Bat Shaving...Am I naive

DD was at tryout this weekend and I had a dad of another player trying out tell me that he has had his daughter's bats that she uses in practices and games rolled and shaved. I'm was shocked that he's telling me this (especially since we just met), so I ask what he means by shaved. He describes fully shaving the bats and rolling them. I ask him "so you are intentionally cheating, you know your daughter can get banned if she gets caught right? What if she injures someone with that bat, do you know you can be held liable?" He then says it's no big deal, umps never check bats and that I am naive if I don't think everyone is doing it. I was thoroughly pissed that someone would willingly put other people's daughters in a potentially dangerous position and that he was proud of cheating at this point, so I dropped the conversation.

I am guessing some of the other parents whose DDs are already on the team heard him and will say something to the coach, didn't really think it was my place to do so. But if we ever face a team she is on in a tournament will definitely let coach for whatever team we are with know to ask for bat inspection. I never did see the bat up close, so maybe he was just boasting and really didn't understand the ramifications of what he was saying, which is a possibility (but doubtful).

I wanted to get opinions on if you all think bat shaving is prevalent, and how much of a difference have you seen in exit speeds with shaved bats. Also, if you learned that players/teams are shaving their bats what would you do, particularly if they were on your own team?

If I have any say-so in the matter, a shaved/rolled/altered bat will NEVER be used by a player on my team during a game or practice. EVER.

I find it hard to believe it is prevalent but maybe I am naïve.

DD will not be on the field with a shaved bat either on hers or the other Team. If she needs to leave the Team fine.

It is really hard to catch, most fields so not have the equipment needed to tell, a visual inspection is not enough.

I would hope this is just an anomaly. I've never heard anyone admit to it.

I've heard parents defending rolling ("it's just speeding up the process"), but never admitting to have done it. Shaving, I've suspected some, but never heard anyone defend it.

Infuriating.

Loser move by a parent. Sends the kid a message that they can't win or perform without cheating.

Penalty should be parent strung up by shoelaces on a backstop until the crows peck his eyeballs out.

If I am naive, I want to stay that way. I don't think it is prevalent. But I do believe people who cheat for their kids need to justify their actions to make them feel better about it.

a coach of a 10u team was boasting about getting his dd's bat rolled at his practice. We were watching a friends dd practice. I told him it was illegal, he said no it's not, I brought the rule up on my phone to show him knowing full well he already knows it's illegal but playing dumb. He said that was wrong and he knows it's not illegal. I told him I've never had my dd's bat rolled and she's never hit one over the fence but when she does it's going to be because of hard work and a good swing not cuz her bat is rolled or shaved. It pissed me off. My husband was at a local sports store he said a lady came in when he was checking out with 12 bats to be rolled.


I hate tacos- said no Juan anywhere

Tom said:

But if we ever face a team she is on in a tournament will definitely let coach for whatever team we are with know to ask for bat inspection. I never did see the bat up close, so maybe he was just boasting and really didn't understand the ramifications of what he was saying, which is a possibility (but doubtful).

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Not sure a routine umpire bat inspection could pick out a shaved bat. Umpires are looking for cracks, rattles and wobble, ect. Unless they have a compression tester on site they will look like any other bat.

Wow. If it's common I don't want to know. That's too depressing to think about. We don't cheat, period. If others do I guess that's theirs to live with. Not a lesson I'd want to teach my kids.

grcsftbll said:

Wow. If it's common I don't want to know. That's too depressing to think about. We don't cheat, period. If others do I guess that's theirs to live with. Not a lesson I'd want to teach my kids.

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Part of the issue, however, that it's not just theirs to live with if the ball hit by the modified bat seriously injures another player. In that case, the injured player and her family get to live with it, too.