Latest news with #KurtAinsworth
NBC News
04-04-2025
- Automotive
- NBC News
Demand for torpedo bats is booming for batmakers
Baseball bat manufacturers had little evidence to suggest a spike in sales was just around the corner when Major League Baseball's newest season opened last week. It had been four years since physicists working for MLB teams had begun chatting with Louisville Slugger about how to increase the exit velocity of batted balls. Those conversations helped create a shape — resembling a bowling pin, with a thicker middle and a tapered barrel — that the company first turned into a real, wood bat in November 2023. Four teams contacted Louisville Slugger about the model, but when the so-called torpedo bat was introduced around big-league clubhouses last season, adoption was hardly widespread. On the eve of the new season, less than 10% of MLB hitters using bats made by Marucci Sports were using the so-called torpedo model, said Kurt Ainsworth, the company's chief executive. 'When you're a baseball player, you're used to some looking down the bat and it looks one way,' Ainsworth said. 'And then you see it, it looks kind of funny. Like, 'I don't really need that.'' That stance changed last weekend when the bats erupted into the public's attention — and with them, overnight big business. Ainsworth estimated that half of Marucci-affiliated hitters have now tried a torpedo model and said he expects that to increase to 80% by month's end. 'All I can say,' said Bobby Hillerich, a vice president of manufacturing and operations for Hillerich and Bradsby Co., the maker of Louisville Slugger bats, 'is that it's crazy.' 'There are 1,500 preorders for a bat that doesn't exist, and there's no website yet,' he said. 'Torpedo bats' officially entered the sports lexicon after the Yankees hit an MLB-record 15 home runs in three games, including a combined nine by five Yankees hitters using the new bats, which shift the 'sweet spot' closer to where hitters typically make contact. Sometimes, the shift can be as much as 6 inches. The bats' existence might have gone unnoticed, however, if not for Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay. On social media, a clip of Kay describing the bats' origin story — a Yankees study had found certain players weren't hitting the ball with the barrel of the bat, but lower toward its handle, prompting an MLB-approved design change moving more mass toward the handle — went viral. 'This has been all over the country and really around the world, people talking about bats and this bat design, and it just shows you the impact of what the Yankees can do when something happens there,' Ainsworth said. Ever since, phones have been ringing in the offices of the 41 MLB-approved batmakers. One such call came Monday morning from the Cincinnati Reds, who asked a Louisville Slugger executive and sales rep to drive samples to their ballpark 90 minutes away as soon as possible. Within hours, Reds star Elly De La Cruz was testing a sample torpedo bat in batting practice and liked it so much that he kept it for that night's game, in which he went 4-for-5 with two home runs. On Monday, Louisville Slugger had developed 20 different models with varying tapers, lengths and weights. By week's end, Hillerich estimates, that number will rise to closer to 70 to respond to MLB teams' requests for adjustments and to meet trickle-down demand it anticipates from youth and collegiate wood-bat leagues. One of the biggest wrinkles Hillerich has encountered is ensuring Louisville Slugger has enough wood — its company largely uses birch for MLB hitters — to meet demand. 'We have two log buyers that go out, and they usually go out once every two weeks,' he said. 'I told them to get on the road Monday morning and not come back.' For Marucci, which uses largely maple in its professional bats, sourcing wood isn't an issue, as it owns a timber company in Pennsylvania and two mills. (In addition, metal bats used in youth and collegiate leagues are Marucci's biggest seller, he said.) The logistical challenge has been turning around bats quickly enough for its roster of MLB players. At Marucci's headquarters in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a bat tailored to an MLB hitter's specific swing and balance points can be produced and in the hitter's hands in about a week. Although Ainsworth said a true torpedo model might not make much sense for younger players, who rarely make contact in the same place and need larger barrels, the company clearly anticipates strong demand from the public, as well as the pros. By midweek, a banner had been placed across the top of the Marucci website leading to the company's three different torpedo models: 'The bat everyone's talking about is here.' Victus, a Pennsylvania-based batmaker Marucci acquired in 2017, had a similar landing page on its website. 'I will tell you that it has been a nice bump for the company,' Ainsworth said. Yet for Ainsworth, the biggest winner from the surge in interest produced by the bats was baseball itself. For years, the sport has battled an existential debate about whether it had enough stars with crossover cultural appeal and whether its slower pace of play and stodgy tradition could attract younger fans. For the past week, however, as the NBA playoffs and the NFL draft approach, the buzz has been about baseball. Louisville Slugger, which Wilson Sporting Goods has owned since 2015, has experienced sales spikes before. Rick Redman, a vice president of corporate communications at Hillerich and Bradsby who has worked in public relations for Louisville Slugger for 22 years, said the last time he could recall a product this hot was 2006, when Louisville Slugger produced pink bats for Mother's Day. And sales of souvenir bats quadrupled in 2016 when the Chicago Cubs broke a 107-year-old World Series drought, Hillerich said. Yet the demand curve for torpedo bats could look similar to the skyrocketing arc of one of the Yankees' weekend home runs, because, unlike a novelty item, they represent an innovation that could shake up a century-old game. Pitchers have used data and technology in recent seasons to throw harder. Hitters, meanwhile, were still playing catch-up by changing how, not what, they swung. For batmakers, that gap between hitters and pitchers created a market opportunity. Both Louisville Slugger and Marucci operate high-tech hitting labs to test their equipment. In recent years, Ainsworth, who played four MLB seasons as a pitcher before he co-founded Marucci in 2004, had become inspired by applying golf's use of different clubs for different purposes to baseball. 'You go into an industry that's been, I don't want to say stale for a while, but it's been in America's pastime, the player uses the same bat versus every pitcher,' he said. 'You don't use the same golf club for every shot. Why in baseball were we using the same bat?' In 2022, Paul Goldschmidt became the National League's most valuable player using a Marucci bat with a knob shaped like a hockey puck, which shifted the weight below the hitter's hands. The design differed from that of the torpedo bats, but the idea was the same: What is the optimal design to create the biggest opportunity for hits? Some have pushed back against the effectiveness of the new design, such as Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy, whose team allowed the 15 home runs to the Yankees. 'My old ass will tell you this, for sure: It ain't the wand, it's the magician,' Murphy told reporters last weekend. Not everyone agrees with the theory. Aaron Leanhardt, a former physicist who now works for the Miami Marlins, has been credited with working with various batmakers to develop the bowling-pin design during his time with the Yankees after he discovered that some Yankees hitters rarely made contact on the barrel. Both Marucci and Louisville Slugger officials said that the bowling-pin model first became a reality late in 2023 and that a few players used it last season, including New York Mets star Francisco Lindor and Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton, who hit seven postseason home runs using such a model. Cody Bellinger, then with the Chicago Cubs, tried a Louisville Slugger model but wasn't quite sold until he joined the Yankees this season and tested newer models tweaked to his preferences. He was among the torpedo users to hit home runs during New York's explosive opening weekend. Yet the shape went unscrutinized last year. Why, then, did it take nearly a year and a half for the torpedo bat to capture the zeitgeist and affect the bottom line? Hillerich agreed that the Yankees' national exposure, combined with the intrigue of a new innovation, 'just made for the perfect storm.'
New York Times
27-03-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Marucci, Victus replace Louisville Slugger as MLB's official bats: What it means
Louisville Slugger has been synonymous with Major League Baseball for more than 100 years, but now Marucci Sports, a company founded in 2002, has replaced it as MLB's official bat. 'I created (Marucci) in my backyard, in a shed, and it's now the official bat,' said Marucci co-founder and CEO Kurt Ainsworth, a 46-year-old former pitcher. Ainsworth was selected in the first round of the 1999 MLB Draft by the San Francisco Giants and won an Olympic gold medal as a member of Team USA in 2000. Arm injuries ended his playing career in 2006. But by that time he was already growing Marucci Bat Co. with his co-founders: LSU head athletic trainer Jack Marucci and former Toronto Blue Jays second baseman Joe Lawrence, a fellow Louisiana native. Advertisement Louisville Slugger bats have been used by top players since the 1800s. In 1905, Honus Wagner became the first athlete to endorse an athletic product when he signed a deal with Hillerich & Bradsby Co, which owned Louisville Slugger until it was sold to Wilson Sporting Goods in 2015. It became the official bat of Major League Baseball in 1997, but on Jan. 1, Marucci Sports took on that title. Now the brands Marucci and Victus, which was acquired by Marucci in 2017, have gained exclusive use of MLB and team logos, names, colors, and more on their products. The deal will run through December 2029. For MLB, this move marks a break from long-held traditions in favor of a more youthful and modern approach to one of the game's core pieces of equipment. 'The last few years, we have been looking for opportunities to let our players express themselves more,' said Noah Garden, Deputy Commissioner for MLB. 'Innovation is part of (Marucci and Victus') DNA. It brings kids along and appeals to a wider audience.' 'Change is tough, I will give MLB a lot of credit,' Ainsworth said of the league's move to take on a new bat partner. 'They made a lot of changes to the game to make it better. They are bringing in a more youthful audience if you will, making the game faster. … We saw an opportunity with this new regime and the changes they are making, to come in and do something different.' For Ainsworth, the deal completes a surreal trajectory to the top of the bat world. Marucci quickly grew from its backyard beginnings, developing a reputation for making quality bats by using wood from an Amish-run mill in Pennsylvania that Marucci bought in 2008. It also gave top Major Leaguers like Albert Pujols, Chase Utley and David Ortiz part ownership in the brand. Holding company Compass Diversified acquired Marucci for $200 million in 2020, then sold it to Fox Factory Holding Company for $572 million in November 2023. Advertisement 'I was immediately impressed by its quality and performance,' Utley said of his first impression of Marucci's bats. 'But what stood out even more was their unwavering commitment to prioritize its players. Marucci's consistency and dedication has been key to their much-deserved success … I couldn't be more excited for them and the League as they embark on this new chapter.' As far back as 2013, Marucci began to usurp Louisville Slugger in MLB usage — a Louisville Slugger spokesman described the breakdown to USA Today at the time as 'neck and neck' — and in 2018, Victus began to do the same. In 2024, over 50 percent of big leaguers swung bats provided by Marucci or Victus, according to those companies. 'Louisville Slugger is an iconic brand,' said Ainsworth. 'Everyone knows Louisville Slugger, so for us to take that designation (of official MLB bat) and (mark) the first time anyone else outside of Louisville Slugger has held that, it is something that is really special.' 'After careful consideration, Louisville Slugger made the decision to forgo our sponsorship status as the Official Bat of MLB starting with the 2025 season,' said Rick Redman, Vice President of Corporate Communications for Hillerich & Bradsby, which still produces Louisville Slugger bats exclusively for Wilson, in a statement provided to The Athletic. 'Louisville Slugger will remain an important supplier to Major League players. They, like millions of ballplayers and fans, recognize that our iconic brand is synonymous with this great game. … Now in our 141st year, Louisville Slugger continues to be the industry leader in product innovation, quality, and design.' Marucci, with its headquarters in Baton Rouge, LA, and Victus, which is based in King of Prussia, PA, go about business differently for being two brands that are tied together. Marucci acquired Victus after seeing it was getting its bats into the hands of minor league and younger players that Marucci didn't necessarily reach. Marucci felt Victus was going to be the wave of the future with its creative, graffiti-inspired designs that younger players gravitated toward. Advertisement Marucci never wanted to merge the companies under one name, seeing two different cultures, different audiences, and different brands. This is reflected in the styles of their leaders — Jared Smith, CEO and co-founder of Victus Sports, is more of a T-shirt and backwards hat wearing executive, whereas Ainsworth is more buttoned up. 'We are dialed into the pulse of what's going on in the world and how it applies to baseball bats,' said Smith. 'It comes down to design and making people feel something with those designs.' Two of the Victus designs that have resonated in recent seasons were the Pablo Sanchez bat used by Kansas City Royals star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. and the pencil bat used by Philadelphia Phillies second baseman Bryson Stott in the 2023 Little League Classic game. For Smith and his Victus co-founder Ryan Engroff, adding customization was the goal from the start in 2012. Early on, Smith and Engroff targeted certain players who they felt were eager to express themselves on the field. It started at Spring Training by showing up and sharing samples, which led to sending out more. It helped them learn what players wanted and how to improve. The first player to use a custom bat was former Baltimore Orioles outfielder Adam Jones, who showed off a Victus camouflage design made for him on MLB Network in May 2012. In 2015, Bryce Harper, then playing for the Washington Nationals used a custom Independence Day themed Victus bat in order to mark the holiday. On July 4, 2016, he shared an image on Instagram of another patriotic bat, featuring the stars and stripes and the Statue of Liberty with an inscription that read 'Freedom is never given, it is won.' His caption on the post indicated that his use of a similar bat the previous year had caused a problem. 'One day I hope players in the MLB can express the way they feel and give thanks to everybody that makes our lives possible and safe every single day through bats or cleats or anything to that point,' he wrote. Advertisement According to a Washington Post article dated July 7, 2016, 'three people with direct knowledge of the situation said the company that made Harper's bat, Victus Sports, received a communication from officials at MLB reminding the company of the ramifications for not complying with baseball's rules. In short, their license could be suspended.' The rule in question is Rule 3.02 (d): 'No colored bat may be used in a professional game unless approved by the Rules Committee.' The rules had always been 1 color or 2-tone bats divided at the 18″, Black, Browns, and Natural colors were the only colors allowed. In recent years, those approvals have come around league-wide initiatives, like pink bats, gloves and cleats for Mother's Day festivities, light blue for Father's Day, or individual customizations for Players Weekend. Victus has always pushed the limits with their on-field bats. There have been fines, notices, and the feeling of sitting outside the principal's office. But, with this partnership, it seems that MLB is now accepting the trends and embracing the viral moments. Victus views this as perfect timing, as it has big plans for the MLB All-Star Game in 2026, which will be held at Citizens Bank Park, not far from its headquarters. Aside from that event, fans can expect a Pencil Bat for every team with their city abbreviations on it (NYY, LAD, CHI, TEX, etc.). Presentations of custom bats to well-known leaders, influencers, and the like across different industries will integrate baseball and the bat as a cultural piece and a collectible for fans. 'Nothing signifies baseball more than a bat,' said Smith. Who has the best crayon bat? I guess Opening day we will find out. 👀#MLB #Baseball — Victus Sports (@VictusSports) March 22, 2025 Players Weekend, traditionally just one weekend per season (with the potential to be expanded, according to Victus) and the Little League Classic will feature Victus custom bats. The first Home Run Derby where custom bats were used was in 2017 — now the Derby will serve as a runway for Victus' designs. Moments like games played abroad will be incorporating batting practice and in-game custom bats. Games on Mother's Day, Father's Day, and Armed Forces Day will be moments when Victus aims to show off its creativity. Advertisement 'We want fans to notice the Ms and the Vs,' Ainsworth said of his company's new place of prominence. In addition to the on-field models, Victus will produce souvenir 'trophy bats' for fans to buy (but not for use) on These trophy bats will be intended for display purposes and made from wood that doesn't meet the standard of their player models. An example of Victus bats as higher end collectibles dropped earlier this week, when the company released a Juan Soto/New York Mets bat that sold for $400 each with only 22 produced. One has already sold on eBay for $1,000. It will also be producing Wiffle Ball bats, called the Yardstick, for purchase after seeing a rise in fans making their own pencil wiffle bats. Victus has plans for their first fielding gloves, with a limited release to a thousand people. For the first time in 2025, Victus will have Boston Red Sox's up-and-coming star Jarren Duran, Philadelphia Phillies' All-Star reliever Matt Strahm, Arizona Diamondbacks' starting pitcher Merrill Kelly rocking their leather. The recently released MLB The Show 2025 also features Marucci and Victus. 'Kids want to pick their equipment based on what their favorite player is wearing and using,' said Garden. But what about the Silver Slugger Award known for recognizing the best hitter at each position? Will that change branding too? Ainsworth said it will stay with Louisville Slugger. 'This is not something we want to change, however, there is an avenue to create and add an award,' Ainsworth said. Smith mentioned a statistical category like the highest On-Base Plus Slugging Percentage (OPS) as a candidate. Ainsworth added that with all the metrics to track the value of a player, there are options. Other award concepts thrown around include one based on the most influential player, or the more modern statistical measures like exit velocity, hardest hit ball, or furthest home run. Altogether one thing is clear: change is underway. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence in all our coverage. When you click or make purchases through our links, we may earn a commission. (Photos: Marucci)
