When the Philadelphia Phillies were batting against the Washington Nationals on Sunday during the MLB Little League Classic did you think you were seeing Nickelodeon-esque, digitally-altered bats?
You weren’t. The bats were real and they were magnificent.
MLB Classic 2023:Phillies, Nationals are kids for a day, mingling among Little Leaguers
The Phillies’ Bryson Stott and Weston Wilson were showing a back-to-school look with lumber painted like a No. 2 pencil. Philadelphia’s bat rack looked more like cars on pit road before a NASCAR race, with most bats sporting a different paint scheme. Bryce Harper used a bat decorated with the Phillie Phanatic’s green image. Alec Bohm held one painted with Liberty Bells and “I Love This Place” painted in four different bells, a nod to his infamous “hate this place” quote from last season.
Wilson, who played 706 games in the minors before he homered in his first big league at-bat, showed off the pencil design on his 34-by-31¼-model bat in the cramped clubhouse. Wilson said he “absolutely” would use the bat in a pinch-hitting role.
The bats were made by Victus Sports and actually available for sale. The pencil bats run around $250 for a youth model to $300 for a full-sized model.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
