The raw cleft did not have the knot. I would not pick that to start with.
But obviously it showed up during the manufacturing process.
Thanks for the reply
@Butterfingerz Obviously I was not happy to see the hole and emailed about it .
I'll use the bat for now and hopefully there will be no further damage.
Again I am not sure what the industry standard for these issues. May be the required fix would have been done (even if it was doing a wood glue and willowdust fill ) as part of manufacturing because then at least I could have said it's professionally done and cleaned up, instead of me trying and leave glue marks etc as it's a brand new bat.
Or before shipping I would have been informed of and provided options, to avoid such surprises. That would have been a much better approach to handle such issue.
Sending bat back from Usa and all is big hassle.
I do like both the bats and once knocked they will ping amazing.
The shape is excellent and pickup is really good (my main reason to go with this shape).