Torpedo bats are the talk of baseball, thanks to the number of New York Yankees using them while smashing records in the opening weekend.
The Yankees hit nine home runs against the Milwaukee Brewers in the second game of the season, 18 through the first four games and became the first team in major league history to have both three players hit at least three homers in the first four games and nine players total homer in scoring 41 runs through the first four games.
With the Pittsburgh Pirates hosting the Yankees for their home opener at 4:12 p.m. Friday, the overnight popularity of the bowling pin-shaped bats will be on full display at PNC Park.
The bats were developed by former MIT physicist Aaron Leanhardt, a former Yankees analyst who now works with the Miami Marlins, to lengthen the sweet spot. The bats have received a stamp of approval from MLB, as they are within the regulations that require it not to be more than 2.61 inches in diameter in the thickest part.
Neil Walker, who played for both organizations, will serve as color analysts for Pirates broadcasts on SportsNet Pittsburgh this weekend and has followed the story with interest and a healthy sense of skepticism.
“Certainly, this torpedo bat situation has raised a lot of eyebrows, just from a standpoint of scientific data backing it. It’s very interesting, to say the least,” said Walker, who played for the Pirates from 2009-15 and with the Yankees in 2018. “I would probably have a hard time deciding to change to that. I was a guy that literally from 2006 until the end of my career used the same bat model and same bat company, Old Hickory, my entire career. For the most part, a lot of guys are creatures of habit within baseball, especially when things are going well for you individually. If you think you’ve found something within your swing, you typically don’t change it.”
Walker understands that the advance in analytics and increase in velocity have forced adjustments, as more hitters are getting jammed than hitting balls off the end of the bat. Then again, Walker was more interested in the consistency of the bat, noting that if he ordered a dozen of the same model he could count on three or four to feel more top heavy or dense.
“Your body gets very used to swinging the same model, the same weight distribution, same knob,” Walker told TribLive. “I personally think it will be a fad. Maybe I’m completely wrong. I’d very surprised to see over 50% of the league and offensive players jumping on board, particularly with the weight of bats and the numbers of swings guys have taken in their life.”
Among the Yankees to use the torpedo bats are former MVPs in Cody Bellinger, Paul Goldschmidt and Giancarlo Stanton, as well as Jazz Chisholm Jr., Anthony Volpe and Austin Wells. All four of Volpe’s hits are home runs, the same number as two-time MVP Aaron Judge, who hit an American League-record 62 homers in 2022 and led the majors in home runs, RBIs and OPS last season while using a standard bat.
“You can go down such a deep rabbit hole with the bat models,” Walker said. “At the same time, when you look at the guys that are swinging it, these aren’t guys with sub-.200 batting average. These are guys that have been in the big leagues for fairly significant amount of time and are bona fide big-league players. The sweet spot is still the sweet spot. The way they have to distribute the weight in bats to make them comfortably swingable, they’re just moving it down a little bit. I think it’s less significant than what people are making it out to be.”
Pirates starting pitchers Mitch Keller and Paul Skenes a as spring training opens Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025 at Pirates City Bradenton Fl.
1. For starters: By bringing up top-100 prospect Thomas Harrington to start Tuesday and giving Paul Skenes an extra day of rest, it allowed the Pirates to start Mitch Keller in the home opener.
That’s a first for Keller, a second-round draft pick in 2014 and is the Pirates player with the longest consecutive tenure (Andrew McCutchen has the most years with the Pirates, at 13).
Not only is it well deserved for Keller, who followed a terrific spring with a quality start at Miami, but for Pirates fans to have a 2023 All-Star on the mound against the Yankees.
The Pirates have had a different starting pitcher in the home opener in each of the five seasons since Keller reached the majors. After four consecutive lefties – Steven Brault (2020), Tyler Anderson (2021), Jose Quintana (2022) and Rich Hill (2023) – rookie right-hander Jared Jones got the nod last season, when Keller was the Opening Day starter.
Chaz Palla | TribLive
Pirates starting pitcher Paul Skenes takes the field during practice Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025 at Pirates City Bradenton Fl.
2. Missed matchup: Extending the rotation also bumped Skenes from facing the Yankees this weekend. So, baseball misses a marquee matchup between the 6-foot-6, 260-pound right-hander who was the National League rookie of the year and the 6-foot-8, 282-pound slugger.
Talk about big on big.
That’s what Skenes called facing Shohei Ohtani last June 5, which was one of the highlights of the season at PNC Park. Skenes got a strikeout in the first inning, and Ohtani responded with a two-run homer in the third and a single in the fifth.
Skenes won both battles against Judge last year.
They first met in the All-Star Game last July, when Skenes got Judge to ground out for the final out. Skenes struck Judge out in the penultimate game on Sept. 28 at Yankee Stadium.
It was an epic duel. Skenes got called strikes on his first two pitches, a 100.8-mph four-seamer outside and an 87-mph slider. His third pitch to Judge was a 100.8-mph heater high and outside for a ball. Judge fouled off a 99.5-mph fastball inside before swinging and missing on an 86.5-mph sweeper low and away.
“I would’ve loved to see Paul face these guys early in the season as opposed to when everything was winding down,” Walker said. “With the Yankees in town, it’s must-watch TV – and certainly any time Paul’s on the mound.”
(For use with MLB section) Pirates Paul Skenes during picture day Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025 at Pirates City Bradenton Fl.
3. Skenes shines: When Skenes stopped a four-game skid with six strikeouts and no walks over seven innings in the 4-2 win over the Rays, he made more major league history.
Skenes improved his career record to 12-3 with a 1.92 ERA and 183 strikeouts in 25 starts to become the first pitcher to post a sub-2.00 ERA with 175-plus strikeouts over their first 25 major league appearances since ERA became an official NL statistic in 1912.
Consider that Skenes has yet to pitch the equivalent of a full season. If he can pitch at his pace of 11.3 strikeouts per nine innings over 32 starts this year, not only would Skenes shatter Bob Veale’s modern-day franchise record (276 in 1965) but he’d surpass the team’s all-time mark of 326, set by Ed Morris in 1886.
At that pace, Skenes would finish with 362 strikeouts. The MLB single-season record is 383, set by Nolan Ryan in 1973.
Of course, Skenes sounds more concerned with his efficiency than setting records, showing a willingness to sacrifice strikeouts for quick innings to keep his pitch count low and stay in games longer. He didn’t have any strikeouts against the first 10 batters he faced.
“That’s kind of how it goes a little bit with having quick innings,” Skenes said on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show. “Having quick innings is a product of getting quick outs, so a lot of times they’re not getting to two strikes. We frankly started executing pitches a little bit better. I think that was the big one. Some games you’re just not going to have as many punchouts.”
Christopher Horner | TribLive
The Pirates’ Endy Rodriguez catches against the Braves on Wednesday, Aug. 79 2023, at PNC Park.
4. Behind the dish: Endy Rodriguez could only watch Skenes from the dugout last season while recovering from Tommy John surgery on his right elbow, so one positive of Skenes pitching so effectively against Tampa Bay is that it marked their first time as battery mates in an MLB game.
“He was there the whole game,” Rodriguez told SportsNet Pittsburgh’s Hannah Mears in an on-field interview after Wednesday’s game. “His stuff was perfectly in the game, his mind, everything was good. All that I watched last year, it’s there.”
Throwing to a new catcher has been an adjustment for Skenes, as Yasmani Grandal ushered him through his rookie season by catching 19 of his 23 starts. Joey Bart caught Skenes twice last year and in the opener this year. Jason Delay and Grant Koch caught him once each last year.
Rodriguez kept his pitch-calling simple by relying on Skenes’ bread and butter, throwing 48 four-seamers and 30 splinkers while sprinkling in nine sweepers, eight changeups, four curveballs and three sliders.
“He did a good job, called a good game, received well,” Skenes said. “It was good.”
Lefty reliever Ryan Borucki played with Rodriguez at Triple-A Indianapolis and in the majors in 2023. Borucki trusted Rodriguez, who has been splitting time between catcher and first base.
“He’s got the whole world in front of him,” Borucki said. “He’s got to continue to do the right things, keep growing and get better and stay hungry and he’s going to have a long, long career.”
Pirates closer David Bednar walks from the field after blowing a save opportunity during the ninth inning against the Cubs on Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024, at PNC Park.
5. Closing time: As a Pine-Richland alum who was a first-round pick and won a Silver Slugger for the Pirates, Walker understands the pressure of playing for his hometown team better than almost anyone so he can relate to the dilemma with David Bednar.
The Pirates optioned the Mars alum, a two-time All-Star closer and two-time Roberto Clemente Award nominee, to Triple-A Indianapolis on Tuesday. That created a hole at the back end of the bullpen, which Pirates manager Derek Shelton indicated would likely be filled based on matchups.
After converting 39 of 42 save opportunities (92.9%) in 2023, Bednar had seven blown saves and a 5.77 ERA last season. He gave up four runs (three earned) in one inning over three appearances this season before his demotion.
Walker believes the time in the minors could benefit Bednar.
“It’s kind of a Catch-22: Do you throw him in fifth and sixth innings in low-leverage roles to try to get right or do you put him in a much more controlled environment and let him really hone in on some things he might be trying to work on and not be concerned about keeping a game close?” Walker said. “It certainly stings, especially knowing how much he cares and how hard he works. I don’t think you’re going to see him down for a significant period of time. The velocity is still there. I think he goes down and you see him get a bunch of outings and get right and come back and work his way into throwing higher-leverage innings.”
Categories: Pirates/MLB | Sports
