Torpedo Bats Take Center Stage in Baseball

CINCINNATI — Torpedo talk overwhelmed the Rangers on Monday.

First thing in the morning, Josh Smith called his best man, Antoine Duplantis. And it wasn’t to relive wedding memories. Duplantis’ day job is as a sales rep for Marucci Sports, the company that makes Smith’s bats. Smith wanted as many details as he could get on what a torpedo bat could do for him.

Introduction to Torpedo Bats

Meanwhile, the only details Joc Pederson wanted was how fast any company could get him some.

And when the Rangers arrived for their road opener at Great American Ballpark, as luck would have it, a rep from Louisville Slugger, located just down the road, was on hand for talk about the bat design that became hot over the weekend after the New York Yankees sunk Milwaukee with a barrage of torpedoes.

“A lot of guys are going to be trying it, I promise you,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said after New York hit 15 homers, including nine in one game, in a three-game series with the Brewers. “There is a lot of interest. I had fun kidding a couple of our guys: ‘You know, you might want to think about it.’

“Some of it makes some sense to kind of move the sweet spot towards the label a little bit. I remember when I was coming up, there were a lot of different bats too. There was the Nellie Fox bat and some different shapes, maybe not quite to this extent, but they are legal and there was a lot of success in New York.”

The Science Behind Torpedo Bats

New York Yankees’ Austin Wells watches his home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Saturday, March 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

And now all of a sudden baseball is chasing the bat with what looks like a bulge in the middle and more tapering to the end. Don’t call the bat new. D-Bat, the training facility that originated in Addison, was featuring the bowling-pin-shaped bat more than 25 years ago. The Rangers saw them and even tested some out. The manufacture isn’t new.

The science, however, is. The belief is that the Yankees took metrics based on where a player makes the most contact and essentially reinforced and moved the sweet spot there. It means each bat is calibrated to a player’s individual biomechanics report. Teams, including the Rangers, have long sought to marry the metrics with bat design to better optimize the equipment. The Rangers were among the first to make bat fitting more of a science subject than one of comfort. The Rangers have sent players to Marucci’s lab in Baton Rouge, La., for years to improve the balance point on the bat.

Reactions from the Rangers

Now, there may have been other issues at play with the Yankees’ historic nine-homer output on Saturday. Namely this: The Yankees were intimately familiar with Milwaukee starter Nestor Cortes, who spent the previous four years in the Bronx. Also, Cortes’ location wasn’t exactly great on Saturday. But in baseball, everybody is looking for an edge. And, to some, the early returns on the torpedo bat represent that. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said the team was looking for edges “on the margins.”

“I think there are moments when things are pioneered in sports and this feels like one of them,” said Rangers offensive coordinator Donnie Ecker, a big believer in the advantages of optimizing science and technology.

“In some ways, it feels like technology is starting to catch up on the offensive side,” said Kevin Pillar. “The way it was explained to me was kind of like a golf club fitting and I’ve seen how that can make a difference.”

Skepticism and Interest

But not all the Rangers are sold on it. Jake Burger called himself “skeptically interested.”

“For certain guys, it’s probably beneficial,” said Burger, who ranked in the top 20% in average exit velocity among the 166 hitters with at least 300 balls measured last year. “For my swing, I feel like I hit more balls off the end of the bat than I get jammed. When I do feel like I barrel balls, I don’t think I need anything extra. I feel like there isn’t a lot of in-between on my misses. I’m way out in front on misses and it’s a ground ball. It’s not like I mishit it and it’s a routine fly ball [that would be improved]. But I’m interested.”

Burger said he’d probably want to test the bat out for a good two weeks before he felt comfortable taking it into a game.

Not Pederson.

He ordered bats and hopes to have them shortly.

“Oh, and I’m going to use them,” he said. “Simple as that.”

Conclusion

The introduction of torpedo bats has sent shockwaves throughout the baseball world. With the Yankees’ historic performance, many teams are now looking to get their hands on these innovative bats. While some players are skeptical, others are eager to try them out. As the season progresses, it will be interesting to see how these bats perform and whether they will become a game-changer in the world of baseball.

FAQs

Q: What is a torpedo bat?

A: A torpedo bat is a type of baseball bat that has a unique design, with a bulge in the middle and more tapering to the end. It is designed to optimize the sweet spot and improve a player’s performance.

Q: Who introduced the torpedo bat?

A: The New York Yankees were the first team to use the torpedo bat, and their historic performance has sparked interest in the bat throughout the baseball world.

Q: Are torpedo bats legal?

A: Yes, torpedo bats are legal and meet the standards set by Major League Baseball.

Q: How do players react to the torpedo bat?

A: Some players are skeptical, while others are eager to try out the torpedo bat. It will be interesting to see how the bat performs as the season progresses.