The opening weekend of the 2025 MLB season was carried over to surprise star Torpedo Bats.
The bowling pin-shaped bats became a sporting story after the onslaught of the Yankees’ home run on the first Saturday of the season hit the spotlight.
What is a torpedo bat? How does it help the batter? And how is it legal? Let’s dig deeper.
Read: MIT-educated professor, Yankees and Batt, who could change baseball
What is a torpedo bat and why is it different from traditional MLB bats?
The idea for torpedo bats is to get, say, a size format of 34 inches and 32 ounces, and distribute the wood in a geometric shape that is different from traditional shapes to ensure that the fattest part of the bat is where the player most contacts. The standard bat is taper towards the end cap, which is as thick as the barrel’s sweet spot. Torpedo bats lower some of the mass at the edge of the bat about 6-7 inches lower, giving it the shape of a bowling pin, and have a much thinner end.
ESPN illustration
How does it help the batter?
For those who like to shake it, and for everyone who rocked it, there are two benefits for those who don’t like it. Both are rooted in logic and physics. First, distributing more mass to the areas of most frequent contact is consistent with the player’s swing pattern and has a major impact when the bat hits the ball. Players are always looking for ways to barrel more balls. The swing connected at the end of the bat will probably perform worse than a traditional bat. And, as batters know, slugs pay.
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In theory, the second advantage is increased bat speed. Imagine both a 32oz sledge hammer and a broom. The weight of the sledge hammer is almost at the end, but the brooms are evenly distributed. Which one is easier to swing faster? Of course, brooms require more strength and effort for the shape of the sledge hammer to move. By draining some of the weight from the edge of the torpedo bat and moving it towards the middle, the batter discovered that it was very similar to the traditional model, but slightly faster bat speed.
Why did it become such a big story early in the 2025 MLB season?
The New York Yankees hit nine home runs in Saturday’s game, so their play-by-play announcer Michael Kay noted that some of them came from the batters using new bat shapes. The charm was immediately there. Baseball, as an industry, has implemented advanced rules in recent seasons, but has now been revised to what is known as the shape of bats registered as strange. The first response from many people who saw it: What about this legality?
got it. What about this legal?
Bat regulations in Major League Baseball are relatively tolerant. Currently, the rules allow for a maximum barrel diameter of 2.61 inches, a maximum length of 42 inches, and a smooth, round shape. With no restrictions, MLB authorized BAT makers will toy with BAT geometry and the results will still fall under regulations.
Who came up with the idea of using them?
The concept of a bowling pin style bat has kicked baseball for years. Some bat makers have created smaller versions as training tools. But the current pervasive version of baseball goes back two years ago when the then-Yankees coach began asking batsmen how to counter the enormous leapfrogs pitchers have made in recent years.
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When the Yankees player responded that a bigger barrel would help, Lenhardt was a Michigan physics professor who left academia to work in the sports industry – as long as bats stay within the MLB parameters, he realized that he could change their geometry to make them reality. Lean Hart, who left the Yankees and served as the Miami Marlins’ major league field coordinator in the winter, worked with bat makers throughout the 2023 and 2024 seasons to make it happen.
When did you first appear in MLB Games?
Specifically, it is unknown. However, Yankees slugger Jancarlo Stanton used a torpedo bat last year and went to a home run hit rampage in October, sending the Yankees to the World Series. New York Mets star Francisco Lindor took second place in the National League MVP poll last year, using a torpedo-style bat.
Who are the other prominent early users of torpedo bats?
In addition to Stanton and Lindor, Yankees batsmen Anthony Volpe, Austin Wells, Jazz Chischolm Jr., Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt were extremely successful with torpedoes. Others who used them in the game include Junior Kaminero of Tampa Bay, Ryan Jeffers of Minnesota, and Davis Schneider of Toronto. And that’s just the beginning. Over the next few weeks, hundreds more players are expected to test the torpedoes and perhaps use them in the game.
How is this different from a cork bat?
Kong bats involve drilling holes at the edge of the bat, filling them and capping them. With modified bats, players can swing faster as the material that replaces wood, whether it’s cork, super bowl, or another material is lighter. Adultery of bats of all kinds is illegal and will result in a halt if found.
Can I change the rules to prohibit them?
Will that happen? of course. The league and governing body are limiting equipment they believe fundamentally changed fairness. The curvature of the stick is limited in hockey. Full-bodied swimsuits made of polyurethane and neoprene are prohibited by aquatic organisms around the world. However, MLB officials have admitted that the game’s pendulum has been swinging significantly towards pitching in recent years, and if an offensive revolution was born for torpedo bats – it’s far from guaranteed and could bring more balance to the game. If the pendulum is swinging too far, MLB could change bat regulations.
So, will the torpedo bats stay here?
absolutely. Bat makers crank them out and ship them with great urgency to interested players. How widely adopted torpedo bats are is a problem that will occur for the rest of the season. But it piques the curiosity of almost every batter in the big league and sees whether pitchers can make a new pitch a toy and improve themselves slightly, so batters do the same with bats.
Comfort is paramount in a bat, so batters test it in cage sessions before unleashing during batting practice or during the game. Over time, players will find the specific shape that is most comfortable for them during a bat fitting session, similar to how golfers seek custom clubs. But don’t make any mistakes. This is almost an Omavan change in the game, and “traditional or torpedo” is a question that all future big leaguers will ask themselves.
