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mas826 t1_iv8ojwo wrote

Reply to comment by [deleted] in The Houston Astros have won the World Series by YnwaMquc2k19

Kinda? Martin Maldonado used an illegal bat in game one. But by all counts it was an honest mistake and the bat was a gift from Albert Pujols. So in a super broad sense, yes. But it’s not that big of a deal and the MLB didn’t suspend him or anything. Just made him use a legal bat

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AwesomeWhiteDude t1_iv8pftw wrote

Important note: it was illegal for the sake of player safety, it didn't give Maldonado a competitive advantage

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mas826 t1_iv8plt2 wrote

Thanks for the clarification. I’m a very casual baseball fan, so I definitely missed that detail!

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MuldartheGreat t1_iv8qmjs wrote

The bats of that material are more likely to shatter, but do not give any extra lift to the ball.

Pinole could keep using it because he took at least at bat with it before they were banned. Weird to keep something unsafe alive with a loophole like that

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Ummyeaaaa t1_iv8u6c5 wrote

And to clarify this one so there’s not further speculation from your comment…

  • Pujols (and many other players) have historically used a bat of a certain wood that, performance wise is deemed no different than any other wood type, but recently was decided was too dangerous versus other types of wood because of the way they splintered when broken.
  • anyone using that bat before the decision would be grandfathered in and allowed to continue to use that wood, but no one could begin to use that wood who hadn’t before
  • Pujols was included in the list of players exempted because he had been using it before the ban
  • Martin was in a slump at some point this season and Pujols sent him a bat saying it helped him break his slumps, so essentially sending good luck
  • Martin used this bat

So there’s no story here. Pujols didn’t realize Martin couldn’t use the bat, Martin didn’t realize either he couldn’t use it or what it’s wood type was, and it was called out and corrected. Non-story.

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IAmBecomeTeemo t1_iv949de wrote

From what I read, it wasn't even a type of wood that was banned. It's a maple bat, which is legal, but it's illegal if it's not dense enough. Maldonado would have had no way of knowing, because maple is one of the popular wood types in MLB and wouldn't have stuck out as different.

Lower density maple allowed for a bigger barrel profile while keeping it from swinging too heavy. This is just a preference. It's not an actual advantage because as long as you're using quality solid wood, every possible factor has a tradeoff. Players just swing what's comfortable and what compliments their approach at the plate.

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