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An Air Force veteran was able to honor a fallen Army soldier using skills from his side business – Baret Bats.
Juan Baret, a former Air Force sergeant and current office engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Fort Belvoir, started his business, Baret Bats, from his home in Lake Ridge.
Baret stated that the company started when he learned he could no longer play baseball due to chronic pain.
“It was crushing blow to know that I could no longer do something that I loved so much, especially at a relative young age of 33… But rather than focusing on the things I could no longer do, I focused my energies on my strengths. My strengths are passion and determination. So once I made the decision to get back in the game, I looked into making baseball bats at home,” said Baret.
According to Baret, one of the main goals of the company is to provide players with customized bats that make them feel like a professional.
“For most of my baseball playing life I used a wooden bat for practice and to play in games. Using a wood bat felt more comfortable and I performed much better when compared to using aluminum bats…the best wood went to the professional baseball players while the amateurs were left with little options but to swing subpar bats,” said Baret.
While he’s made bats for several baseball players across the country, an order that was close to him was one placed for Sean Cutsforth, an Army specialist that was killed serving in Afghanistan in 2010.
Cutsforth grew up in Prince William County, and was an avid baseball ball player.
The Brentsville District High School actually renamed their baseball field Army Specialist, Sean Russell Cutsforth Memorial Field in his honor, following his passing.
Baret was approached by Andrew Widiker, a family member of Cutsforth, and asked to make a special bat in honor of Cutsforth.
“[Widiker] found me thru my Instagram account after looking at several bat makers and decided that he wanted an actual person not a machine to make such special bat to honor his cousin Sean,” said Baret.
Baret created a custom design for the bat, titled ‘Swinging for Sean’, which featured an image of a soldier and red, white, and blue details.
Currently Baret takes orders for the bats via email or in person, but will be launching his website in August.
Baret stated that customers can order custom bats from T-ball for $35, and adult bats in the $75 to $85 range.
