04/08/26 – NFHS Information on Baseball Bat Wraps

April 8, 2026 Athletic Department Blog Updates

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The NFHS has been alerted to a product marketed as a bat barrel wrap that covers the bat’s graphics. The covering is shrink-wrapped to the bat barrel, which poses several issues related to bat compliance and is therefore prohibited in NFHS baseball competition. Specifically, NFHS rules require:

• Bats that are crack-free. Bat wraps potentially cover cracks, breaks, and dents, and could make them undetectable to the coach and/or umpire.
• Bats that meet the Batted Ball Coefficient of Restitution (BBCOR) performance standard and bear the rectangular certification mark “BBCOR .50” (except all wood bats made of a single piece of wood).
• Bats that do not contain materials inside the bat or treatments/devices used to alter the bat specifications and/or enhance performance are prohibited and render the bat illegal.

A bat wrapping that covers the bat barrel also covers potential cracks, breaks, and dents.

The BBCOR certification mark would be considered an altered bat per NFHS Baseball Rules 1-3-2a(3), 1-3-5, and 7-4-1a. 

— KHSAA — 

About the Kentucky High School Athletic Association
The Kentucky High School Athletic Association was organized in 1917 and is the agency designated by the Kentucky Department of Education to manage high school athletics in the Commonwealth. The Association is a voluntary, nonprofit 501(c) (3) organization composed of 284 member schools, both public and non-public. The KHSAA awards 215 state championships to 51 teams and 164 individuals in 13 sports and six sport-activities, funds catastrophic insurance coverage for its more than 106,000 rostered member school student-athletes, provides coaching education and sports safety programs for more than 12,000 coaches and licenses and facilitates the distribution of training material for over 4,000 contest officials.

 

 

 

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