2025 MLB Thread

[theroundsquare]

Yessir.  The horse is out of the barn now

[monkeytargets39]

7 minutes ago, chasfh said:

I think it’s more likely everyone gets the bats.

Pitchers are gonna bitch a lot

[gehringer_2]

This is pretty hard to believe. If that taper has always been legal and they've been turning bats for 100yrs do you seriously mean to tell me no-one ever tried it before?

[TigerNation]

Not everyone is using the new bats btw. For example, Aaron Judge is not.

[CMU97]

1 hour ago, gehringer_2 said:

This is pretty hard to believe. If that taper has always been legal and they've been turning bats for 100yrs do you seriously mean to tell me no-one ever tried it before?

From what I've read and heard, the concept has been around for a couple of years now. Different players have been experimenting with different types of the torpedo (wood, balance, taper, etc), and it has been a process to find what "feels right" to each hitter. Cody Bellinger said he used one last spring training with the Cubs, but never in a real game because it  just didn't feel natural. Apparently, the Yankees were experimenting with these bats a lot during this year's spring training. I have no idea why no one noticed, or reported on it then. 

The concept is an excellent one, you want to hit the ball where the most wood, and therefore weight, of the bat lies. By moving the weight closer to the handle, you are also able to swing the same weight bat faster. 

If other teams weren't trying this before, they certainly will be now.

BTW, Aaron Judge said he won't touch one for fear it will mess up his natural swing. And, his natural swing is working pretty well right now.

[monkeytargets39]

1 hour ago, TigerNation said:

Not everyone is using the new bats btw. For example, Aaron Judge is not.

He doesn’t need it

[gehringer_2]

33 minutes ago, CMU97 said:

The concept is an excellent one, you want to hit the ball where the most wood, and therefore weight, of the bat lies. By moving the weight closer to the handle, you are also able to swing the same weight bat faster. 

the physics get complicated though because the total amount of energy you can put into the swing goes up as the weight moves outward on the bat - so somewhere a trade-off exists - the question is always where. It might be the wood also. Possibly inward weighting might be more useful in a maple bat, (which is more resilient?) as compared to maybe ash or even hickory. Maybe back in the day someone had tried it but with different wood it wasn't helpful. Just spitballing here.......

Edited Sunday at 11:57 PM by gehringer_2

[papalawrence]

The Braves put in an order for the new "torpedo" bats. Guessing many more will soon follow

 

https://www.si.com/mlb/yankees-torpedo-bats-other-mlb-teams

[Tiger337]

39 minutes ago, papalawrence said:

The Braves put in an order for the new "torpedo" bats. Guessing many more will soon follow

 

https://www.si.com/mlb/yankees-torpedo-bats-other-mlb-teams

Kreidler needs to get one of those.  

[CMU97]

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/44477141/mlb-2025-torpedo-bowling-pin-bats-new-york-yankees-taking-baseball

 

Here is an excellent article describing the short history of the torpedo bat, the science behind it, and the early adapters. It was used by one player last year, with tremendous results. 

[monkeytargets39]

55 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

Kreidler needs to get one of those.  

This might be more his speed

Edited Monday at 06:19 PM by monkeytargets39

[papalawrence]

I read that the Yankees tracked every contact swing by Volpe and he almost always makes contact on the label, not the barrel. These bats are designed for such players, as they moved the sweet spot to the label. Chisholm is also using the bat. Combined the two have 5 home runs in 3 games this year

[gehringer_2]

so the next step is a RHB uses a standard taper bat against RHP that is throwing him outside, and comes to the plate with a torpedo bat against LHP that's busting him inside.......

If the torpedo works for many guys, we end up with an even more HR domintated game which I would hate to see happen. 

In truth, the more I read about aspects of the game that the increase in pitching velocity have affected, the more I lean toward toward just moving the mound back and deaden the ball a bit more. That gives the batter a few more milliseconds and make strike throwing just a tiny bit tougher for sharp breaking balls. Combined you get more contact without boosted HRs even more. Both those seem like good things to me.

Edited Monday at 08:23 PM by gehringer_2

[Tiger337]

8 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

so the next step is a RHB uses a standard taper bat against RHP that is throwing him outside, and comes to the plate with a torpedo bat against LHP that's busting him inside.......

If the torpedo works for many guys, we end up with an even more HR domintated game which I would hate to see happen. 

In truth, the more I read about aspects of the game that the increase in pitching velocity have affected, the more I lean toward toward just moving the mound back and deaden the ball a bit more. That gives the batter a few more milliseconds and make strike throwing just a tiny bit tougher for sharp breaking balls. Combined you get more contact without boosted HRs even more. Both those seem like good things to me.

I agree fully, but most don't.  Fans like bat flips, home run trots and strikeout struts.  

[chasfh]

Small sample size theater.

[Tenacious D]

Do the torpedo bats put pitchers at greater risk of being struck by a batted ball?

[RandyMarsh]

Did anybody see the Yankees exit velos? Sure they scored alot of runs but if all the EVs were just normal and what you would expect when striking the ball on the barrel how do we even know that these bats helped at all? 

Also be worth seeing if this effected their swing speeds as all. In golf there is a term called "smash factor", that's where you divide the ball ball speed by swing speed. Be interesting to see if there were any difference for the Yankees with these bats or last year. 

Edited Monday at 09:42 PM by RandyMarsh

[Tigermojo]

Profar 80 game PED suspension. Will he learn his lesson when he's collecting $42 million minus whatever 80 games works out to?

[gehringer_2]

The hitters are getting more bat speed, but that is simple physics since the bat of the same net weight with that weight moved inward absorbs less angular momentum to reach the same rotational velocity, or conversely, the same arm energy generates more bat velo, but that is tempered by the fact that the tapered bat doesn't actually have any more angular momentum than the regular bat moving at slower speed. I think that's why if this makes a difference, it must also depend somewhat on the spring in the bat. If the bat were completely rigid, I don't think moving the weight would matter, but of course the bat isn't rigid, and different bats have different rigidities. Elastic flex in the bat should add to exit velo and the torpedo shape actually may make the bat stiffer/less springy - there are a lot of possible variables! 🤷‍♂️

Edited Monday at 10:31 PM by gehringer_2

[Tiger337]

55 minutes ago, RandyMarsh said:

Did anybody see the Yankees exit velos? Sure they scored alot of runs but if all the EVs were just normal and what you would expect when striking the ball on the barrel how do we even know that these bats helped at all? 

 

We don't.  A lot of pople are jumping to quick conclusions and it's not even April yet!

[casimir]

2 hours ago, Tenacious D said:

Do the torpedo bats put pitchers at greater risk of being struck by a batted ball?

Probably Skubal.

[CMU97]

2 hours ago, RandyMarsh said:

Did anybody see the Yankees exit velos? Sure they scored alot of runs but if all the EVs were just normal and what you would expect when striking the ball on the barrel how do we even know that these bats helped at all? 

 

They don't mention the EV, but the articl posted above said of the 5 Yankees who are using the bats , 4 have increased their swing by 1-3 mph. The outlier was Goldschimdt, who only increased by .3 mph. Of course, he is 38.years old.

Stanton used the bat last season, and had the fastest swing in MLB, a full 3 miles faster than the next guy.

 

[gehringer_2]

31 minutes ago, CMU97 said:

They don't mention the EV, but the articl posted above said of the 5 Yankees who are using the bats , 4 have increased their swing by 1-3 mph. The outlier was Goldschimdt, who only increased by .3 mph. Of course, he is 38.years old.

Stanton used the bat last season, and had the fastest swing in MLB, a full 3 miles faster than the next guy.

 

Of course, Stanton having the fastest swing would not be a surprise no matter what he was swinging.

[chasfh]

1 hour ago, casimir said:

Probably Skubal.

Definitely Manning—that is, if he were ever going to get called up to the majors ever again, which I’m thinking he might not be. I think he might end up in Asia at some point.

[oblong]

Remember a few years ago when we had like 10 no hitters in  10 days and all this stuff was being said…. 

I’m sure those numbers aren’t right but it felt like it