What to do with MLB torpedoes: precious new technologies or fashion at the start of the season?

Unless you live under a rock, you know that the biggest story of The first week of the MLB 2025 season is “torpedo bats”, ” The wood of strange shape that broke out on the scene Thanks to the Yankees’ offensive explosion this weekend and have continued to dominate baseball conversations this week.

Are these bats a precious fashion or technology that is there to stay? What should we know about this phenomenon? And where is the sport here?

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Jumps.

1. Is the craze of Torpille bats good for the game?

Miss: Absolutely. It remains to be seen how much the needle engine of the new equipment is really, but I am here for any type of technological innovation. Over time, I think it will have a negligible impact on sport, because launchers learn to adjust their game plans when they face the players who use these bats. Like a variety of other modes of equipment throughout the history of sport, the popularity of torpedo bats will refuse and flow.

But is it good for the game? Yes. I think everything that is strange, new, worthy of new and different That makes people discuss baseball is good for the game.

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Shusterman: It is too early to find out because we do not have enough data to determine to what extent these bats significantly modify the product in the field. But the idea that strikers find means in the rules to take advantage of the technology that helps them succeed against the best launchers in the world? It’s a good thing, as far as I’m concerned, and It is a natural and intriguing response to the enormous progress made by launchers Via technology and innovations, which have resulted in a drastic increase in Swing-And-Miss in sports over the past decade.

If hitting baseball is considered the most difficult thing to do in sport – and contact has become more difficult in recent years – it is not surprising that intelligent people in and around the game have experienced a possible way to improve the chances of strikers. These bats are a fascinating result of such an experiment.

Dorsey: Take a deep inspiration here. It’s been a week, and most players have used these bats for a few months, from spring training. Asking if Torpille’s bats are good for the game, as if they would somehow change baseball, is a bit extreme at this stage. That said, innovation is never a bad thing, and just as launchers have found new ways and data points to improve, the strikers have the right to do it with their bats.

2. What was your initial reaction when you saw the torpedo bat?

Mintz: I was somewhat disappointed. In person, the visual is not as striking as you expect. It is noticeable, of course, but bats like this have been used around baseball, both in practice and in games, for a while now. There is always funky equipment lying around in the clubhouse. I would say, however, of all the photos of the torpedo bats that have come out, that Jazz Chisholm Jr. used the most extreme looks.

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Shusterman: They looked particularly unusual when they were shown from certain angles on television and less remarkable on others. I can’t wait to see them in person for the first time to get a better idea of ​​the really difference of these bats.

Honestly, my first adult to remember was surprisingly that they were revealed for the first time in mass in regular season (Even if some strikers used them last year), rather than during spring training, a more natural moment to tinker with things.

Dorsey: It is really not very different from your standard bat. I have seen some in person, and if you are not really careful, you might even not notice it. I think some people have seen photoshopped versions of what these bats look like, and they have created an image in their mind that does not look like the real version.

3. Is it a real innovation or an exaggerated media?

Mintz: Both. The attention of attention surrounding bats during the opening week of the season is purely hype and a product of the Talented programming of yankees demolish brewers without vigor. But the technology itself is convincing and, more importantly, intuitive. It will be beneficial for certain types of strikers while injuring other overly curious strikers whose swings are not a match for these bats.

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What is most interesting for me – and the most innovative – is the idea of ​​personalized bat connections. The idea of ​​scientifically engineering from the club to the player is commonplace in golf. Such a process also exists in baseball, but I expect it to rise in popularity in the coming weeks and months.

Shusterman: We do not know how effective these bats will be on a wider sample, but it is impossible to deny that they are considered an important innovation, given the fundamental fact that bats have been shaped in the same way for decades, and now we see a dramatic physical change sufficiently visible to attract attention and inspire curiosity. What difference the bats are still to be determined, but The excessive response of the world of baseball And Beyond says a lot about how This apparently small change resonates with people.

Dorsey: It is an exaggerated media threshing because players have made changes and have personalized their bats for decades. Remember the craze of the ax handle? And the hockey button? Everyone is designed to help players not only feel comfortable, but also pass the bat in the area as quickly as possible. If the Yankees I had not given the shit of the brewers During the weekend, it would not be a story. And the Brewers abandoned 11 points in the Royals the day after their departure from the Yankee Stadium, so maybe the Yankees simply settled on a bad pitch.

I am not taken in a trend and a coincidence; Call me when we have a large data sample.

4. What questions do you still have on Torpille bats?

Mintz: I am curious to know how the teams compared to the teams compared to the players against bat manufacturers have in the design process. I am also fascinated to see if the teams will start trying to make their own owner bats. Currently, the process varies from player to player, depending on the company BAT which sponsors them.

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Regarding information, a significant sample size of the shot ball data is a first step. Do players who use these bats record more barrels and a higher average output speed than last season? How do launchers adjust their approaches to these players? Are some types of strikers better for torpedo bats than others? We don’t know yet.

Shusterman: If we end up obtaining a sufficiently large sample of data, I am curious to know a few things. Do bats help players to establish more contact overall, or do they strictly improve the quality of the contact to allow more slugging? What types of strikers – imposing sluggers who seek to establish more contacts or lean contact merchants in search of more power – are more likely to succeed with these bats? It can be difficult to keep track exactly when and where the Torpille bats are deployed through the league, but it will certainly be on everyone’s radar to move forward. More importantly, we must go beyond the image of the Yankees which explode a billion circuits against Milwaukee and start to collect additional data.

Dorsey: At the very least, I would like to see a season of struck ball data that shows what type of impact these bats have had on performance. The average output speed, the percentage of contact and the percentage of a barrel are there that I would start. But I do not know how realistic it will be to acquire this, players with several bat models from different companies at their disposal.

5. Where do you think things will go from here?

Mintz: More teams and players will start deploying Torpille bats, A process that has already started. The league will keep an eye on things to make sure no one crosses the line. But I am quite confident that there will be no significant adjustments to the rules – the rules that Yankees and other battle users have not broken.

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Honestly, I think this particular fashion fades by the end of April, at least in the big leagues. But for bat manufacturers, most of which have now made these Torpille bats for purchase, this craze presents a very welcome windfall.

Shusterman: I think we will have a huge wave of players who try them, and some will quickly be successful and will remain with them, while others will abandon the bat after a few games without success because they just want to be comfortable.

What is the most disturbing and the most stimulating in terms of evaluation of the impact of the battle is that a bat is not the only thing that has an impact on the offensive environment; The ball is also a major factor. In recent years, we have seen more lively baseball in certain seasons, with the good record rate of 2019 – when the teams have an average of a summit of 1.39 HR per match – the most blatant example. If these new bats become really common, it will be interesting to monitor the HR / G rate (among other offensive brands at the League scale) compared to recent years, but it is important to remember that the ball could also be a large part of the equation.

Dorsey: More players will test Torpille bats to see if they want to use them. But that probably leaves a daily conversation in the coming weeks when the story of the season takes place.

There will be no change in rules, because the dimensions of Torpille bats are in the MLB directives. And I am skeptical about the number of players who would really like to change the bat during the season. The players are really capricious when it comes to hitting. They like what feels good, and I think that a majority of players will take the position “if it is not broken, do not repair it”. Then, I expected to see more players testing the battles of Torpille during the offseason and the spring next year.