Baum bats will NOT be allowed in PerfectGame events

I am happy to hear that! It never made sense to me that they were allowed! They certainly took away the advantage of a power pitcher that would otherwise be breaking a bat, but instead would see a duck fart fall in or a bleeder...

floridafan - your kid must be a pitcher because if he was up there breaking bats you might advocate for composites. $130 a pop and if you have a bad yr you could buy 3-4-5 bats. Let the guys who get free wood saw each other off. Just my biased 2 cents.

Florida Fan's son isn't a pitcher.  His opinion is skewed from watching his son hit. The young man barrelled up everything, so FF may not have much experience with broken bats.

Unless/until MiLB also bans Baum bats, this decision makes no sense.

 

Out of curiosity:  Where did you hear these bats will be banned from PG events?  I see nothing on the site, but I may have missed something.  Baum bats have always been allowed at PG events....

I just looked at the PG site, and for most of the wood bat tourneys it does specifically say no Baum Bats.

 

Maybe PGStaff will chime in.

 

Also, anyone know about Bamboo?  My son is usually a PO but swings a bamboo bat when he does hit.  It cuts down on flying debris, because he certainly doesn't manage to square everything up...

I looked at the Baum Bat website.  Nowhere on the site does it mention that the bat is BBCOR certified.  No where on any of the bats they have pictured do they have the BBCOR stamp.  Maybe this is why they are not allowed at PG events?  

 

This doesn't really affect Ryan anymore, but I think it is a bad rule.  A lot of families are already hard pressed to pay for the PG Tournaments, Showcases, travel teams, high school ball, mitts, cleats, etc.  Now, this will just be more expense.  I am sure there is a reason, but I don't like it.

This is from the NCAA website:

 

 "Solid, one-piece wood bats (as defined by NCAA Baseball Rule 1-12-a) are automatically approved...Solid barrel, multi-piece wood bats (as determined by the NCAA) must comply with the BBCOR protocol"

 

 

So if Baum bats are not BBCOR certified as solid wood bats are it seems logical that they wouldn't be allowed in wood bat tournaments.

Baum bats are certified as BBCOR and as wood...

http://www.mme.wsu-ssl.org/certifiedbaseballbats.aspx

PerfectGame has allowed them for many, many years... This is NEW rule... Just trying to find out why the change without notice.

Look at all the upcoming 2015 events... It specifically states "No Baum Bats allowed" 

I know on their site, they say the bats are approved by NCAA and NFHS, but they don't mention BBCOR anywhere.  Nor do I see a BBCOR stamp on any of the bats in the pictures.  You would think they would mention that somewhere.

 

I don't know about PG, but I have heard of some tournament organizations stating that any bat used must be stamped with the BBCOR approval.  If the bat is not stamped, maybe that is why they are not allowed.  

They definitely have a BBCOR stamp on them...

http://community.hsbaseballweb...ats-authorized-at-pg

Im OK with Baum Bats not being allowed.  Its a wood bat event, not a wood like, kind of wood, almost wood event. 

 

Yes, I have a pile of broken bats at the house and I'm ok with that too. If you want to use anything other that traditional wood, enter a BBCOR event.  There are plenty of them out there. 

 

My .02 cents.

According to the PG 17U WWBA page: "WWBA - Only wood bats allowed.  No composite wood".

Not sure why they made this move but I guess we better stock up on some wood bats.

Wow.  I really hope PGStaff chimes in on this and, with all due respect to PG, I hope it's not "because that's what scouts have asked to see" for an answer.  If a scout can't tell whether a kid can barrel up a baseball without seeing their bat break, they're probably in the wrong business.

 

PS:  GHHS jr's future will probably be as a PO, so I really have no dog in this fight.  Having said that, I still can't understand the logic in the decision.  It's yet one more cost concern and one more reason for less-advantaged families to gravitate to another sport early in their child's athletic life.

 

PSS for Bolts:  Did you just change your avatar?  It's kinda freaking me out to see you with another one.  Just sayin....

We have nothing against Baum Bats.  They make a good product.

 

The problem is there are companies popping up all over the place that manufacture composite bats.  Our umpires would have a tough time filtering through all of these to determine which were legal and which were not.  So the simple solution is to eliminate all composites.  There really isn't many, if any, of the top hitters using them in games anyway.  Plus as bballdad2016 mentioned WWBA stands for World Wood Bat Association.  We do hold the BCS which are the BBcore tournaments.

 

Once again Baum bats are an excellent product and they have many uses.  We are simply going to all wood bats at WWBA tournaments.  They can be ash, birch or maple, actually any type of wood that isn't a composite.  Likle anything else, if we get enough complaints we will rethink everything.

How about the DeMarini D110 Pro Maple Composite?  This bat has a composite handle and a maple 100% wood barrel.  I know they used to be good for PG, but not sure now.  I have no dog in the fight either.  My son is a college pitcher, so will never play a PG event again, but I'm curious now.

Alrighty then.

bballman, sounds like a "no" to me.  Same goes for L&S Hybrid, MacDougall, Bamboo bat, etc., right PG?

Personally, I have no problem with PG events eliminating the Baum bat... I think by not announcing it prominently on the website, well in ADVANCE it could cause grief and stress to some... Kids could show up to events with bats deemed illegal, then they are SOL...

Actually bamboo is legal provided it is all one piece wood.

 

Many of the wood composites have a metal rod inside.  Not sure, but I think even Baum bat manufactures one model with a metal rod.  This makes it especially hard to figure out on short notice which bat is legal and which would not be legal.

 

 

Baum had a poly-carbonate, I believe...

Bamboo bats are not solid, they are actually a grass... cut, shaped and laminated.

My mistake Bamboo bats will not be allowed.

Argh.

 

My condolences to the maple bats in my son's bag. 

Yes Bolts, Baum has a poly-foam core.  Definitely not metal.  The Monster model might have a metal rod (I don't think it does...but it might), but that's a +6 drop and it's used for overload/heavy bat cage work.  Not really gonna get a competitive advantage there.

 

Also agree with the Bamboo.  Definitely a composite.

 

Either way PG, it's your venue so you can do whatever you choose.  I just think you're going to get some friction from the decision, especially if you don't make the disclaimer a little more noticeable.  Just my two cents...

Maybe the disclaimer should read: Any bat that did not start out as a billet and finished on a wood lathe is not legal.

Nice!

 

....but somebody would probably find away around it.  I'll go out on a limb and say portable X-Ray/MRI machines are the only answer.

Billet?  Lathe?  What about the hand whittled bat that came from the old maple tree in the backyard that was struck by lightning?

 

While we're on the subject, what are the common charecteristics of the "better" or "best" wood bats out there?  To the uneducated, one can often use price as a guage when it comes to metal bats, at least when grouping into low/medium/high.  I assume the high catagory has superior materials and engineering.  On high end wooden bats, what specifically makes them better?  Tighter grain?  I've read how to identify cheap wooden bats (generally loose grain leading to seperation) but never read what seperates an $80 wooden bat from a $200 wooden bat.

We went with the trail and error... Haha. 

At 14 I bought him a Mizzuno.  Didn't last too long, maybe 6 months of BP and cage work.  Next bat was a bambo bat which came highly recommended and they were the craze at the time.  Lasted one week... He broke it while I was warming up to throw BP and he held his bat over the plate.  Bat snapped on contact without a swing.  Next was a Demarini for his wood bat league after his freshman year.  Broke the bat getting jammed in an inside pitch.  He giggled all he way to first which made me mad.  End result, went to he local sporting goods store and bought two Rawlings el-cheap-o's for 30 bucks a piece (who's laughing now kid) One broke by that fall and the other is still in one piece only because it is autographed by Stepheb Strasburg.  Next was a Marrucci.  Lasted 13 months.  Don't know if it was the quality of the bat (which hey are know for, but aren't they all?) or his swing is better.  Either way, he swings Marrucci now and I don't think he would want any other bat when it comes to wood.

I got lucky. When son was hitting picked up a $60 Old Hickory blem.  First game 3 hits. Never swung a different brand. Cha ching 

That's bad news about the Bamboo....it is all wood, just not one piece, and BBCOR certified!  That is not on their site....I wonder if PG will knock off the cost of the Bamboo bat I just bought (90 day warranty), off his next PG event entry??????

My son likes those too.  I feel like they used to be $40 each for 2 or more online.  Now $55  each for 2.

The problem was the complaints from opposing teams about certain bats being illegal.  So our umpiring association and tournament staff decided to go with MLB rules regarding bats.  

 

One thing that people don't realize is how often we have been sued by parents in the past few years.  We have law suits pending for the following reasons...

 

Hitter gets hit by a pitch in a tournament game playing for a Travel team.

 

Players mom gets hit by an overthrow from the outfield.

 

Pitcher's parents suing based on hitter using an illegal bat. That one has actually been dropped.

 

Our insurance company handles things, but as some might know, it is still a headache, costly, and very time consuming. Not really complaining, just saying there is a lot of things to think about.  

sadly i understand your comment here and it becomes a logical move, one of the most frusturating things any business person will have to deal with. I know the insurance co lawyers do the heavy lifting you still have to support, provide data, depositions and all the rest.

my son is big fan of Victus bats for what it is worth.

So, as it stands now... If I'm reading you correctly...

 

100% White Ash, Sugar Maple, True Hickory, Yellow Birch, Red Oak and Japanese ash would be the ONLY legal bats allowed for play in PerfectGame Events...?

 

These are the six types of wood allowed and are what MLB and the players union have agreed to be used... 

 

Regardless of their BBCOR and "WOOD" classifications... No DeMarini, No Brett Bros., No Baum, No Mizuno Maple Composite, No Bamboo of any kind or any Laminates...

 

Yes? And, thanks for answering and participating, BTW! I certainly appreciate it very much!

Definitely a big thanks to PG for laying everything out. Mr Ford shows true integrity time and again, which is directly reflected in his organization.

Still not happy with the decision, but absolutely understand the reasoning behind it.

Looks like the Baum will be relegated to Connie Mack, AABC and cage work now. It's 3 years old and still going strong.

I need to admit that this decision was based mostly on recommendations of our umpiring association and our tournament staff.

 

I agree that we need to clearly state the rules pertaining to the wood bats.  As I understand it at this point, any bat that is all one piece wood, top to bottom, will be legal.  

 

Should also add, we understand there are composite bats out there that are outstanding products.  Our goal is to make this as simple as possible for everyone concerned.  Guess it's not as simple as we thought.

I have to say I’m puzzled by all the angst over at most a $220 bat, relative to an event that might easily cost as much as 5 times that amount to participate in when you count the cost of the event, travel, food, lodging, and entertainment. Just buy another bat for the event! It’s not like you’ll be throwing the $$$ away. The bat can still be used for BP or even sold to recover at least some of its cost.

 

Just chalk it up to another cost of the business of getting your son to the next level.