Taylor Trammell watched as the Houston Astros were on the verge of losing to the New York Yankees, but in the ninth inning he delivered one last push with a double — only for umpire Adrian Johnson to stop the game and inspect his bat. “It’s actually ridiculous. I have no idea what really happened,” Trammell said afterward.
“I’ve had that bat since I’ve been here,” he added. “I’ve had it for a long time. I usually take BP with it. I use it in games, I use it in Sugar Land, I use it every time I need. The only thing is I just don’t have a gloss finish on my bat. It’s matte. Paint wears down. That’s what happened.”
The Astros eventually lost the game, but the unusual decision to halt play for a bat inspection drew plenty of attention, especially with two heavyweights like the Yankees and Astros battling it out. Trammell admitted he had no idea what the umpires were looking for.
Trammell says he is not a cheater
He also confessed he didn’t even know what “shaving down a bat” meant, saying the incident put him through a mental test as he watched Johnson and the umpiring crew check his equipment for possible cheating.
“I just got word they thought my bat was shaved down too much. To be honest, I have no idea how you shave down a bat. I don’t know what it is. I feel kind of defensive right now, like a test of my character, as if I’d willingly do that.”
“I’m just kind of lost on that thing, and if anybody knows me, they know 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. I used it in the first at-bat and it wasn’t a problem. I struck out and it wasn’t a problem then.”
