Earlier than the Yankees‘ franchise-record nine-homer outburst on Saturday, the Dodgers‘ hitting coaches had by no means heard of “torpedo” bats.
“I noticed them like everyone else did — on social media and TV,” Aaron Bates stated Monday.
Now, after a record-setting power display this weekend in New York, they’re the discuss of the game.
Dodgers hitting coaches Bates and Robert Van Scoyoc are amongst many all through Main League Baseball whose curiosity was piqued after watching Jazz Chisholm Jr., Cody Bellinger, Paul Goldschmidt, Anthony Volpe and Austin Wells mix to launch 9 of the Yankees’ 15 homers on the weekend whereas utilizing the brand new type of bat.
“Guys are at all times attempting to get higher, discover new methods to enhance or get an edge in that sense,” Bates stated. “Clearly Main League Baseball stated it is all inside the guidelines and every thing. That is nice. I feel it is good for the sport within the sense of attempting to create one other means for hitters to get a bonus as a result of pitchers are a lot additional forward so far as information and the way exhausting they throw. So, you enhance that margin of error, it is good.”
The torpedo bat considerably resembles a bowling pin, with the largest a part of the barrel nearer to the deal with. The concept is straightforward: shift extra of the wooden from the top of the bat towards the candy spot the place a participant extra typically makes contact.
Even for many who have by no means seen or used the bats, the idea is charming. And the logic no less than seems sound.
“For those who make contact extra in the direction of the deal with, it is sensible to place extra mass there,” Van Scoyoc stated. “However we’re gonna study it and examine it. I am positive guys are ordering them. All of the gamers need hits, in order that they’re gonna do something they’ll to get successful.”
Earlier than the top of the day Monday at Dodger Stadium, Max Muncy and Kiké Hernández had been already among the many Dodgers gamers who had expressed curiosity in ordering one of many new bats, no less than to see how they felt. On the opposite facet of the sector, the visiting Atlanta Braves additionally had not but began utilizing torpedo bats — however they, too, sounded intrigued.
“There’s some discuss,” Braves third baseman Austin Riley instructed FOX Sports activities. “Every part’s evolving. The sport of baseball is evolving. There’s so many numbers on the market, and the way can we get higher as gamers? That looks like that is a pattern that is serving to and dealing. There’s a bit rumble.”
Riley, who swings Marucci bats, first observed gamers from different groups utilizing the torpedo bats this spring. It reminded him a little bit of the puck knob fad, when some gamers tried a counterweight on the deal with of the bat in an effort to provide extra bat velocity. Riley went to Marucci to strive a type of, nevertheless it wasn’t for him.
Now, he isn’t ruling out an try at baseball’s newest infatuation. Some bat producers, together with Marucci, have already made torpedo bats out there for buy on-line.
“I could play with it,” Riley stated. “Pitching is so good these days and stuff is getting higher and higher, quite a lot of swing and miss, so something we are able to do to place a barrel on a ball, we’ll strive it.”
Along with including extra mass to the world of the bat the place a participant makes contact, there is perhaps one other profit to the brand new type. It is a small pattern, however all 5 of the aforementioned Yankees gamers utilizing the brand new bat — Volpe, Chisholm, Bellinger, Goldschmidt and Wells — have skilled a noticeable year-over-year-increase in common bat velocity.
Aaron Leanhardt, an MIT-educated former physics professor who’s now a subject coordinator with the Marlins, was credited with bringing the idea to New York when he was the Yankees’ lead analyst. It was a multi-year challenge that went largely unnoticed till the beginning of this season, regardless of Giancarlo Stanton, amongst others, utilizing a model of the bat final 12 months.
“It is credit score to the gamers that had the conversations with me two years in the past and had been keen to be affected person zero and demo the primary variations of this, possibly as early as 2023, after which in that offseason after which in 2024,” Leanhardt instructed reporters Monday. “It is positively been surreal for the final couple days. On the finish of the day, it’s about the batter — not the bats.”
For now, till there’s extra info, Dodgers reliever Anthony Banda stated he would not take into consideration altering his thought course of on the mound or the best way he assaults a hitter if he sees his opponent utilizing one.
However, their at-bats will dictate how that may evolve.
“If we’re getting banged round and it is, like, pitches that we normally beat guys with, stuff like that, there’s some room to essentially discuss it and actually form of consider,” Banda stated. “However till then, there’s probably not a lot, simply because it is a totally different factor.”
Bates is curious to see what number of hitters undertake the brand new type, contemplating that may take an admission that they do not discover the barrel as typically as they want.
“What number of guys are keen to look themselves within the mirror and say, ‘I get jammed so much?'” Bates stated.
Nonetheless, the idea is selecting up steam across the league.
The Mets’ Francisco Lindor, the Orioles’ Adley Rutschman, the Cubs’ Dansby Swanson and Nico Hoerner and the Rays’ Junior Caminero are all among the many gamers who’ve tried the brand new torpedo bats this 12 months.
On Monday evening, Reds standout Elly De La Cruz used the bat for the primary time. He mashed two homers, hit a double and knocked in a career-high seven runs.
“I feel guys will strive it,” Van Scoyoc stated. “I imply, how do you not, proper? You see these sorts of outcomes, after all.”
Rowan Kavner is an MLB author for FOX Sports activities. He beforehand lined the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved again to the West Coast in 2014. Observe him on X at @RowanKavner.
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