Braves collectors - heads up

[kylehess10]

As a lot of you know, I work for the Triple-A team for the Braves and I pay a lot of attention to the equipment they use. I noticed this past homestand that when Jose Constanza and JC Boscan came back after a few weeks in the majors, they brought back a lot of bats with them, so I wanted to give a heads up to Braves collectors incase they see these on eBay without the MLB hologram.

JC Boscan is using Martin Prado bats (marking his with "JC")

Jose Constanza is using Juan Francisco bats

Felix Pie is using Dan Uggla & Michael Bourn bats


Here's a few pics I was able to grab:

Prado bat





Bourn bat




Juan Francisco bat

[Birdbats]

Great info, Kyle. People always ask me, "Why do we see so many Pujols bats with use that's not consistent with Pujols?" This is part of the reason. Notice none of the Braves brought back relief pitchers' bats -- it's guys like Uggla, Borne and Prado. Surprised there's no Chipper or McCann bats in there. It's no fun getting sent back to the bus leagues, but if you can take a Pujols (or Uggla or Borne) bat back with you, well, that's something.

[coxfan]

Thanks much for the heads up. As time goes on permits, maybe you can add some observations about why players move their bats around. For example, I saw some uncracked Pete Orr bats for sale by the Braves a few years ago, right after Orr was sent to AAA. I theorized that Orr decided to change bat models because his lack of hitting was a problem; and when he got back he did seem to be using a different kind of bat. And why would established MLB players allow their bats to be taken down to the minors?

Any such insights would help bat collectors get a better sense of things, like why uncracked bats may be sold by clubs. ( And there's still the question, raised in an earlier thread, why the Braves wouldn't send those uncracked Orr bats further down their minor-league organization instead of selling them.)