{"id":121890,"date":"2025-09-05T23:57:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T23:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/121890\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T23:57:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T23:57:08","slug":"mlb-rules-astros-taylor-trammells-bat-was-illegal-did-not-give-him-competitive-advantage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/121890\/","title":{"rendered":"MLB rules Astros\u2019 Taylor Trammell\u2019s bat was illegal, did not give him competitive advantage"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK \u2014 Major League Baseball has ruled that Houston Astros outfielder Taylor Trammell\u2019s bat, which was confiscated in the ninth inning<\/a> of Thursday night\u2019s game against the New York Yankees, was technically illegal.<\/p>\n

But the league office determined that Trammell\u2019s bat did not give him a competitive advantage, and the umpires treated the situation like \u201can impermissible glove color or design and told the player that he was no longer permitted to use the bat,\u201d according to a major-league source.<\/p>\n

MLB\u2019s bat supplier regulations, shared with The Athletic, state that a two-color bat must be divided into two sections, each of one solid color. The dividing point between each of the color sections must start 18 inches from the knob end of the bat, or next to the 1-inch solid color ring, if applicable. Multi-colored bats are only permitted if the color transition occurs at the 18-inch mark from the knob.<\/p>\n

Trammell had discoloration on the barrel of his bat, which prompted Yankees manager Aaron Boone to ask the umpires to examine it after the Astros outfielder hit a double.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrankly, that was something hard for me to do, because I don\u2019t think Taylor was up to anything \u2014\u00a0I really don\u2019t,\u201d Boone said Friday. \u201cBut it was brought to my attention and something that looked not right and, I think, not within the rules. So in the moment, I felt a duty to at least check in for my team. I\u2019m frankly satisfied with the ruling, the explanation, what have you. I don\u2019t think Taylor was up to no good at all. I do feel like in the moment that I had a duty to at least check.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Friday, both Trammell and Astros manager Joe Espada said they heard from MLB and considered the matter in the past.<\/p>\n

\u201cI appreciated the explanation,\u201d Trammell said. \u201cWas kind of in the dark for a little bit. But the biggest thing is the discoloration of the bat. We see it a lot with some guys when they have a wristband on or something like that and they just have to take it off. It\u2019s nothing crazy. Didn\u2019t impact the ball or anything like that, was more so of an aesthetic of the eye. That was basically the only thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trammell told reporters after Thursday\u2019s game that he had used that bat for \u201ca long time,\u201d and that he takes batting practice with it and had it with him when he was with Triple-A Sugar Land. He said because he doesn\u2019t have a gloss finish on his bat, the paint wears down over time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was more so just concerned if I did anything wrong,\u201d Trammell said Friday. \u201cI don\u2019t cut any corners or anything like that. I just wanted to make sure that, one, I didn\u2019t want to bring any attention to the clubhouse or anything like that. We\u2019re here to win and I felt like that was kind of a hurdle in that. I just wanted to make sure the team knows I\u2019m here to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trammell played five games for the Yankees last year before being released. He has a 90 wRC+<\/a> for the Astros in 44 games this season. On Friday, Trammell reiterated his affinity for the Yankees organization, which he said treated him well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got a lot of respect for those guys over there,\u201d Trammell said. \u201cThey traded me over here, which for me, has been a great opportunity. I love it here. My wife loves it here. It\u2019s a great organization and, over there, great organization that is first-class and treated me well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trammell did have one unresolved concern: whether he\u2019ll receive the bat back from MLB.<\/p>\n

\u201cI probably just want it to have it just \u2019cause. I can have a story to tell my grandkids about it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a cool, funny story. But I don\u2019t know if they\u2019ll give it back.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Photo of umpires Adrian Johnson and Ramon De Jesus examining Taylor Trammell\u2019s bat: Alex Slitz \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2014 Major League Baseball has ruled that Houston Astros outfielder Taylor Trammell\u2019s bat, which was confiscated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":121891,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,5163,591,2704,85],"class_list":["post-121890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-houston-astros","tag-mlb","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}