HOUSTON – Baseball in Houston is huge.
From the diamond at Minute Maid to the ones not quite as big around the area. For many families, their entire world revolves around baseball.
For those who play “select” or “travel” baseball as it is known in other states, the focus on pitching, hitting and fielding is daily. However, for thousands of families not only in Houston but across the nation, there has been much discussion over the past week involving a bat that many initially considered too good to be true, the Hype Fire -5 (drop 5) by Easton.
A bat like no other in recent memory where the ball comes off the bat much faster, in baseball terms this is called “exit velocity.”
As a result, balls are going farther and many kids are enjoying a trot around the bases whereas before, the same hit might not have cleared the fence.
“There would be check swing home runs and people would be like what?” said Jr. Aguilar, the father of a select player.
The kids enjoying newfound success are primarily 13 years old and up. But there are kids in younger age groups swinging it as well.
However, over the past week, controversy has emerged.
The largest operator of select baseball tournaments in the area, and arguably the nation, opted to temporarily suspend the use of the Hype Fire -5.
Perfect Game emailed parents on Monday, April 8th announcing this particular model and size was being suspended from tournament play. Following that email parents immediately started asking questions and venting, “Think of it as 5 p,m. rush hour. It was announced and then everybody and jumped on the freeway,” said Aguilar the founder of Houston Area Select Baseball Community a Facebook group with over 26,000 members. Aguilar has seen numerous posts regarding this controversy over the past week.
Eric Cortez was one of those frustrated with the sudden change.
“I bought it probably like four months ago, $350 bucks, and now it’s just his practice bat,” said Cortez while holding his son’s suspended bat.
Timothy Williams coaches a team where multiple kids used the bat. “It’s the hottest bat out there on the market,” is how he described it. Williams also made it clear during our interview he has never seen anything like this bat controversy dominate the conversation around ballfields and away from them in his eight years of coaching.
The reason for the temporary suspension?
Perfect Game made it clear in a second lengthy statement sent to parents Monday afternoon, “Safety and integrity of the game are two major factors at Perfect Game events, and with the implementation of the following changes, we are taking steps to provide an updated and premier experience on the baseball field. Perfect Game is currently investigating the Easton – Hype Fire Bat for its safety and integrity, even though it is currently still certified by its manufacturer,” said the statement.
The message was similar to what was conveyed to parents and players a week earlier, “I don’t know about integrity, it’s fun to see kids hit home runs,” said Cortez.
The price of the bat varies, but it is routinely over $300 dollars. The game is much more costly these days than when parents were playing baseball as kids. “Bats are very expensive and I don’t have money to keep buying different bats over and over,” said Cortez who says he will be more cautious when purchasing costly bats in the future out of concern for a potential suspension of his investment.
Aguilar also pointed out in a phone call with KPRC 2 Investigates that this situation is not a one-off in the sport but is different this time. “This is not the first time bats have been banned or suspended, but this caused more movement because it’s the hottest bat that came out in a long time.”