Is it okay to bat flip in an MLB game? According to Jake Arrieta, yes, but only for some people. So, which bat flippers earn the scorn of the Chicago Cubs ace?
Apparently it’s not the proven vets. But if a youngster flips his bat after taking Arrieta yard, he might want to take cover in his next at-bat.
Arrieta on a player bat flipping him after a HR. "If he's a vet + earned it no prob. If he's a young guy he might wear next one in the ribs"
— David Kaplan (@thekapman) March 7, 2017
The one thing we need to know from Arrieta is how many home runs does someone need to hit to have “earned it?”
That seems like kind of an arbitrary term.
Of course, it only makes sense that even in a moment of clarity, we get arbitrary terms. There’s nothing in baseball’s rule book against bat flipping. That falls into the category of one of baseball’s “unwritten rules,” which are generally completely arbitrary and subjective.