MLB Torpedo Bat

[stevej37]

Credit for the implementation of the torpedo bat has gone to Aaron Leanhardt, a former Yankees front-office staffer who is now the Miami Marlins’ field coordinator.

Leanhardt, a former physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said the idea developed in 2022 while he was working with the Yankees’ minor-league hitting department.

Yankees were the first to use it this season and in their opening series, they hit 15 homers in 3 games.
All the other teams were quick to get the bats in. Should be a more interesting season.

[stevej37]

A comparison with a reg bat.

[stevej37]

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/i-think-theyll-be-banned-whats-the-future-of-mlbs-torpedo-bats-insiders-weigh-in-on-baseballs-new-fad/

[cjh]

Every Little Leaguer is going to have to have one this summer

[A930Rocket]

Wait until you see the new torpedo glove! It has a bigger sweet spot to catch fly balls!

[KFC911]

Here's the new & improved baseball ... as time marches onward....

[stevej37]

Originally Posted by A930Rocket

Wait until you see the new torpedo glove! It has a bigger sweet spot to catch fly balls!

Not far off in size from some of the catcher's mitts now.
A mitt for catching a knuckle ball pitcher.


.

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by A930Rocket

Wait until you see the new torpedo glove! It has a bigger sweet spot to catch fly balls!

That's like the difference between my goalie trap vs what the goalies have now.

[bob deluke]

About the size of a bushel basket, funny!

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by bob deluke

About the size of a bushel basket, funny!

It's Phil Niekro's fault .... he started it !

[gsxrken]

The whole thing is silly to me. Sure, have more wood where the bat most commonly meets the ball, and less where it doesn’t. But squaring up a baseball moving at 90mph+ is what makes home runs, and that’s hard to do. I’d love to see any robotic testing results that show these bats adding even one foot to a struck ball.

[stevej37]

^^^ The idea, I think, is like a driver golf club. The old ones were good, but when they started making the huge ones (Big Bertha or whatever they call them now) the balls would go a lot further.
More wood on the ball. Control is more of an issue with golf, baseball can be a HR to a huge radius.

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by gsxrken

The whole thing is silly to me. Sure, have more wood where the bat most commonly meets the ball, and less where it doesn’t. But squaring up a baseball moving at 90mph+ is what makes home runs, and that’s hard to do. I’d love to see any robotic testing results that show these bats adding even one foot to a struck ball.

I heard someone on ESPN say something similar. He thought that the Yankees just had a really good day.

[matthewb0051]

Nothing new. Anyone remember the juiced ball from several years ago that were supposed to be responsible for more home runs?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juiced_ball_theory

[stevej37]

[rcooled]

Originally Posted by matthewb0051

Anyone remember the juiced ball from several years ago that were supposed to be responsible for more home runs?

Yes, interesting...especially when considering that the company making the official baseball is partially owned by MLB.

[MikeSid]

The diameter of the bat isn't changing. It's limited by rule to 2.61 inches. But instead of that girth extending all the way to the end of the bat, the distance end is made narrower and the middle of the bat made fatter (within the 2.61").

The result is less weight at the end of the bat which should increase bat speed. And more wood a the handle end, which works for inside pitch hitters.

Only certain types of hitters will benefit. If you are regularly behind pitches, you might get some help with better bat speed. These are infinitesimal changes that 'maybe' only affect the highest level and almost certainly won't help lower level players.

There should be obvious appeal here for anybody that drills their door handles while eating donuts for breakfast.

[stevej37]

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by rcooled

Yes, interesting...especially when considering that the company making the official baseball is partially owned by MLB.

They wanted more HRs

I never worried about hitting for distance, held the bat like Ty Cobb, space between my hands holding the bat, could hit it pretty much anywhere I wanted. As long as they did not catch it on the fly, nobody was throwing me out, and I am on second 1 or 2 pitches later.

I preferred baseball when it was not all about HRs

[WPOZZZ]

Pretty soon they'll use cricket bats.