Torpedo bat craze makes its way to Long Island high school baseball

A teammate yelled “barrel it up!” from the bench. C.J. Alfano and his torpedo bat obliged.

The St. Anthony’s junior first baseman drilled a line drive off the top of the right-centerfield fence, about 350 feet from the plate, at the College Point Field Complex in Queens.

Alfano turned on a 1-and-0 pitch and the ball left his new wooden torpedo batf in a hurry. It was destined for Ulmer Street before the top of the 20-foot outfield fence diverted its path from oncoming traffic.

No one was more surprised that it didn’t leave the yard than Alfano. He styled it out of the batter’s box, only to see the drive smash into the fence for the longest single of his varsity career, all while receiving some jeering from teammates.

“Yeah, I thought it was out,” Alfano said with a laugh after St. Anthony’s 13-0 win over Holy Cross on Saturday. “I didn’t even feel it come off the barrel — getting it right on the sweet spot. But I should have been busting it for an easy double.”

Alfano’s first game experience with the gray 33-inch, 30.5-ounce bat was a good one.

He is the first player known to use the torpedo bat at the high school level on Long Island. The CHSAA is a wood bat-only league; public schools across Long Island have a choice, but the majority of teams use aluminum bats.

The bat has become all the rage across Major League Baseball after the Yankees — with several starters using it — hit a franchise-record nine home runs in a 20-9 win over the Brewers on March 29. The Yankees have hit 25 home runs in their first eight games, an MLB record. Elly De La Cruz of the Cincinnati Reds used a torpedo bat for the first time Monday and had a single, double and two home runs for a career-high seven RBIs.

The idea behind the bat takes a size format such as 33 inches and 31 ounces and distributes the wood in a different geometric shape than the traditional form to ensure that the fattest part of the bat (the sweet spot), is located where a player makes contact most often. The barrel cannot exceed 2.61 inches to stay within MLB regulations.

Alfano said his dad, Chris, ordered the bat from Tucci Lumber Bats in Norwalk, Connecticut, and had it shipped in a day.

“I love the feel of the bat,” Alfano said. “And comfort is everything with a bat. It feels like a drop-5 composite bat with a ginormous barrel. I used it for the first time in practice on Friday. The sweet spot is larger and has a trampoline effect.”

“C.J. is an excellent hitter with a lot of pop,” St. Anthony’s coach Paul Parsolano said. “He was the MVP of our championship run last year for a reason — he’s a big-time hitter. And if he feels even more comfortable with a torpedo bat in his hands, then let’s go. When he used it in practice on Friday, I could see the difference.”

A few of Alfano’s teammates also used the bat in practice.

“We had guys squaring it up in practice,” Parsolano said. “The exit velocity is different, at least plus 3 to 5 miles per hour. A father is buying some of them for the team.”

The Friars didn’t need them on Saturday, however. Centerfielder Anthony Carlo went 4-for-4 with a three-run homer to key a nine-run first inning and fell a double shy of hitting for the cycle. Junior lefthander Michael Clare fired a one-hitter, striking out 10, as St. Anthony’s improved to 4-0 in league play and 5-1 overall.

About Alfano’s home run that wasn’t: Parsolano described the long drive as a “missile.”

“Hey, I’d like to see him run hard there, but honestly, I thought it was gone, too,” Parsolano said. “He absolutely crushed that pitch, and it got out there quickly.

“He’s been battling a knee injury and wearing a brace. The wet field conditions were not conducive to a hustle-to-second-base type of play where he might be forced to slide on that knee. I’ll take the positive out of the drive and we’ll talk about running harder.”

By Gregg Sarra

gregg.sarra@newsday.com@Gregg_Sarra

Gregg Sarra is Newsday's high school sports editor and has been on the beat since the mid-1980s.