The MLB has gotten a lot of attention since the beginning of the season due to the new bats that they’ve implemented across various teams. These bats are called “torpedo bats”, notably for their torpedo-shaped missile. The question all fans are asking is: what makes these bats so special?
The torpedo bat is made of solid maple wood and weighs around 31 to 32 ounces. The bat has a fatter base, closer to where most MLB players are making contact with the bat. These bats were designed by Aaron Leanhardt, an MIT physicist and current Miami Marlins field coordinator, with the intent that more power be driven to the area with most contact.
Based on the opening week of the MLB, thirteen hitters used the new torpedo bat. The slugging average from these batters this week had an average of .490, compared to last year’s average in the same week of .406. These batters also had a higher distance in their hits compared to the year before, in the same week.
What are MLB players saying about these bats? Max Muncy, Dodgers third baseman, said that he liked the bat, but he was really feeling inconsistent with it. Nicky Lopez, LA Angels second baseman, says that he likes it, but it takes a little bit of getting used to. Most of the other players in the MLB say that they will not even bother using the bat since they have stuck with what they have for years.
Although people might think that everyone would be using this bat, not a lot of MLB players are actually using it. Many players have stated that they think the bat feels weird, but that it is mostly due to the fact that they’ve been using their own bats for their whole careers. Aaron Judge, Yankees’ Star center fielder, says that he prefers the traditional bat, stating, “What I did these past couple of seasons speaks for itself. Why try to change something if you have something that is working?”
Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred says the torpedo bats are “absolutely good for baseball.” He says that they comply with the rules and regulations behind bats, and that all the recent attention has been good for baseball, signifying baseball’s place in America’s culture. Manfred also reminded fans that these bats were in use last year, notably by Yankees’ designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton.
So are the torpedo bats really all that? Honestly, it is really a mixed thing. The stats do look promising so far, as we see more power and more distance, but not everyone is sold on it. The torpedo bat could be a possible game changer in the future, but right now, it’s more of a thing that MLB players are just testing out, and people might need more time. Only time will tell if the torpedo bats are the next big thing in baseball, or if it was just a trend.
