Torpedo bats could be solution to MLB’s search for offence

“Incoming! Take cover!” That has been heard at ballparks around the game this year, especially wherever the New York Yankees are playing.

The Yankees hit 15 home runs in their season-opening series against the Milwaukee Brewers. That eye-popping number was the result of a combination of bad pitching by Milwaukee and good hitting by the Yankees. But it also could be due to the “torpedo bats” that are the talk of baseball at the moment. 

The bats are the brainchild of former Yankees hitting analyst Aaron Leanhardt. Leanhardt was an MIT-educated physicist who was also a physics professor at the University of Michigan. He is now the Miami Marlins field coordinator. He is moving up the ranks quickly, and I suspect this recent attention and attachment to torpedo bats may get him more promotions.

When with the Yankees, Leanhardt noticed that shortstop Anthony Volpe was consistently making contact near the trademark on his bat. This is an area below the sweet spot, which is the name given to area of the bat optimal for barreling pitches with the hardest contact. 

He then studied other hitters and realized that every hitter was different as was every swing and each hitter has his own unique point of contact. So Leanhardt and others with the Yankees reached out to the companies that were making their players’ bats to see if they could manipulate the production process within the allowable rules to extend the sweet spot further down the bat away from the top. Effectively, they wanted to customize the bats to each hitter.

Bat companies obliged and the byproduct is the torpedo bat. Effectively the mass of the bat has been increased at the point of contact and is now thinner at the top, looking like a torpedo.

I saw the bats in Yankees camp before this became a story. I was waiting to interview Volpe as he and other Yankees were looking at an odd shipment of bats that Austin Wells had just received. The players were all cracking up laughing. I asked Volpe about the bowling pin-shaped bats, and he just said they were some bats the Yankees had ordered for them. Little did I realize that they were early iterations of Wells’ torpedo bat with which he homered leading off for the Yankees on Opening Day. 

These bats are not exactly brand new. Yankees designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton used one last season in the playoffs and hit seven homers. Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor used one at the end of the season as well. He was awesome in September and October.

There are more than a few players around the game that are using them too. Elly De La Cruz, the star shortstop for the Cincinnati Reds, used one on Monday night and had four hits, including two homers and a double. He drove in seven runs. We keep hearing about the players who are using them and having success; attributing that success to the bat and not the batter. 

Almost every team has now placed orders for the torpedo bats. This is a copy-cat league. If it works for them, then it should work for us. 

Is it the bat or the batter? 

So, is it the bat or the batter? It is both. There is a saying in baseball that “home runs are thrown, they aren’t hit.” That means that home runs are hit when pitchers make mistakes. Most of the Yankee longballs in their nine-homer performance on Saturday were on grooved pitches at about 91-92 MPH right down the middle.

But, that doesn’t mean the bat isn’t helping. Increasing the mass of the bat at the point of contact can only benefit hitters. So, the bats definitely help, but they are not the sole reason for hitters’ success.

Baseball has signed off on the bats already. They will not be banned. They are completely legal within the rules and acceptable specifications.

It’s amazing that after years of playing the game that it has taken so long to generate an adaptation like this. It is the evolution of the analytics of the game. It makes perfect sense. 

In the past, when hitters didn’t hit the ball on the sweet spot, coaches tried to change a batter’s timing and swing mechanics to get them more consistently on the barrel. That is a tough thing to do. Why not move the sweet spot to improve consistency, if changing timing and swing paths don’t come easily? 

Even I should have thought of it. Last year, I bought a golf driver that has a clubface aimed at correcting my slice off the tee. I figured if I can’t fix my swing, I should buy a club which fixes the result of my swing. That is the same logic for the development of the torpedo bat. Unfortunately, they haven’t come up with a club to help my horrible putting. 

Here comes more offence

Offensive numbers are going to spike with this equipment advancement. The Yankees have been the pioneers, but now everyone is ordering them. Hitters have said that not only does the ball come off the bat with more force, but they are able to create more whip because the weight balance has shifted away from the top of the bat. 

There is also a placebo effect taking place now. When hitters are told they will be better hitters with a new bat, they become more confident and therefore act like better hitters. Hitting is such a mental see-saw. The right mental trigger can spike performance for some period of time. 

But all of the players who are crushing the ball now with the torpedo bat will at some point go into a slump. It is the nature of the game. Managers and players keep reminding us, it is the batter, not the bat. It is actually now both, but far more about the batter. 

Baseball wants more offence and action, and these bats will bring that. In fact, I think that this will be the impetus for hitters to seek more contact rather than backspin. In this era of baseball, hitters try to hit the bottom of the baseball and hit home runs. Sure, it has led to more home runs but also many more strikeouts.

I have long wondered what would ever change to get hitters to seek contact over homers. This could be it: the torpedo bat. If the ball is hit harder and further now with contact, then trying to make any contact will become a priority over lifting the baseball.   

Overall, I think these new bats are good for baseball. They are innovative and creative and within the rules of the game. It will add to offence without any cheating and may increase hitters seeking contact over home runs. Pitchers won’t like it, but so what? Hitters don’t like almost every pitcher throwing 98 either. 

Hopefully, the bats clear customs quickly for the Jays’ hitters to start torpedoing the opposition.