Sports Insight

BASEBALL First and foremost were the bat battles — uncertainties among retailers and their customers about which bats were legal to use in youth leagues around the country. By all accounts it was good news for the retailers and dealers who sell bats, not so good for the parents and players who had to shell out for another bat because of changing regulations. The introduction of the new USA Baseball-mandated USABat standard on youth baseball bats last year was arguably the biggest new product/new performance standard introduction in the history of the game, since the youth bat market is the biggest bat market in baseball. Russell Hartford, USA Baseball's director of the USABat program, was pleased with the overall introduction of the new youth baseball bat performance standard, which became official on January 1, 2018 after years of planning and preparation. "USA Baseball is proud of the USABat standard's success in its inaugural year," says Hartford. "Establishing and implementing a wood-like performance standard to protect the long-term integrity of the game for our youth athletes has been the goal of USA Baseball and our national member organi- zations from its inception." The first season certainly provided a learn- ing experience for USA Baseball, its youth bat licensees, retailers, team dealers and players. In many respects, manufacturers, retailers and team dealers were playing a guessing game when it came to deciding how many youth bats to produce, which ones to buy and where to send them. Making matters more complicated was the fact that the new performance standard allowed bat makers to manufacture and sell both 2 ¼-inch and 2 5/8-inch diameter bats. But that begged the question of how many of each bat to produce. There was no clear- cut answer. Rawlings and Baden Sports now admit that they underestimated demand. "We shipped nearly four times of what we had planned leading up to the standard change and we still didn't have enough," reports Kyle Murphy, director/BUL–bats/ batting gloves, for Rawlings Sporting Goods. "We placed our bets on the bigger barrel, so most of our supplier capacity was directed that way. I think we made a wise gamble, as we did not lose many 2 ¼-inch sales." "Demand for our youth bats increased dramatically last year and made it difficult to keep certain models in stock, even with our most optimistic forecasts for the category," reports Jay Helmick, senior VP at Axe Bat/ Baden Sports. "We definitely could have sold a lot more had we had the inventory. Demand for youth Axe Bats far exceeded supply," Helmick adds. "We heavily favored 2 5/8-inch barrels in our forecasting and that turned out to be in line with what our customers wanted." Murphy says the overall consumer response to the new bats from Rawlings was positive, despite the fact that every new USABat- standard bat was not as responsive as the older, BPF standard bats. "Overall, the response was very favorable," he says. "We picked up significant market share. "That said, I can't say the players, parents or coaches were thrilled about the perfor- mance change," he says, adding that "we often heard that we had the best 'dead bat' on the market." Adding to the confusion in 2018 was that USSSA remained tethered to the 1.15/BBF performance standard, in effect making two main performance standards on bats in youth baseball. Having two types of bats on retail shelves left some parents shaking their heads in disbelief and hesitant to buy either bat. "In many states where both USA Baseball and USSSA are played, the consumer focus was to buy the new USABat, which was man- datory and they pushed off a new USSSA bat purchase," notes Murphy. "Also, I believe there was some confusion as to how the USA Baseball/USABat standard change affected USSSA, which caused buyers' hesitation to spend." The good news: There are no new bat standards on the horizon for youth baseball. The Flap Around C-Flap The issue of the legality of the C-Flap, the now ubiquitous protective attachment for batting helmets from Markwort Sporting Goods, shows no sign of going away. Anyone watching a Major League baseball game this past season could hardly miss the likes of Bryce Harper, Christian Yelich, Mike Trout and Giancarlo Stanton sporting the extra protection. Those are some pretty strong, unpaid endorsements that are doing nothing to get the product approved for use in youth baseball. "It's very gratifying to see the C-Flap being worn by the best players in baseball," says Herb Markwort, president and CEO of Markwort Sporting Goods, who remains frustrated in the lack of official acceptance of C-Flap by youth baseball governing bodies, but remains undaunted in his effort to change minds. The C-Flap is actually a piece of plastic Champro: Custom Catcher's Gear features sublimation technology. Logos, names and patterns can be added to the chest protector. Matching colors and accents are added to leg guards and helmet. sportsinsightmag.com January/February 2019 Sports Insight • 15

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