altered bat?

[lglusco]

There are two questions, TWO!, about sanded down baseball bats on this year's ASA test. Both questions are baffling me.

21) Which is not an altered bat?
a. painted over original paint
b. loaded with sand
c. baseball bat sanded down to softball specs
d. softball bat with cone shaped handle

I said d. ... I can't really picture a cone-shaped handle, not sure exactly what is meant by that. Could a bat have cone-shaped handle and still have a knob? But a sanded-down bat clearly has been altered in size and weight from its originally-manufactured state. ... Of course, I don't know how I would know that. So maybe the sanded-down bat is simply illegal because it would not have an ASA stamp, and not considered altered??? so maybe the answer is C???

25. The plate umpire notices that a batter enters the box with a baseball bat honed down to softball size.
a. do nothing, no violation until one pitch
b. call batter out
c. disqualify batter
d. eject batter

Again, the question pre-supposes that I somehow know it was a baseball bat honed down. ... Based on that, IT WAS ALTERED and I should have an out and an ejection. If I use my logic from above that all I can actually know is that the bat is illegal (no ASA stamp), then answer would be B???

DOES ANYONE ELSE think two questions about sanded-down bats is pretty lame? I have never seen a wood bat in a softball game. Has anyone?

I'm thinking my line of thinking that the bat must be illegal but not considered altered must be correct, otherwise question #25 would have more than one answer.

I could not find anything specific in the rulebook about "sanded-down" bats. Am I missing it?