Torpedo Bats Spark Debate Without Breaking the Rules

Some oddly-shaped baseball bats have become a hot topic among fans and players, after the Yankees’ so-called “Torpedo Bats” seemingly helped some sluggers hit multiple home runs.

Over the weekend, the New York Yankees kicked off their 2025 MLB baseball season with a historic 15 home runs in three games. Nine of those homers happened in one game. Three of them happened off the first three pitches of Saturday’s game against the Milwaukee Brewers. But nobody seems to be talking about how great the Yankees performed over the weekend; instead the conversation is entirely focused on the weird “Torpedo” bats used by some Yankee players like shortstop Anthony Volpe, who hit two home runs over the weekend.

The Torpedo bats look very strange when compared to the standard tube-like design of most professional baseball bats. The Torpedo bats feature a large, abnormal and bloated “sweet spot” in a position where players are more likely to make contact with the baseball. This tumor-like spot looks odd, but it has more mass and, the theory is, that leads to harder hits and more home runs. And so far, the bat seems to be legal based on the MLB’s rules.

“The concept makes so much sense,” said Volpe before Sunday’s game. “I know I’m bought in. The bigger you can have the barrel where you hit the ball, it makes sense to me.”

Three other Yankee players as well as two other MLB pro players used the strange bat over the weekend, too. Yet not all of them hit multiple home runs. Meanwhile, Yankee player Aaron Judge was able to hit six homers over opening weekend without using the new bats.

As reported by Yahoo Sports, when asked about the new bats, Judge said: “What I did the past couple of seasons speaks for itself. Why try to change something if you have something that’s working?”

Reactions to the new Torpedo bats

Still, the Yankees hitting so many home runs while using strange new bats has ruffled some feathers, in a sport that is filled with tradition and is slow to change. At least one player for the Brewers, Trevor Megill, wasn’t happy about the opposing team using Torpedo bats over the weekend.

“I think it’s terrible,’’ Megill told the New York Post. “We’ll see what the data says. I’ve never seen anything like it before. I feel like it’s something used in slow-pitch softball. It’s genius: Put the mass all in one spot. It might be bush [league]. It might not be. But it’s the Yankees, so they’ll let it slide.”

Other players were more open to the new bat design or suggested it might not work for everyone.

It should be noted that other teams besides the Yankees used the new bats over the weekend, and there’s some evidence that they’ve been around since last season. What makes things confusing is that the Torpedo bat isn’t a singular design, but more a new way to build bats where you place more mass in a specific spot. There’s also some debate as to how helpful they are and if they really provide a massive advantage. It still takes a lot of skill to swing a bat fast and accurately enough to hit a home run against MLB’s skilled pitchers.

Still, in a sport where even a slim advantage can be very important, that hasn’t stopped teams from taking notice. Yahoo Sports reports that after opening weekend, 29 other teams are now looking to optimize their own equipment to create their own Torpedo bats.

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