It didn’t take long for someone to call out the Yankees’ newly designed bats.
A handful of Yankees have been using what’s been dubbed “torpedo” bats to start the season, bats in which more wood is added to the sweet spot, creating an elongated barrel while taking mass away from the tip of the bat.
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And while the bats have been deemed legal by Major League Baseball, that doesn’t mean everyone is going to be okay with them.
“I think it’s terrible,’’ Milwaukee Brewers reliever Trevor Megill told Dan Martin of 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.”
“It took a minute for the shock to go away, since from the bullpen, they looked like bowling pins,’’ Megill added. “We weren’t able to process it. But that’s the game. It’s a big data race, with science and technology playing a huge role in baseball now. You can’t hate them for trying something new.”
The Yankees exploded for 20 runs and nine home runs on Saturday, and while Aaron Judge powered his three homers with a traditional bat, players like Cody Bellinger, Paul Goldschmidt, Jazz Chisholm Jr., and Anthony Volpe also went yard with the help of their new bats.
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And while these new bats were designed by Aaron Leanhardt, a former member of the Yankees analytics department who now works for the Miami Marlins, it’s a safe bet that more players around the league will begin to use them, especially if the Yankees continue to hang 20 runs on the board.
“I’ve already talked to some bat companies since the game to see if I could get my model made like that, just to see what it’s like,’’ Brewers first baseman Rhys Hoskins told The Post. “We’ll see. Just because it worked for somebody doesn’t mean it’ll work for everybody. Hitting is such a feel thing. But I’d try it.”
