Yankees Infielder Answers To Backlash From Team’s Torpedo Bats
The New York Yankees have heard all the negative reception they’ve received for (effectively) using a never-before-seen bat nicknamed the “torpedo,” and infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. shared a bold message in response.
“Okay explanation the barrel is bigger and within MLB regulation,” Chisholm published on X on Monday. “For the idiots that say it’s moved to the label you’re an idiot! Nobody is trying to get jammed you just move the wood from the parts you don’t use to the parts you do! You’re welcome no more stress for y’all !”
Chisholm is one of several Yankees who’ve adopted the torpedo-shaped bat that, upon close examination, looks vaguely like a plastic jumbo bat. And it’s worked. New York scored 36 runs across its three-game season-opening set with the Milwaukee Brewers, including a jaw-dropping 20-run performance Saturday. The production has been unreal, and it’s quickly placed the Yankees atop MLB in home runs (15), slugging percentage (.804), RBIs (35) and total bases (82).
The thought process of creating the bats was simple: If a hitter makes a majority of contact with the ball closer to the bat’s label rather than the barrel, reconstruct it to where most of the wood sits within the logo’s area. That’s exactly what the Yankees, in collaboration with their analytical department, did with infielder Anthony Volpe. The 23-year-old hit .243 with 12 home runs last season, and after getting swings across spring training with the new-and-improved lumber, Volpe has already crushed two home runs through New York’s first three games.
“I think it’s terrible,” Brewers reliever Trevor Megill said, per the New York Post’s Dan Martin. “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.”
Granted, not everyone in New York’s clubhouse has given the torpedo bat the green light. While Chisholm, Volpe and outfielder Cody Bellinger have turned torpedo, two-time American League MVP Aaron Judge has gone with his traditionally shaped bat instead. Judge is currently tied with Eugenio Suárez of the Arizona Diamondbacks for the most home runs hit in baseball (four) so far. So while the bats might irk opposing pitchers, there’s nothing that can be done other than readjusting the approaches against the select hitters who have and will continue swinging the torpedo bats.