There was no hashing out of the regulations, he says. (The league confirms this and says it spoke to several batmakers.) "When you're king of the hill, lots of people take swings at you, " Hillerich shrugs.
One of the new product lines indirectly referenced by Hillerich is the Louisville Slugger MLB Prime baseball bat, which the company says is the hardest bat to be swung thus far in Major League Baseball and boldly states is the biggest product innovation since the introduction of cupped bats in 1972.