Houston Astros outfielder Taylor Trammell will not be punished after having his bat confiscated in the ninth inning of Thursday’s 8-4 loss to the New York Yankees after manager Aaron Boone questioned its legality.
With the Yankees up 8-3, Trammell doubled off reliever David Bednar to give the Astros runners on second and third base with no outs. That’s when Boone approached the umpires about Trammell’s bat. Boone and Houston manager Joe Espada both spoke with home plate umpire Adrian Johnson, who communicated with the MLB replay office in New York. The bat was then given to an official who sat near home plate, and the inning resumed.
Advertisement
The Astros ultimately fell short and lost the game 8-4.
Trammell said Thursday he was told the Yankees believed the bat was “shaved down too much.” Boone said the team noticed something about it and spoke to the league about it beforehand.
On Friday, Trammell said he spoke to MLB officials and was told the issue was with some discoloration of the barrel of his bat.
“We see it a lot with some guys who may have a wristband on or something like that, and just got to take it off. So, it’s nothing crazy, didn’t impact the ball or anything like that,” Trammell said. “It was more so of an aesthetic of the eye, so that was basically the only thing.”
MLB Rule 3.02(a) states that bats used in MLB 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.” Trammell remained in the game despite the Yankees’ objection, as Rule 3.02(c) reads, “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.”
Advertisement
Trammell, who entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning, went 1-for-5 with one RBI and a walk in two games against the Yankees.
“Frankly, that was something hard for me to do because I don’t think Taylor was up to anything. I really don’t,” Boone said on Friday. “In the moment, I felt like a duty to at least check in for my team. But, you know, I’m frankly satisfied with the ruling, the explanation.”
Trammell spent two weeks with the Yankees early last season, appearing in five games and recording a single at-bat. He played most of 2024 with their Triple-A team in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
In all likelihood, Trammell won’t getting the bat back from MLB officials.
“I probably would just want it, to have it just because I can have a story to tell my grandkids about it. It’s kind of a cool, funny little story,” Trammell said. “I don’t know if they’ll give it back. They put a sticker on it so it’s authenticated at least. … So, somebody is going to have it.”
Read the full article here
