[Deepsouthblue]

I talked with a past president of ASA yesterday about banned bats. He was picking up a Miken Freak to have tested to see if it had been altered. There were tool marks on the end cap, and a pitcher had been struck in the face with a batted ball off of this bat and hospitalized. (He is o.k., but was in the hospital about two days.)
According to him, the bat was probably an Ultra that had been painted to look like a Freak by Miken. He theorized the bat was probably already made (but unpainted) when the Ultra was banned and Miken painted it to be a Freak so they could sell it to more customers. This particular bat was an old Miken Freak that had the 2000 stamp on it. I'm sure there are more out there like this one.
He also mentioned a bat (I can't remember which one) that he saw that tested at 97 mph brand new. They then rolled the bat on a roller and beat on it with mallets (accelerated break-in) and the bat then tested at 104 mph.
These are just a couple of things ASA is dealing with concerning altered and/or banned bats.