Buckeyes Suspended, Big Ten Media Days, Reds Making Deals

By Steve Brown

Published July 31, 2015 at 1:57 PM EDT

This week on After The Score, Steve Brown and Thomas Bradley talk about four Buckeyes that have been suspended for a violation of team rules, Big Ten Media Days and the Cincinnati Reds making moves at the deadline.

Buckeyes

News broke this week that four Ohio State Buckeyes will miss the season-opening game against Virginia Tech on September 7.

Joey Bosa, Jalin Marshall, Corey Smith and Dontre Wilson will not suit up against Virginia Tech. Steve and Thomas talk to Rob Oller from the Columbus Dispatch about what this means for the Buckeyes and whether or not it will derail the Buckeyes' season.

Media Days

The Big Ten hosts Media Days every year in Chicago, where reporters get a chance to talk to all the coaches and a few players in the Big Ten. This was the first year Jim Harbaugh is in the Big Ten, so the obvious question has to be: What is he going to do to turn around the Michigan football program.

Eric Segar, from Eleven Warriors, joins the show to talk about different storylines happening in Chicago.

Bats

The Louisville Slugger might be the most famous brand of wooden bats in baseball.. But that doesn't mean they are the only one. In a small, non-descript factory in Plain City, Ohio, Phoenix Bats is churning our thousands of bats.

Steve took a visit to the factory to learn more about the factory and the bat industry in baseball.

Baseball bat billets that will be transformed into baseball bats at the Phoenix Bats factory in Plain City.

A wood lathe transforms a billet into a baseball bat in just two minutes at the Phoenix Bats' factory in Plain City.

Wood nubs that are cut off of the end of a baseball barrel. — Phoenix Bats donates excess wood to another Plain City business that uses the pieces in wood burning furnace at the core of its business.

Miguel Cabrera Phoenix Bats — Miguel Cabrera used a bat made by Phoenix Bats in Plain City when he won the Triple Crown during the 2012 season as a member of the Detroit Tigers.

Racks of baseball bats at the Phoenix Bats factory in Plain City. — The lobby of Phoenix Bats features racks of baseball bats including bats the company has produced for Major League baseball players Robinson Cano, Miguel Cabrera, Yasiel Puig.

Reds

The Reds are definitely sellers at the deadline, and with a future to think about, who will be leaving The Great American Ballpark for greener pastures? Steve and Thomas talk to Grant Freking from Red Leg Nation and the Cincinnati Magazine.