HOUSTON — Umpires confiscated a bat used by Astros outfielder Taylor Trammell in the ninth inning of Thursday night’s game against the New York Yankees amid questions about its legality.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone said his club, which won 8-4, noticed “discolorations on the label” of Trammell’s bat. Boone said he inquired with Major League Baseball on Thursday, and the league told him “that looks like an illegal bat.”
“I don’t know if it was just natural. I don’t know. I don’t want to accuse Taylor. I’m not saying anything untoward,” Boone said. “We noticed it, though, on video while we were here, and we actually mentioned it to the league, and they said, ‘No, that looks like an illegal bat.’ That was it.”
Trammell, who played five games for the Yankees last season, said he received word that the Yankees believed his bat “was shaved down too much.”
Rule 3.02(a) states bats used in major-league games must “be a smooth, round stick not more than 2.61 inches in diameter at the thickest part and not more than 42 inches in length.”
“To be honest, I have no idea how you shave down a bat. I don’t know what it is,” said Trammell, who appeared frustrated during a two-minute postgame interview.
“My biggest problem is, I feel kind of defensive right now, more so (it is) testing my character of, like, I’m going to willingly do that. I’m kind of lost on that thing. I think if anybody knows me, knows that I’m never going to cheat any turns or anything like that. I have no idea. That’s baffling to me that it was even checked. They didn’t like it. Sorry.”
Trammell began his interview saying, “I don’t even know what we’re doing to be honest. It’s actually ridiculous. I have no idea what really happened.”
The 27-year-old, who was traded to the Astros for cash considerations in November, said, “I’ve had that bat for probably about, since I’ve been here.
“I’ve had it for a long time. Usually take BP with it. Use it in games, (used) it in (Triple-A Sugar Land), use it every time. The only thing, I just don’t have a gloss finish on my bat. It’s matte. Paint wears down. That’s what happens.”
Trammell said he used the bat during both of his at-bats Thursday. He struck out as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning, but laced a double off Yankees closer David Bednar in the ninth. Immediately after the ball landed, Boone emerged from the dugout and asked crew chief Adrian Johnson to examine the bat.
Johnson grabbed the bat and gathered with the three other umpires in his crew. Astros manager Joe Espada stood nearby while they conversed. Johnson then had a lengthy discussion with MLB’s replay office in New York before handing the bat to an authenticator sitting near the Yankees dugout.
“The bat was worn out a little bit. He uses that bat all the time, and I guess they thought it was an illegal bat,” Espada said. “The league wants to take a look at the bat.”
MLB did not have an immediate comment late Thursday night.
Trammell was allowed to remain at second base under Rule 3.02(c), which states “if the umpire discovers that the bat does not conform … until a time during or after which the bat has been used in play, it shall not be grounds for declaring the batter out or ejected from the game.”
“It’s just something we noticed this series and asked the league about,” Boone said. “You’re not allowed to do anything to your bat. I’m not saying he was. We noticed it, and the league thought maybe it was illegal, too. I wanted to at least ask about it.”
Trammell called it “surprising” that the Yankees, an organization with which he spent most of last season, would ask for a review of his equipment.
“My time over there, I had a lot of respect for Boonie. He was straight up with me,” Trammell said. “In that situation, I really don’t understand it. I don’t understand it.”
(Photo: Alex Slitz / Getty Images)
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