Yankees' torpedo bats can't sink anything if they don't hit ball
The Yankees’ Jasson Dominguez greets Anthony Volpe after his solo home run during the fourth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks in an MLB game at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Typically, an April interleague matchup between the Yankees and Corbin Burnes, the former Cy Young winner recently signed to the richest deal ($210 million) in Diamondbacks history, would create a little extra buzz for this time of year.
But the previous 72 hours or so had been anything but typical since the public unveiling of the Yankees’ torpedo bats, which in fact aren’t unique to the Bronx — or even all that new, considering they’ve been in circulation to some degree since last season.
What got everyone’s attention, however, was the Yankees dismantling of the Brewers’ pitching staff for 36 runs, 15 homers and 34 hits during a three-game sweep on Opening Weekend — while half of their lineup was using the torpedo bats. From that point, the sport’s conversation has been dominated by these revolutionary sticks of wood.
Which is why Burnes, one of the game’s most dominant pitchers, was looked upon as yet another lab rat Tuesday night in the Bronx. The entire baseball industry needed to know — is it really the bats? Could altering the the barrel’s profile by packing more wood lower and tailoring the sweet spot to the individual player — all legally, mind you — dramatically improve the hitter’s performance?
That answer was trending toward yes, until late Tuesday night, when the torpedo-toting section of the Yankees’ lineup — aside from Anthony Volpe — did virtually nothing in a 7-5 loss to the Diamondbacks. Turns out, the trick to thwarting those torpedo bats is avoiding them, and Arizona’s pitching staff was far superior to the punching-bag Brewers in that category.
Burnes struck out eight in 4 1/3 innings, generating 16 swings and misses, but did get dinged twice, first by Jasson Dominguez — a conventional bat user. In the fourth, however, Volpe was Exhibit A for the new tech, blasting a 94-mph cutter on the lower-inside half of the plate for his third home run (he didn’t get there until his 28th game last season). Volpe sent the pitch to the back of the home bullpen, a 418-foot shot on a 45-degree night, and Ben Rice also went deep with two outs in the ninth, giving the Yankees 18 homers in four games — an MLB record.
The problem was everyone else wearing pinstripes. Remember when these MIT-engineered bats were supposed to be unstoppable? Well, the torpedo-wielding Yankees — the group consisting of Volpe, Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger, Jazz Chisholm and Austin Wells — went a combined 1-for-18 with 10 strikeouts. While that doesn’t mean the bats don’t work, they’re certainly not infallible. Hitting is extremely hard, and there are humans holding them.
“Hopefully what doesn’t get lost in this is it’s about the player,” manager Aaron Boone said before Tuesday night’s loss. “It’s about the hitter. It’s about the person swinging it. Understandably, I get it — it’s getting a lot of attention right now. Ultimately, when the dust settles here, it’s about players performing.”
And that goes both ways. After witnessing the Yankees’ weekend demolition of the Brewers, it’s certainly within the realm of possibility that the bats can play a meaningful role. Then again, we are talking about a Yankees’ lineup with three former MVPs on a $305 million payroll — and Aaron Judge, who smacked four of those first 15 home runs, doesn’t use the torpedo bat. It’s also worth noting that as soon as the Brewers left New York, the Royals used them as batting practice Monday afternoon in Milwaukee during an 11-1 blowout.
Only four games in, we don’t have a definitive answer yet to the torpedo-bat question, other than the Yankees staging a very convincing informercial for bat-manufacturers everywhere, with many taking advantage by posting billboards for the new lumber tech on their websites. But Boone is a firm believer in what his organization has done with the science behind the torpedo design.
“There’s a lot more to it than just, I’ll take the torpedo bat on the shelf over there,” Boone said before Tuesday night’s game. “Our guys are way more invested in it than that. It’s really personalized. They really worked with our players in creating this stuff.”
Giancarlo Stanton, who’s been unable to swing any bat since he arrived for spring training due to tendinitis in both elbows, was among the first Yankees to use the torpedo bat on a regular basis last season. He’s a big fan of the bat, but deflected a question Tuesday about whether or not it was this previously mentioned “adjustment” that led to his persistent elbow problems.
“You’re not going to get the story you’re looking for,” Stanton said. “If that’s what you guys want, that’s not happening.”
If not Tuesday, then some other time, because the longer-term impacts of the torpedo bats are yet to be known. Nobody has all the evidence yet, and aside from the Yankees’ weekend fireworks, there’s not enough data to confirm anything more than incremental upgrades on the margins. Still, even the smallest improvements can yield comparatively huge results in an ultra-competitive field like Major League Baseball.
“You wonder why no one has thought of it before,” Stanton said.
That’s been a common reaction. An idea seemingly so simple, and somehow a data-obsessed industry whiffed on it for decades. But no longer. The torpedo bats are here now, and every swing from this point will be a referendum on the cutting-edge concept. Including the ones that don’t produce the desired result, as the Yankees were all too familiar with Tuesday night.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
