Torpedo Bats: A Worthless Craft

The torpedo bat is not as hot as people say. Since the torpedo bat is fixated on the center of the strike zone, pitches on the left and right of the zone will become increasingly challenging to make contact with. The bat’s shorter size and increased width prevent hitters from making good contact with pitches away from them. The change in balance and weight can result in more mishits, such as groundouts or popouts. Also, the weight distribution of the torpedo bat slows down bat speed, resulting in softer hit balls and making them easier to field. Therefore, the torpedo bat is not an immediate remedy for hitting flaws, despite the Yankees’s incredible offense on Opening Day weekend. 

The innovative dimensions of the bat may seem smart at first, but the more it’s considered, the more issues stand out. For one, stretching out the length of the contact point is a major disadvantage; the bat’s weight distribution is disordered and completely changed from a normalized bat, throwing off batters. A typical bat’s equal distribution of weight allows for a seamless, quick swing. The torpedo bat completely negates that; distributing weight more favorably onto the barrel causes a batter’s bat speed to slow down. Slower bat speeds result in softer hit balls, which lead to easily fielded outs. For example, Tampa Bay Rays’ infielder Junior Caminero is the current leader in average bat speed and has significantly more barrels per plate appearance than San Diego Padres’ first baseman Luis Arraez, who currently has the lowest average bat speed. Caminero has 8.5 barrels per plate appearance while Arraez has 0.0. This means that a slower bat speed—which is what the torpedo bat gives to the hitter—results in fewer hard hits, placing the hitter in an awful position. 

The New York Yankees hit 15 home runs over Opening Day weekend, nine of which were demolished by a torpedo bat. However, outfielder slugging star Aaron Judge—who hit three home runs of the Yankees’s 15—says that he is not planning on swapping his usual bat for a torpedo bat anytime soon. This shows how experienced big-leaguers like Judge are not fooled by this new bat while young players are eager to experiment. 

In fact, many players have experimented with the torpedo bat, and the overall consensus is that it’s not worth the hype. Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy recently tried the torpedo bat but went 0-3 with it. Later in the same game, Muncy switched back to his normal bat and hit a game-tying double. In an interview with Yahoo! Sports, Muncy said, “Starting with that bat, it felt good; swing felt good; but after the Dylan Lee at-bat, I felt like the bat was causing me to be a little bit off-putting—a little bit in and out of the zone because my swings felt really, really good tonight but maybe just a bit off.” 

Similarly, in an interview with ESPN Chicago Cubs third baseman Matt Shaw said, “I’ve used it in batting practice. I wasn’t a big fan. The weight felt a little heavier. The ball feedback wasn’t as good. But we'll see.”

Other veterans aren’t even bothered by this invention because they’re aware of the risks and flaws hidden behind the clever facade. Addressing the Yankees’ use of the bat and his own thoughts, Minnesota Twins outfielder Byron Buxton said, “I haven’t tried it, not going to try it either. I’ve been doing perfectly fine with my bats—no point in trying to switch it up now. People are blowing up the Yankees about all the homers they hit—the same guys that hit homers are the same guys that hit homers last year. It’s not that big of a deal.”

Players young and old have all tried the bat, and the league-wide consensus is that the bat’s effectiveness is purely up to the hitter. Furthermore, they believe that the torpedo bat cannot replace what is tried and true; the torpedo bat’s seemingly smart design won’t help all hitters improve their batting. 

Thus, the revolutionary torpedo bats aren’t worth their hype. A larger contact area has plenty of flaws. Shortening the distance the bat can hit well and slowing down the bat speed are impactful issues that do not make up for a bigger sweet spot. Baseball’s greatest veterans are not fazed by this new, innovative bat but instead are perfectly content with sticking to their own. For these players, torpedo bats are just another example of sticking to what you have and not wasting money on shiny new toys.