‘Torpedomania': MLB's latest obsession leads to a wild week for bat makers

New York Times

02-04-2025

NEW YORK — Jared Smith and Kurt Ainsworth collectively have over 35 years of expertise in the bat-making industry. Yet nothing they've seen has sparked excitement quite like the unprecedented surge of interest in torpedo bats since this weekend.
'I've gotten more messages about the torpedo bat — I've been doing this for over 20 years now — than I have on anything we have ever done in the history of our company,' said Ainsworth, the CEO and co-founder of Marucci Sports.
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'This is Torpedomania.'
The New York Yankees helped bring the torpedo bats mainstream this past weekend after they hit 15 home runs and scored 36 runs in three games against the Milwaukee Brewers. Five Yankees — Cody Bellinger, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Paul Goldschmidt, Anthony Volpe and Austin Wells — used torpedo bats in the opening series, and those players combined for 10 of the club's record-setting 18 home runs in its first four games.
If not for the initial offensive barrage from the Yankees, it's likely the level of interest in the torpedo bats would not be so pronounced. That's why several bat manufacturers, including Marucci and Victus, the official bats of MLB, as well as Chandler Bats and Louisville Slugger, rushed to capitalize on the moment to begin selling them to the general public.
But it's not just baseball fans who've been captivated by the newly designed bats; some players across MLB learned about the torpedoes at the same time as the public and requested an immediate order.
On Monday, Smith, the CEO and founder of Victus Sports, personally drove a shipment of torpedo bats to Citizens Bank Park from the company's headquarters in the Philadelphia suburbs so Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm could have one for a game against the Colorado Rockies.
'All bets are off once you start seeing performance like that,' Smith said. 'Between Marucci and Victus, we have probably 55 to 60 percent of the league. I bet at least half of that group has reached out to either ask about it or sample them. We'll see how many guys end up using it.'
Torpedo bats have just become mainstream, but they were being used under the radar in 2024. Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton used a torpedo bat all last season and finished with his best stats since 2021. Behind the scenes, Stanton's adoption of the technology during his torrid postseason last October started generating buzz in the bat industry, according to Smith. Stanton had seven home runs and a 1.048 OPS for the Yankees in the 2024 playoffs. New York Mets superstar shortstop Francisco Lindor also used a torpedo bat last season and finished second in the National League MVP voting.
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'I would say the benefits of the torpedo are for people that tend to have their hits or miss hits a little closer to the label,' Smith said. 'If you know the sweet spot difference between wood and metal bats, the sweet spot on a wood bat is typically more towards the end of the bat. On metal bats, the sweet spots are more towards the hands. This is kind of a way to almost give you a little bit more of that same performance area and that similar placement to where a metal bat would be as opposed to a wood bat.'
Stanton's exploits in the 2024 postseason certainly drew attention, but the staff at Marucci realized the potential of their innovations during an otherwise meaningless exhibition game seven months earlier. In spring training, former Yankees analyst Aaron Leanhardt sent drawings to the bat manufacturers that he wanted to present to the slugger, who was coming off a career-worst 86 wRC+ in 2023. Stanton tried three different barrel designs (small, medium and large) that Leanhardt had designed.
The first time Stanton used a torpedo bat in a game, he went 3-for-3 with three home runs versus the Pittsburgh Pirates on March 20, 2024.
'He hit like a quarter-mile of homers or something,' said Brett Laxton, the lead bat maker at Marucci. 'That was a good eye test right there for a first shot at it.'
Laxton and the crew at Marucci were pumped.
'That's part of our work,' he said. 'I'd turn the TV on and it's like, 'Yeah, that's working for that guy.' The player still has to hit the ball. We're just trying to make the best tools for them.'
Laxton said Stanton's bat looked more like a bowling pin than a torpedo — and that was on purpose.
'Some of the guys who are high swing-miss guys, their shapes are going to be a little more different,' he said. 'They're going to be more like that bowling pin. Giancarlo is a swing-and-miss guy. They felt like if they could get a little bit more stuff (barrel) moving through the air and hit the ball, he has a better chance of doing damage.'
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But Stanton was also playing through what he would later call 'severe pain' in both of his elbows. Stanton revealed his experience at the start of spring training this year and was diagnosed with epicondylitis — or tennis elbow — in both of his arms. He missed all of spring training and remains on the injured list.
Stanton told reporters in March that the injury was 'probably' due to 'some bat adjustments' he made last season, though he added, 'I don't know why it happened.' On Tuesday, Stanton declined to discuss whether it was specifically the torpedo bats that may have hurt him. Perhaps tellingly, he did say he would continue to use them when he returns.
Justin Cryer, Marucci's director of sports marketing, didn't think the bats were to blame.
'He's older and he's the biggest, most physical player in baseball, and I think all of you can see he swings a weapon harder than anyone in the league,' Cryer said. 'So that's one thing for sure. … He also changed handles as well. So it's not necessarily bat-design specific. He might think some of that could point to the bat, but also there's a lot to go into it that he's the biggest, strongest guy swinging a baseball bat and he's got a very vertical swing and it's part of a lot of things.'
Although it's only been less than a week of torpedo buzz, Marucci and Victus don't believe this is a cute fad that will soon disappear from the league's consciousness. Now that more players are expected to experiment with the bats in the coming days, the companies and teams will have more data on whether there are tangible benefits for certain players to use a torpedo version rather than a standard bat.
Smith wasn't sure if there was any correlation between using a torpedo bat and a higher bat speed, although each of the five Yankees players using them experienced an increase in the first series of 2025 compared to their 2024 numbers. He also wasn't sure if the barrel could increase exit velocities, but there is the belief that players could experience a better hard-hit frequency with a bigger barrel.
Milwaukee Brewers star Christian Yelich, who saw firsthand what the Yankees accomplished, said he was happy that there was a possible technological advancement in hitting. Yelich noted that over the past several years, most of the advancements have come on the pitching side. Now, the hitters are getting their turn.
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'Players are all aware of what's going on inside other people's locker rooms (and) what the media picks up,' Cryer said. 'Just the instant uptick of, 'Hey, this is a different-shaped bat and some guys have had some success over a weekend.' They're like, 'Hey, should I do this? What does it look like for me? Can I get this?''
Laxton believes torpedoes will be a mainstay in the league. Ainsworth thinks the torpedo bats will have more tweaks in the years ahead, but he sees a future in MLB where these become more commonplace. As the data rolls in in the weeks ahead, bat makers are bracing for the newest obsession to become a fixture in baseball.
'The torpedoes are here to stay,' Smith said. 'It's difficult for people to want to take a risk and actually swing something that looks weird. When you have a team that goes out and hits nine home runs and you see all these guys performing with them, it gives you that confidence to go try it.'
(Top photo of Anthony Volpe swinging a torpedo bat: Brad Penner / Imagn Images)