Maine Baseball hopes the bat maker’s technological innovation will expand the MLB market

Brian Barker, owner of Newfangled Solutions, talks about the remote baseball bat scanner that was unveiled at a news conference at Hadlock Field on Wednesday. Governor Janet Mills, right, attends the event while holding a baseball bat made by Dove Tail Bats. Shawn Patrick Ouellette / Staff Photographer

The high-tech device displayed in front of the Portland Sea Dogs dugout Wednesday afternoon is one of a kind. A bat can scan a baseball bat in four and a half minutes by measuring its length, width and weight.

If Paul Lancic and Brian Barker have their way, there will soon be at least 30 of these remote bat scanners across the country — one in every Major League Baseball clubhouse, and possibly in minor league clubhouses.

Dovetail Bats founder Paul Lanci hopes the newly developed baseball bat scanner will help him expand the market for major leaguers. Shawn Patrick Ouellette / Staff Photographer

Lanci, founder of baseball bat maker Dove Tail Bats, and Barker, owner of software developer Newfangled Solutions, showed off their invention at a news conference at Hadlock Field. The scanner immediately sends the bat’s specifications to the Dove Tail Bats facility in northern Maine, which allows Dove Tail to make a custom bat shipped to the player in short order.

Governor Janet Mills participated in a news conference highlighting the growth of Maine-based companies – Dove Tail Bats located in Shirley, Newfangled Solutions in Livermore Falls – along with Sea Dogs infiltrator Christian Koss, who uses a Dove Tail bat.

Dove Tail started making bats in 2007. The company’s bats were first used in the major leagues in 2014, and many members of the Kansas City Royals, including Eric Hosmer, swung Dove Tail bats during the team’s run to the 2015 World Series title. Lancsi says that getting the scanner into Major League clubhouses is the next step in growing the business. Currently, 25 major league and 150 minor league veterans are swinging Dove Tail at night, he said.

“How do you get players if you don’t have access?” Lanchisi said. “For example, we couldn’t get into the Yankees clubhouse because we never had a Yankee big leaguer. Harrison Bader came with us and went crazy in the playoffs at the end of last year (Bader hit .300 with five home runs in 9 playoff games last season) and made a deal with us, allowing us to get into the clubhouse.

Bader’s advice helped sign Dove Tail Bats Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton. Other major leaguers using dovetail bats include New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso, who hit a rookie record 53 home runs in 2019, Mets outfielder Jeff McNeil and Houston Astros outfielder Jake Meyers.

A custom bat costs about $200. On the Dove Tail Bats website, bats in the company’s signature model series, featuring the signatures of Alonso and McNeil, range in price from $195 to $429.95. Bats in the company’s Pro Select line cost $199.95.

Portland Sea Dogs Christian Koss speaks with Dove Tail Bats founder Paul Lancisi at a press conference Wednesday at Hadlock Field. Shawn Patrick Ouellette / Staff Photographer

Koss, who is in his second season with the Sea Dogs, started using Dove Tail Bats this season after trying the Dove Tails used by teammates Will Dalton and Nick Northcutt last season. Koss said he likes that the maple and birch bats made by Dove Tail are heavier than traditional ash bats. And he noticed more of a trampoline effect, the faster the ball bounced off the bat, now using Dove Tail bats.

“It’s not so much about the bat breaking. If he’s not dead on the barrel, the contact is getting there,” said Koss, who has one home run and three doubles in 24 games this season. “These bats have a little more success than others would have.”

The technology used in the new scanner was developed by Newfangled Solutions. Dove Tail Bats has been using the same screening technology since 2015, but requires the bats to be transported to the facility.

Rather than having to ship a bat to Shirley in Piscataquis County, Kos said he likes the idea of ​​scanning a bat in the clubhouse and having his specifications immediately in the hands of the bat maker.

Lancsi used Kos as an example of a player who would benefit from the new scanner. Kos was with his wife, who was giving birth to their first child, when Lanchisi visited Boston Red Sox spring training camp in Fort Myers, Florida. A clubhouse host handed out one of Kos’s bats at Lancsi, instructing him to make a Dove Tail Bat to that exact specification.

A newly designed remote bat scanner was unveiled at a news conference at Hadlock Field on Wednesday. The creation is a collaboration between Dove Tail Bats and Newfangled Solutions, both Maine companies. Shawn Patrick Ouellette / Staff Photographer

With the new remote scanner, the entire process is speeded up, and a player can find the bat faster, Lancici said.

“It would be great if you could put it in the scanner, hand the kid back the bat and say, ‘Okay, there’s the file.’ The bat will be here tomorrow,” said Lanchisi.

Newfangled Solutions develops similar technology for businesses around the world, Barker said, from cutting carpets for cruise ships to cutting baseball bats. It took Newfangled Solutions about three weeks to design the scanning software and build the scanner, Barker said. How much the scanner will cost is still up in the air.

“It’s not known right now, because we haven’t tested the design. The first design was a bat scanner where we put the control software. It’s a machine that cuts the bat in there,” Barker said. It undergoes a reduction process.

Lancic also could not say how much the scanner would cost.

“It’s a pilot program. We want to see how it works. Works amazing. The scans are coming out dead. Now that’s the case, they have to up the ante and see what it costs.

The scanner will allow players to request minor adjustments to their bats, Lancisi said.

“The players go through tournaments, and they always blame the bat. A player picks up a bat and says, hey, I want Christian’s knot, but I want my barrel. no problem. We’re going to swing your bat, take out your bat and put on a Christian outfit, that’s already on file,” Lancisi said.

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