Montero put his mouth to the barrel of two bats to select which one he was going to use for his seventh inning at-bat, and after this video went viral, Montero was asked to explain exactly what he was doing.
"I actually wasn't licking it," he said. "It was more my teeth, so kind of feeling the [grain]."Montero prefers bats that have grain that sticks out a little bit rather than bats that are completely smooth. As far as why Montero doesn't use his hands for this:
"I had my batting gloves on, and with the batting gloves on, I couldn't really feel the grain of the bat," Montero said. "It takes a lot of work to take my batting gloves off after I hit, because I put so much sticky stuff on my batting gloves."We're not sure how sanitary this bat selection method is, and it certainly didn't work for Montero Monday night as he went 0-for-5 in the game. However, Montero seems to believe in it, and as long as he's not damaging his teeth or getting sick from putting his mouth on the bats, then we say "whatever floats your boat".
Video via MLB. H/T MLB.com.
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Moonlighting as a blogger to pursue my interest and enjoyment of sports. Former high school and Division I athlete (now a "retired" family man) that loves watching and discussing all sports. Follow me on Twitter (@HoldoutSports) and like Holdout Sports on Facebook.
