Equipment problem

[IPbaseball07]

Im currently 14 and just bought an Easton CxN sc888 comp opti flex technology -3 bat. I purchased it this sunday from baseball plus. When I arrived home with it, I realized that the rubber piece that seperates the barrel from the composite handle is protruding slightly and its not neatly intact with the bat, i also relized that there are a few scratches on the bat already and I didnt use it once. Am i entitled to a refund, will this protruding rubber cause the bats performance to degrate? Thanks.:)

[hellborn]

I'd say to take the thing back immediately if you think there's anything wrong with it. The store should take it back without question since you haven't used it. I'm hoping that you haven't unwrapped it?
I bought a softball bat at Sports Authority last fall because it was just labelled "Crush", and I thought that it was one of the legendary original Crush bats. After a little web research, I figured out that it was just a specially marked Crush G3 (the big sports stores can get items custom labelled just for them). This was not at all what I wanted, so I took it back the next day (with the wrapper still on) and they accepted the return with no problem. I was not actually planning to keep the bat but to turn it on eBay for $100-200 profit, as the original Crush bats sell on there for good money when they aren't used.

[tommybaseball]

If you have serious aspirations about playing baseball through and past high school, do yourself a favor and get a refund for that hunk of metal garbage. Then go out and buy yourself a couple of good wood bats and learn to hit the correct way. Don’t buy the garbage that they sell in Modell’s or The Sports Authority. I don’t know what state you are from but metal bats were finally banned in New York for all high schools:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/ny...d-bats.html?hp

Here are a few opinions from professional scouts. This was sent to me during the time our team participated in THE GARDEN STATE AMATEUR BASEBALL LEAGUE, a Wood Bat league in New Jersey
From: Johngsbl@aol.com [mailto:Johngsbl@aol.com]
Sent: Monday, July 18, 2005 6:44 PM
To: undisclosed-recipients
Subject: To Scouts, Wood Bat Tournaments Are True Test (The New York Times)
To Scouts, Wood Bat Tournaments Are True Test (The New York Times)
By Ray Glier, The New York Times
Updated: 09:15 AM EDT
MARIETTA, Ga. (July 16) - As Justin Smoak stood in the on-deck circle, it was easy to see why he could be in a major league uniform in a few years. Smoak, an 18-year-old from Goose Creek, S.C., is a muscular 6 feet 4 inches and 195 pounds, and with a few practice swings, there was evidence of sound mechanics and potential.

But a professional scout standing in the crowd shook his head in dismay as Smoak went to the plate for an at-bat with the South Carolina Diamond Devils.

"When I worked him out with a wood bat, he was O.K., nothing great," said the scout, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not allowed to talk publicly about specific players. "He abuses the ball with a metal bat, but with wood, there was a difference in how he hit it. Maybe he just had a bad day for me."

A few moments later, Smoak hit a fly ball to short right field for an out.

"See?" the scout said. "He's got a sweet swing, and he's what a major league ballplayer should look like, but he is not always able to center the ball with the wood bat."

Some players who thrive at the plate with an aluminum bat cannot produce the same pop with a wood bat. That is why scouts flock to wood bat tournaments like the World Wood Bat Association 18-and-under tournament, which concluded here Sunday.

Smoak was drafted in the 16th round by the Oakland Athletics last month, but he said he could have gone as high as the third round if he had not demanded a $1 million signing bonus. He worked out with a wood bat for major league teams after the high school season, which ended just a few weeks before the draft.

"It's a tough business," Smoak said with a smile when told about the scout's evaluation. "Most of those workouts were just a week after I finished the high school season with an aluminum bat."

The W.W.B.A. is holding national wood bat tournaments for 15-, 16-, 17- and 18-year-olds throughout the summer and fall, giving major league teams opportunities to see players use a wood bat before their senior year of high school. The tournaments often attract the top prospects in the country because they are eager to play in front of pro scouts.

"We draft a lot of high school players, so the more times we see them against the best competition, the better decisions we're going to make," said Roy Clark, the scouting director for the Atlanta Braves. "I'm seeing guys 20 to 30 times against good pitching with a wood bat, and to me, that's priceless.

"In this tournament they pitch to good hitters, while in high school, coaches know the good hitters on the other team, and they don't pitch to them with that aluminum bat. I haven't seen one intentional walk in two weeks."

Several players in the 114-team 18-and-under tournament here have already been drafted or have signed with college teams, but the tournament is also open to 17-year-olds who will be eligible for the 2006 draft.

"With the 17-and-under tournament last week and this tournament, I can get my entire follow list for next year's draft," said Chris Jefts, a scout who covers Georgia, northern Florida and South Carolina for the Cleveland Indians.

"A lot of times, you will see a kid who can hit with aluminum, but they can't do the same thing with wood, which has a much smaller sweet spot. Aluminum bats fool you, especially with raw power. If they can drive the ball to the opposite-field gap with a wood bat, then you have an idea of their power."

Most scouts are easy to pick out in the crowd here. The black string dangling from their pants pockets is attached to a stop watch, used to time runners going from the batter's box to first base. Scouts for major league teams customarily wear long pants; the college coaches wear shorts.

Some college coaches attend the tournaments, even though aluminum bats are used in college baseball. Randy Tomlin, the coach at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., who pitched for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1990's, said the wood bat tournaments were valuable to him because they gave him an accurate display of what a player could do at the plate.

"You can judge bat speed better, you can see if they have a swing that is too long, and you can judge their balance," Tomlin said.

He added that the wood bat tournaments were a valuable forum for evaluating pitchers, too, because they are facing many of the top high school hitters in the country.

In the 18-and-under tournament here, there seemed to be few bats breaking, probably because young players with major league aspirations put away their aluminum bats after the high school season, knowing they must learn to hit with wood bats.

"Five years ago, there would have been broken bats all over the place in this tournament," said Alex Slattery, a scout who covers Georgia for the Chicago White Sox. "But the high school players are taking batting practice with a wood bat during their season and they are playing in a lot of these wood bat tournaments, so they know how to handle a wood bat."

Matt Cerione, a top prospect who will be a senior at Chattahoochee High School near Atlanta, said he knew that he had to get out in front of an inside pitch with a wood bat to avoid being jammed and breaking his bat. He also knew not to try to pull outside pitches, as he would with an aluminum bat.

Jason Place of Easley, S.C., who is projected to be selected high in the 2006 draft, said: "The wood bat tournament definitely weeds out the bad hitters from the good hitters. The scouts don't care what you can do with a metal bat."
Read through this thread:
http://www.baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?t=52687

I think you should also call different bat manufacturers such as Route 66 Klubs (formerly Glomar) to see what kind of deal they can give you and your friends should you decide to dedicate yourself to becoming the best hitter you can be. I bought wood bats from Baseball Express, Baseball Plus, Western Athletic and others. They were better than the ones we bought the previous years in Modell's and The Sports Authority, but the Glomar bats lasted the longest and broke less frequently. Our team naturally became better hitters also so that was also a factor.
Go Wood kid!

[hellborn]

That's all great, but, unless he's in NY, every other kid in every game he plays in is probably going to be using a metal or composite bat. He's going to be losing a lot by comparison using wood.
I think that using wood in workouts, practice, and BP is a good idea, but he's still going to need a game bat. The modern high performance bats are SO fragile now that it probably makes sense to just save them for games, and he'd be helping his development by using wood at other times.
I love wood bats and always brought them to my adult league games, but would almost never use them because I knew how much I was losing even compared to my old aluminum stick. I would sneak the wood in for "meaningless" ABs and during pickup games. (I should mention that I was never anything resembling a pro prospect at any point!!)
I hear you on the points you make, but we've gotta be realistic here. It's just not fair to have one kid using a wood bat, even an outstanding one, when the other kids are using more advanced tools. That's just going to be frustrating.

[IPbaseball07]

Yeah Ive sadly unwrapped it. However if they do spot it as defected I can send it back to Easton and get a brand new bat for free. I dont think that the tiny rubber piece that is protruding will make a difference on how the bat performs.
I actually do own a wood bat. I use it for mostly practice and I used it in a game last year but my coach yelled at me for using it. They're fun to use but I'd rather use a composite/aluminum anyday

[hellborn]

Yeah Ive sadly unwrapped it. However if they do spot it as defected I can send it back to Easton and get a brand new bat for free. I dont think that the tiny rubber piece that is protruding will make a difference on how the bat performs.
I actually do own a wood bat. I use it for mostly practice and I used it in a game last year but my coach yelled at me for using it. They're fun to use but I'd rather use a composite/aluminum anyday

I've never tried returning a bat to a manufacturer, so I don't have any advice there. I did have a Worth SP bat that was just terrible and I was going to try to return it, but a teammate whipped it into a concrete post anchor on his follow through and I felt that I couldn't really return it after that.
Cool that you have wood. I like them because I feel that each one has a personality, so to speak, a unique grain pattern, weight, feel, etc. But, I always brought out the metal (which was the highest tech in my baseball days) for important games, and I starting buying composite bats for SP when I saw others using them and raving about the performance.

[IPbaseball07]

I went to one of the same stores today (same company different town) and the guy simply said just call easton and have them replace. So I simply just went on the website and filled out a form and they'll give a confirmation number in which I can send it in. The good thing is that they'll send a new or fixed bat in 3 days. Speaking of bad bats, last year I bought a Demarini Diablo bat and I figured that because it was made by demarini that it was amazing. It was garbage and thats why I'm making sure that this bat won't be messed up either.

[sds416]

If you have serious aspirations about playing baseball through and past high school, do yourself a favor and get a refund for that hunk of metal garbage. Then go out and buy yourself a couple of good wood bats and learn to hit the correct way. Don’t buy the garbage that they sell in Modell’s or The Sports Authority. I don’t know what state you are from but metal bats were finally banned in New York for all high schools:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/ny...d-bats.html?hp

Here are a few opinions from professional scouts. This was sent to me during the time our team participated in THE GARDEN STATE AMATEUR BASEBALL LEAGUE, a Wood Bat league in New Jersey
From: Johngsbl@aol.com [mailto:Johngsbl@aol.com]
Sent: Monday, July 18, 2005 6:44 PM
To: undisclosed-recipients
Subject: To Scouts, Wood Bat Tournaments Are True Test (The New York Times)
To Scouts, Wood Bat Tournaments Are True Test (The New York Times)
By Ray Glier, The New York Times
Updated: 09:15 AM EDT
MARIETTA, Ga. (July 16) - As Justin Smoak stood in the on-deck circle, it was easy to see why he could be in a major league uniform in a few years. Smoak, an 18-year-old from Goose Creek, S.C., is a muscular 6 feet 4 inches and 195 pounds, and with a few practice swings, there was evidence of sound mechanics and potential.

But a professional scout standing in the crowd shook his head in dismay as Smoak went to the plate for an at-bat with the South Carolina Diamond Devils.

"When I worked him out with a wood bat, he was O.K., nothing great," said the scout, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not allowed to talk publicly about specific players. "He abuses the ball with a metal bat, but with wood, there was a difference in how he hit it. Maybe he just had a bad day for me."

A few moments later, Smoak hit a fly ball to short right field for an out.

"See?" the scout said. "He's got a sweet swing, and he's what a major league ballplayer should look like, but he is not always able to center the ball with the wood bat."

Some players who thrive at the plate with an aluminum bat cannot produce the same pop with a wood bat. That is why scouts flock to wood bat tournaments like the World Wood Bat Association 18-and-under tournament, which concluded here Sunday.

Smoak was drafted in the 16th round by the Oakland Athletics last month, but he said he could have gone as high as the third round if he had not demanded a $1 million signing bonus. He worked out with a wood bat for major league teams after the high school season, which ended just a few weeks before the draft.

"It's a tough business," Smoak said with a smile when told about the scout's evaluation. "Most of those workouts were just a week after I finished the high school season with an aluminum bat."

The W.W.B.A. is holding national wood bat tournaments for 15-, 16-, 17- and 18-year-olds throughout the summer and fall, giving major league teams opportunities to see players use a wood bat before their senior year of high school. The tournaments often attract the top prospects in the country because they are eager to play in front of pro scouts.

"We draft a lot of high school players, so the more times we see them against the best competition, the better decisions we're going to make," said Roy Clark, the scouting director for the Atlanta Braves. "I'm seeing guys 20 to 30 times against good pitching with a wood bat, and to me, that's priceless.

"In this tournament they pitch to good hitters, while in high school, coaches know the good hitters on the other team, and they don't pitch to them with that aluminum bat. I haven't seen one intentional walk in two weeks."

Several players in the 114-team 18-and-under tournament here have already been drafted or have signed with college teams, but the tournament is also open to 17-year-olds who will be eligible for the 2006 draft.

"With the 17-and-under tournament last week and this tournament, I can get my entire follow list for next year's draft," said Chris Jefts, a scout who covers Georgia, northern Florida and South Carolina for the Cleveland Indians.

"A lot of times, you will see a kid who can hit with aluminum, but they can't do the same thing with wood, which has a much smaller sweet spot. Aluminum bats fool you, especially with raw power. If they can drive the ball to the opposite-field gap with a wood bat, then you have an idea of their power."

Most scouts are easy to pick out in the crowd here. The black string dangling from their pants pockets is attached to a stop watch, used to time runners going from the batter's box to first base. Scouts for major league teams customarily wear long pants; the college coaches wear shorts.

Some college coaches attend the tournaments, even though aluminum bats are used in college baseball. Randy Tomlin, the coach at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., who pitched for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1990's, said the wood bat tournaments were valuable to him because they gave him an accurate display of what a player could do at the plate.

"You can judge bat speed better, you can see if they have a swing that is too long, and you can judge their balance," Tomlin said.

He added that the wood bat tournaments were a valuable forum for evaluating pitchers, too, because they are facing many of the top high school hitters in the country.

In the 18-and-under tournament here, there seemed to be few bats breaking, probably because young players with major league aspirations put away their aluminum bats after the high school season, knowing they must learn to hit with wood bats.

"Five years ago, there would have been broken bats all over the place in this tournament," said Alex Slattery, a scout who covers Georgia for the Chicago White Sox. "But the high school players are taking batting practice with a wood bat during their season and they are playing in a lot of these wood bat tournaments, so they know how to handle a wood bat."

Matt Cerione, a top prospect who will be a senior at Chattahoochee High School near Atlanta, said he knew that he had to get out in front of an inside pitch with a wood bat to avoid being jammed and breaking his bat. He also knew not to try to pull outside pitches, as he would with an aluminum bat.

Jason Place of Easley, S.C., who is projected to be selected high in the 2006 draft, said: "The wood bat tournament definitely weeds out the bad hitters from the good hitters. The scouts don't care what you can do with a metal bat."
Read through this thread:
http://www.baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?t=52687

I think you should also call different bat manufacturers such as Route 66 Klubs (formerly Glomar) to see what kind of deal they can give you and your friends should you decide to dedicate yourself to becoming the best hitter you can be. I bought wood bats from Baseball Express, Baseball Plus, Western Athletic and others. They were better than the ones we bought the previous years in Modell's and The Sports Authority, but the Glomar bats lasted the longest and broke less frequently. Our team naturally became better hitters also so that was also a factor.
Go Wood kid!


First of all, if you are going to give advice, have all the facts...for starters, wood bats are mandatory only in NYC, this is not a ban in all of NYS. NY city is the only place that has acted on the metal/wood bat issue. In fact, the rest of major NY cities (Albany, Rochester, Syracuse, Buffalo) have no such bill pending and neither does NY State's ruling body for high school athletics.

[tommybaseball]

First of all, if you are going to give advice, have all the facts...for starters, wood bats are mandatory only in NYC, this is not a ban in all of NYS. NY city is the only place that has acted on the metal/wood bat issue. In fact, the rest of major NY cities (Albany, Rochester, Syracuse, Buffalo) have no such bill pending and neither does NY State's ruling body for high school athletics.

SDS (Serious Denial Syndrome?) Before you make a comment, especially on something you obviously know nothing about, you should at least take the time to read through the entire post to see that I've provided documentation to support my opinion. The article from the New York Times clearly states that the ban is only in NYC. And, oh yeah, the opinions mentioned are from PROFESSIONAL scouts, not some two-bit loser of a coach who wants to "see how far his team can hit the ball." I actually heard those very words from a coach who refused to use wood bats in a wood bat league (GSABL) in New Jersey a few years back. Needless to say, the game had to be rescheduled.

I'm truly amazed at the lack of knowledge about this issue even today, when scientific data (The Brown University Study) concluded that balls are propelled off of metal bats at a faster speed than wood bats. I didn't see anywhere in the study that states that the increased speed only starts after the ball passes the pitcher by the way. Here big guy, this is for you:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/11/021120065531.htm

I would not be surprised if this ban does not stick. There is a lot of money in those hunks of metal garbage and litigation will surely be forthcoming. This issue has been compared on a smaller scale to the Big Tobacco cases years ago. However, if it does stick, it will just be a matter of time before it catches on and spreads to other states. That's just my opinion, and I'm certainly entitled to that.