Anthony Volpe of the New York Yankees hit a home run as they beat the Milwaukee Brewers 20-9 on March 29. Photo courtesy of Yahoo Sports.
JAMIE HEALY | STAFF REPORTER | jdhealy1@butler.edu
Overtime, or “OT,” is an opinion column series where the Collegian takes national sports headlines or polarizing topics and gives them a Butler-centric angle.
On March 29, the New York Yankees played the Milwaukee Brewers in game two of their opening series of the 2025 MLB season. The Yankees dominated the game, winning 20-9 while hitting nine home runs — three of which came in succession of one another to start the game. Fans across the country noticed the different-looking bats that the Yankees were using throughout the contest. Questions were asked about the legality of the bats and if the team was gaining an unfair advantage.
MLB bat regulations state the bat must be a smooth, round stick and also no more than 42 inches long and 2.61 inches wide at the diameter of the thickest part of the bat. The torpedo bat merely shifts the widest part of the bat from the top to the middle. This allows the “sweet spot” to be closer to the hitter’s hands, maximizing the opportunity for contact and power.
Players such as Francisco Lindor of the New York Mets and Giancarlo Stanton of the Yankees began using the bat last season. This season, other teams and players across the league such as the Chicago Cubs and Adley Rutschman of the Baltimore Orioles have been confirmed to use the bats as well.
Not only are the torpedo bats legal, but they are also good for the game of baseball.
The increase in use of torpedo bats has allowed players such as the Yankees’ shortstop Anthony Volpe to increase his hard-hit rate, which often correlates to more hits.
More hits lead to more action during the game, allowing fans to be more excited.
Sophomore sports media major Drew Pieschalski was initially against the bats, but his opinion has changed as the season has continued.
“As a Guardians fan, I hate the Yankees and [the bats] started coming out with that team using them,” Pieschalski said. “But it’s grown on me, I think it makes the game stronger.”
The fascination with the bats has helped draw more fans into ballparks as well.
For example, the average attendance for Yankees home games in 2024 was 41,896. So far this year, the Yankees’ home game attendance has increased slightly, up to 42,686 fans per game.
“I think it provides more offense [because] less guys are getting jammed, so these [players] are just crushing the ball,” Pieschalski said. “I think that’s what people want to see.”
The torpedo bat craze serves as just one example of analytics and technology contributing to the future of the game, another being the case study of the 2002 Oakland Athletics. The A’s took the league by storm that season because of their unconventional reliance on finding players who were seen as undervalued by the rest of the league.
The A’s approach was heavily influenced by the use of sabermetrics. This use sparked a revolution in the game of baseball, which resulted in statistics such as Wins Above Replacement (WAR) and Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) into mainstream baseball discourse.
First-year kinesiology major Dylan Conder believes the torpedo bats are merely a continuation of increased use of analytics in the game.
“We’re in a new day now,” Conder said. “We have to evolutionize and use technology. Technology says to [change] the bat, so we are going to try that.”
Despite the bats’ controversial introduction, the use by other players in the league has softened the frustration some fans felt at the beginning of the season.
Senior finance major Chris Castrucci contends that the confirmed legality of the bats keeps the game fair and fun.
“Since everyone can benefit from it, it makes it better for the sport,” Castrucci said. “I see Elly De La Cruz get four hits in his first game with the bat, it’s going to make me more intrigued to watch the game a little bit more.”
If MLB is serious about continuing the growth of the game, it should continue to embrace these new bats. MLB saw success with the pitch clock, which brought down the length of games. Now it is apparent that fans will continue to watch as these bats allow hitters to better use their strengths to benefit their teams.
Overall, the torpedo bats have become a resounding success, bringing attendance up and continuing to build on the use of advanced analytics to gain an advantage in a demanding game.
Baseball fans across the country became aware of the torpedo bats in late March when the season began, and through the first two weeks of April have grown to love the bats’ contributions to a centuries-old pastime.
