Louisville Slugger signed Miami Marlins Gold-Glove-winning left fielder Christian Yelich, 23, to an endorsement deal. The company has signed more than 8,000 professional players over the
decades, but Yelich marked the first time a Major Leaguer signed his contract
while at Louisville Slugger’s facilities.
“We’re fortunate to have the most recognized brand in baseball equipment,” said Louisville Slugger VP of Corporate Communications Rick Redman. “Louisville Slugger started the professional athlete endorsement contract 110 years ago, in 1905, when we signed Honus Wagner. Since then we’ve signed thousands of players, but this is the first time we’ve had a public signing ceremony and the first time we’ve signed a player in our own building. We’re honored that Christian Yelich is that first player.”
Yelich spent the day at the bat factory observing production and talking with workers to learn how they make the number one and Official Bat of Major League Baseball.
“Seeing the care and quality of work in our factory helps players gain an appreciation for what goes in to making their bats,” said Louisville Slugger Director of Professional Baseball Sales James Sass. “They see the high standards used to hand-select wood and the technology at work to produce consistently great bats. Players see the innovative processes we’ve created for making the wood harder, including the hardest and most beautiful finishes in baseball. “
One of the benefits players receive as Louisville Slugger contract players is having their signatures branded onto their bats. Over the years, countless players have said they knew they’d made the big leagues the first time they saw their signatures on Louisville Slugger bats. So today, after the signing ceremony, Louisville Slugger officials led Yelich back to the factory to watch his first dozen bats as a contract player get branded with his signature.
“That’s pretty sweet,” Yelich said about his signature going on bats. “The whole factory is really amazing to see. I had no idea of all the detail that goes in to making MLB bats.”
Yelich swings 34-inch, 31-ounce, maple S318 model Louisville Slugger bats. His bats are cupped and then finished in Louisville Slugger’s exclusive H9 hardness high-gloss black.
CHRISTIAN YELICH & LOUISVILLE SLUGGER FAST FACTS
Christian Yelich was the first-round draft pick of the Marlins in 2010.
He is ranked as one of the top young stars in the game (as high as #4 in the Top 25 Under 25 #1 Mike Trout, #2 Yasiel Puig, #3 Bryce Harper, #4 Christian Yelich, #5 Manny Machado).
In just two seasons in the Major League, Yelich is already considered one of the game’s top defenders, winning a Gold Glove in 2014.
Yelich has elite hitting potential, attributable to his work ethic and advanced approach at the plate for a 23-year-old. The vast majority of players his age are still in the Minor League.
In just 206 games in the Major League, (20132014) Yelich has already accumulated:
➢ 234 hits, 42 doubles, 7 triples, 13 home runs
➢ 70 RBIs, 101 walks, .285 batting average, .365 OBP
Scouts project Yelich as a 25-home-run-per-year hitter.
Yelich joins the more than 8,000 other professional players to sign a bat contract with Louisville Slugger, the Official Bat of Major League Baseball.
He is the first player in 131 years to sign his bat contract at Louisville Slugger’s facilities.
Louisville Slugger was the first sporting goods company to sign a professional athlete to an endorsement contract. That player was Honus Wagner, a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame’s inaugural induction class. Wagner signed with Louisville Slugger in 1905.
80 percent of the hitters in Baseball’s Hall of Fame were under bat contracts with Louisville Slugger, the number one and Official Bat of Major League Baseball.
