The Opening Weekend of baseball has come and gone and while some teams remain winless, undefeated, or right at .500, the primary story is coming from the Bronx. The power surge in the opening series for the Yankees has raised some eyebrows and created a wave of questioning across all fanbases and teams. Why you may ask?
Torpedo Bats.
Torpedo whats? Torpedo bats.
Yeah, sounds crazy. Well, it is. Apparently, this season has launched a potential new wave of Major League Baseball. The era of the torpedo bats.
The New York Yankees have played baseball for over 120 years and have never launched 9 home runs in a single game until this past Saturday against the Milwaukee Brewers. A game where they showed off these new bats. This 9-homer game plus the other 6 they hit in the balance of the series stirred up some controversy as 9 of these 15 total dingers were struck with torpedo bats.
These bats are custom-made tools designed to adjust the sweet spot of the bat to where the specific player typically makes the most contact. Players like Anthony Volpe and Jazz Chisholm have the barrels, or the sweet spots, of the bats adjusted to be lower and more towards the middle of the bat since that is where most of their bat-to-ball contact has historically occurred. The barrel of the bat is usually towards the top of the bat…hence, the controversy.
These were designed by Aaron Leanhardt, an MIT physicist, while he was employed by the New York Yankees. He simply knew that hitting baseballs with the barrel of a bat causes harder contact and conceptualized the notion of adjusting the weight allocation of the wood to alter the location of the barrel.
The adjustment of the sweet spot has seemingly changed the game for some Yankee sluggers as they crushed the ball regularly throughout the opening series. Opposing players and managers have been outwardly expressing disdain for the new pieces of lumber while others have been saying it does not change anything.
Brewers skipper, Pat Murphy, may have had the quote of the weekend as it was his team that was on the receiving end of the Bronx Bombers’ barrage of homers. When asked about the customized bats, Murphy stated “My old ass will tell you this for sure. It ain’t the wand, it’s the magician.”
I agree to an extent that the batter is the one with the talent and the one who must see the ball, lock in, and make contact. However, there is that nagging part of me that sees the other side as well. While players are the true “magicians” here, they are being handed a “wand” that may actually be magical.
I think a magician with a legitimate magical wand trumps any other magician Pat Murphy is referring too.
The new bats are created based off a deep analysis of player metrics and the shifting of the sweet spot takes the strategizing and adjustment needs out of the players hands. The wand may now be truly magical.
I will also mention that other teams and players across the league, including Francisco Lindor and Ryan Jeffers, have used the new bat as well so far and have experienced less success. I think the Yankees just got off to a very hot start and the baseball world was gift-wrapped a reason to be upset about it.
The truth is that these bats are legal based on the official MLB rulebook.
The rule is officially noted in that “The bat shall be a smooth, round stick not more than 2.61 inches in diameter at the thickest part and not more than 42 inches in length. The bat shall be one piece of solid wood.” As wonky as they may be, the torpedo bats fit these standards and do not break any rules.
If they truly do give a competitive advantage to certain players who have consistent barrel rate metrics, you will see more and more players arming themselves with this new oddly shaped weaponry. For example, Elly de la Cruz has already decided to try it out ahead of his Monday night game against Texas. He went 4-5 with two home runs and 7 RBI.
Players may choose to use them to break slumps and correct their approach at the plate during times of struggle. You will see adjustments in pitching strategy and a bigger boost in batter aggression, and this is exactly what fans like to see (which is probably why it is all one big Manfred scheme). This could lead to higher home run numbers across the league.
This very small sample size and early findings are not yet enough to properly say what is true and what is not, but I think it was large enough to launch a discussion and turn heads across all levels of the sport.
We will be seeing a lot more of these bats as the season goes on.
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