Soroka believes pitchers will adjust to torpedo bats: 'Don't see an issue'
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Canadian starter Michael Soroka said Wednesday he has no issue with baseball’s new torpedo bat phenomenon and chalked the equipment change up to being one of the constant adjustments made within the sport.
Soroka joined TSN 1050’s First Up Wednesday ahead of his Washington Nationals wrapping up a three-game series in Toronto against the Blue Jays. Like everyone else, Soroka is still learning about the new bats dominating headlines early this MLB season.
“I think it probably kind of falls into the category of making this game as good as possible. I think hitters adjust, we adjust. We learned how to use the baseballs that are given. We learned how to use everything. We’ve got pitch design metrics like never before, and obviously, if they’ve got an ability to customize a bat to fit their swing I feel like they’re going to do it,” the Calgary native told Aaron Korolnek and Carlo Colaiacovo.
Soroka said he sees pitchers making a counter adjustment by changing how they attack hitters using torpedo bats by trying to keep the ball off the new sweet spot.
“I think that moving the sweet spot towards the hands a little bit, a correction I see us making is throwing a lot of things that run away from hitters and get them off the sweet spot horizontally that way. I think it’s just going to be one of those things,” he said.
“But it could end up being something I pay attention to who has it in a lineup and maybe how we pitch to that certain guy. So, it’s always a game of adjustments and as of right now it doesn’t seem like they’re giving them extra bounce and/or extra exit velo, it’s just changing where the sweet spot is a little bit. As of right now, I don’t see an issue with it.”
Soroka said he’s no expert on the change, but indicated he doesn’t think the bat is materially different.
“To my understanding it doesn’t necessarily make the sweet spot bigger it just kind of moves it down the bat a little bit, or up the bat towards the handle,” he said.
MLB confirmed last week the new bats were legal since they did not exceed limitations in diameter or length. As TSN Baseball Insider Steve Phillips pointed out in a column posted Wednesday, some players were using the new bats last year, including Giancarlo Stanton of the New York Yankees, who hit seven home runs during the postseason.
Phillips also noted that the new bats could lead to more offence by improving solid contact and also giving hitters more confidence when they step to the plate.