Quote:
Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA
Actually, it is what you should have already been doing in the situation you offered since it wasn't discovered until the bat hit the ground since the argument could be made that is when the damaged occurred.
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I agree. What I have always been told (both at the HS and USA level) is that if you find a bat is dented, cracked or otherwise damaged and it has been used by the batter to contact the ball during the at-bat, you assume the damage occurred during the AB. This simply saved a lot of problems for the umpire and eliminated the argument it became damaged during the AB.
The problem comes in if it is noticed during an AB and the bat never contacted anything during the AB.
An example of this happened at a HS game a friend was working. Batter enters the box and takes her position. First pitch is not swung at as it is way outside. The batter steps back and takes a couple practice swings. The catcher hears something rattling during the swing, as does the PU. The PU calls time as the catcher is questioning the bat. The umpire asks to see the bat and when he gets it he can immediately tell it is rattling significantly.
What does the umpire do in this situation. There was no trauma to the bat during that batters at-bat.
He made her put it away and get another bat, which created a big argument from both coaches.