As fast as the home runs that have sprung off of them, the fabled “torpedo bats” have made a dramatic entrance into Major League Baseball this season. The new bat has caught the eye of many Major League hitters and has even begun to sneak its way into the Philadelphia Phillies’ clubhouse.
The bats first caught the national eye following the New York Yankees’ sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers during Opening Weekend. The Yankees hit 15 home runs against the Brewers with nine of those home runs coming off the newly-designed torpedo bats. Noticing the results, Phillies’ third baseman Alec Bohm received a torpedo bat from Victus, the bat company Bohm utilizes, ahead of Monday’s home opener.
What is the big deal with these bats?
The bat in question, birthed out of the Yankees’ analytics department, has the thickest part of the bat, the barrel, moved down the shaft six inches closer to the batter’s hands. Essentially, this shifts the barrel of the bat to a position the bat is more likely to connect with the ball. The intention is that this will allow batters to hit the harder, more often.
The bats are, as of now, legal for use in Major League Baseball. Consulting the rulebook, it states that the bat must not exceed 2.61 inches in diameter at the thickest point and that the bat must not be longer than 42 inches. Per those rules, the bat is legal. Whether that changes will be up to if the League embraces the bat or finds it to be an unfair advantage.
While the bats have certainly worked for some players so far, it is not going to work for everyone. As Phillies second baseman Bryson Stott told NBC Sports Philadelphia on Monday, if a player utilizes most of the bat, the torpedo bat will not work for them. Each player essentially is left to work with their bat provider to determine if it is the right course of action to take for them.
Phillies’ Strahm gives opinion
Some pitchers are having mixed feelings over the new bats. Pitchers and batters are constantly playing the cat-and-mouse game of trying to find an advantage over one another.
Matt Strahm took to social media on Tuesday saying: “Let them use whatever bat they want. Let’s just allow pitchers to use whatever hitters have in the on deck circle. And not check us like we are criminals every time we walk on or off the field. I’m just a pitcher but I’m assuming better grip helps ya swing harder…”
While Strahm is fine with the torpedo bats, he is taking the opportunity to call out MLB’s response to pitchers using foreign substances on their hand. In 2021, the league announced that not only were all foreign substances banned from use by pitchers, but pitchers were also subject to hand and equipment inspections after every inning.
Reading between the lines to the deeper issue
Without explicitly saying so, Strahm was calling out Major League Baseball for what is a potentially inequitable treatment of pitchers versus batters. A batter steps up to the plate and they can utilize batting gloves, tape, and pine tar to better grip the bat. And while those instruments are primarily to prevent a bat from slipping out a batter’s hand, they do also allow a batter to more precisely swing their bat with the intention of hitting the baseball. Add in a more optimized bat increasing the surface area a batter can use and the odds are about as much in their favor as possible without performance-enhancing drugs.
If you look at what pitchers to have to work with, it’s really just their abilities and the ball. Sure, use a little rosin to dry your hand, but that’s it. Don’t even think about mixing the rosin with that sunscreen you have on.
Don’t get me wrong, pitchers today have all of the tools at their disposal analytically to break down their motion and optimize just about every aspect of their craft. But batters do too. There is no true competitive advantage either way in the analytics era, just constant adjustment.
But when it comes to equipment, it seems the game has been skewed towards the batter, for better or worse. So why is this so?
Ratings.
Major League Baseball, like all professional sports, is an entertainment industry. And while the classic “the game is scripted” conspiracy theory is just that, a conspiracy, it is no secret that MLB has to do what they can to get strong ratings. No one questions that a 7-6 baseball game is more exciting than a 1-0 pitcher’s duel.
Regardless of the effects on pitchers and hitters alike, the torpedo bat is here to stay for the time being. Whether everyone starts to use the bat, only a select few, or if MLB outlaws the bat is yet to be seen, but the impact of the newly designed bat has only just begun.
Mandatory Credit: Reggie Hildred-Imagn Images
