I have a question regarding the "excessive wear" section of 3-1-G:
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ASA 3-1-G: ...The bat barrel shall not have signs of excessive wear.
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ASA provided some clarification this year in Rules Supplement #3:
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ASA RS #3: When bats with dents,excessive wear or an audible rattle are found, that bat shall be removed and held until the Championship is over. When noticeable de-lamination appears on the Easton style bats designed to show de-lamination on the barrel area more than an inch in any direction, remove that bat and hold it until the end of the Championship.
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Now, the Easton-style bats to which the RS is referring are these new ones such as the Reveal, which has some sort of laminated finish different from most other bats. However, I very frequently find that a lot of the Easton bats from previous years (such as the SCN8) gets a lot of wear towards the endcap to the point where the paint is gone for the last inch or two from the endcap.
My question is: what exactly constitutes "excessive wear?" I realize it's a judgment call on the part of the umpire during the pre-game equipment inspection, but there are very few guidelines as to what exactly is "excessive wear." Where do you draw the line?