About a week ago, these bats were basically unknown to the general public. The world has now been introduced to these bats by the New York Yankees on opening weekend where they were able to start the game hitting 3 home runs back to back to back. The Yankees ended hitting 15 home runs in the span of 3 games which made the entire league question what these bats even are.
Torpedo bats are bats that have a little bit of a flatter surface to them compared to normal bats. The torpedo bat moves some of the mass on the end of the bat about 6 to 7 inches lower, giving it a bowling pin-esque shape, with a thinner end to it. Torpedo bats are custom-made for each player, with a barrel placed where that specific hitter tends to strike the ball in an area known as the “sweet spot.” This means more wood and, thus, more mass at the area of the bat that will be making contact, increasing a player’s margin for error at that specific area.
People then started to believe that there was no way that these bats would be allowed. However they are 100% legal with the MLB rulebook stating that “The bat shall be a smooth, round stick not more than 2.61 inches in diameter at the thickest part and not more than 42 inches in length.” This caused mostly every team to start ordering these torpedo bats with the Atlanta Braves being the first to do it. These bats have definitely added a little more of a dynamic feeling to the way that baseball is played and I hope it adds even more to baseball.
