you see a person like Brittney Duncan hit a ball and have seen her do that since she was a young girl, it is not the bat it is the user! Like I have always said her Mother was a great hitting instructor and Tim has learned a lot from his Wife!

Howard

You are the man,
 
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Re: Bat rolling, and shaving. Really???

I just dont understand what all the fuss is about

[video=youtube;hPZBIKDa7UU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPZBIKDa7UU[/video]

PS you may want to keep the volume low if there are sensitive ears around
 
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Re: Bat rolling, and shaving. Really???

Until the penalty matches the crime, this will continue. Scumbags are everywhere, and they justify their actions.
The bat mfg's could step up and make this moot, but they wont. So, kids will indeed lose out as result.
 
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Re: Bat rolling, and shaving. Really???

Is that the same animal as a restricted flight ball?
What do you mean by restricted flight? Wiffle balls are a type of restricted flight ball...

Prior to 2013, the standard ASA 12" SP ball was .44 COR and 375# compression. The new ball is .52 COR (livelier) and 300# compression (softer). I checked with SoCal ASA about the new balls and this is what they had to say:

We have been using this ball for 3 years now and it is awesome. It is a great ball as it takes the altered/hot bats out of play.
 
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Re: Bat rolling, and shaving. Really???

I'm probably naive, but I'm flabbergasted that any youth coach would actually offer to do this for his or her players. I'm hoping it was just a rumor and didn't actually happen, but I'm also glad to hear it has been reported and hopefully it can get checked out before a youth player gets hurt.
 
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Re: Bat rolling, and shaving. Really???

The big difference between then and now, is guys like Greg Fuhrman, Craig Elliot, Mike Macenko....had bat control. They didn't hit the middle for fear of getting their own pitcher killed. Compare that to a 150 lb 'D' player, with a funny bat, that has no idea where the ball is going. Heck, I used to pitch BP to Johnny Steele without a care in the world, because he knew where the ball was going.....in most cases over the fence.
 
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