With Opening Week wrapping up, there has been a lot of buzz about the bats the New York Yankees have been using. Not what the players around the league are using but what Yankee players are using.
For those that don’t know what a “Torpedo bat “ is, I’ll explain it for you. The traditional wood baseball bat has more of an end loaded and balanced barrel. With Torpedo bats instead of the barrel being end loaded and more balanced, the wood at the end of the bat is put into the label of the bat (located between the barrel and handle).
You might be asking “why would you do that?” I can also explain this. The analytics department within the Yankees organization made a discovery about a couple players on the roster that were hitting the ball on the label above average causing weak contact compared to other players throughout the MLB, so within the rules and measurements of the bats (can’t be more than 42 inches long and cannot go past 2.61 inches in diameter) they created the Torpedo bat.
Now the weakness the Torpedo bat has is the end of the bat, with the little wood it has at the end, if you were to hit the ball there, you’d be a guaranteed out. These bats have been around for around five years! But they’re just getting popular now.
The second game of the Yankees, Brewers opening day series things got out of hand quickly. The first three pitches former Yankee Nestor Cortes threw were all hit for home runs. Yes, Back to back to back on three pitches.
Catcher Austin Wells also ended up going deep in the first inning too. That wasn’t all though, the Yankees ended up hitting six more home runs tying an MLB record with nine total home runs. Their final box score was twenty runs, sixteen hits, and five errors.
Senior here at Cortland, Derek Tudman, described the game as unimaginable and also stated, “I was coming back from the gym and thought I had enough time to get back before anything really happens, because it usually takes until the fourth or fifth inning for really any action. But no, I was way wrong.” Just within that opening series the New York Yankees hit fifteen home runs.
Following that series the Brewers had a huge problem and sent a complaint to the league expressing that they should be banned. Milwaukee brewers pitcher, Trevor Megill openly criticized the Yankees and their use of Torpedo bats by saying, “I think it’s terrible … I’ve never seen anything like it before,” Megill also went on to compare the Torpedo bat design to a slow pitch softball bat.
When asked for his opinion on the matter longtime Yankees fan and Sophomore here at the college Jake Birnstill stated, “I think it’s absolutely ridiculous that the Brewers thought they could complain to the league and reporters in New York about how unfair the Torpedo bats are. The funny thing about all of this is that they’re legal around the league, so if they really wanted to they could’ve used them themselves. Also after that series they got blown out eleven to one against the Royals. I think they just need to wake up.”
As of now only a few teams around the league have come forward and sent in complaints to the league wanting the Torpedo bats banned. Do I see that happening? I don’t think so, at the end of the day everyone can use them and it’s all within the rules of measurements your bat can have. All it is is a bigger sweet spot, why wouldn’t other teams try it?