As a Guardians fan, there are so many reasons to hate the Yankees. From Yankee fans throwing water bottles at Myles Straw back in 2022, to being kicked out of the playoffs by the Yankees in ’24, ’22, ’20, and ’17, it’s safe to say there’s no warm feelings for the Bronx blunders.
Before we had the Kansas City Chiefs, New England Patriots, Duke Men’s and UConn Women’s basketball and even before the Lakers and Celtics, the team to hate was the Yankees. They’re the Galactic Empire, Umbrella Corp, and SPECTRE, all rolled into one. The Yankees have a long history of bending the rules and using underhanded tactics, but this time not only are they blatant with it, they’ll probably get away with it.
To start their 2025 season, the Yankees began with a series against the Milwaukee Brewers. The first game went about as expected, New York won 4-2 and nothing happened too noteworthy. The next game, on the other hand, had more of its fair share of fireworks. The Yankees hit nine home runs in a 20-9 beatdown of the Brewers, breaking a franchise record for most HRs in a game. When trying to figure out the reason behind this sudden offensive explosion, all answers pointed to the Yankees’ new bats. Shortly after the game, all the focus went to the bats and if they actually give batters an unfair advantage. The short answer to that is, definitely……maybe.
Sipkin, C. & NY Post. (2025, March 31). New York Yankees SS Jazz Chisolm Jr at bat against the Milwaukee Brewers with torpedo bat.
This unholy combination of baseball bat and bowling pin is called a torpedo bat. With the fat part of the bat more toward the handle and the end tapering toward a smaller diameter, this MIT physicist-tested bat is designed to combat the recent surge in pitching dominance. In layman’s terms, the sweet spot of the bat has been blown up to get around the fact that pitchers have become borderline unhittable. The fact that Yankees RF Giancarlo Stanton began using them last postseason went largely unnoticed. After Stanton’s performance in the postseason, which included hitting seven HRs in 14 games (four of those HRs came against CLE, unfortunately), these unorthodox bats now seem all the rage. Players such as Reds SS Elly De La Cruz, Orioles C Adley Rutschman, and former Guardian now Mets SS Francisco Lindor have started to use torpedo bats.
Believe it or not, these monstrosities aren’t even illegal by MLB standards. According to the MLB rule book, all bats must be a “smooth, round stick” no longer than 42 inches and no wider than 2.61 inches at the thickest part. The bats that the Yankees used fall within these limits. The new bats certainly seem to be helping the defending AL champs. The Yankees are currently top three in terms of total HRs and top five in terms of Batting Average. However, when having players such as Aaron Judge, Paul Goldschmidt and Giancarlo Stanton; having a top-tier offense is expected.
On the other side, while there’s an increase in HR numbers, Batting average and slugging percentages drop for players using torpedo bats. Out of the 21 players confirmed to be using torpedo bats, 14 are batting below the league average of .235, and nine have averages under the infamous “Mendoza Line” of .200. The previously mentioned De La Cruz, and Rutschman both are currently hitting carrer-lows (.229 for De La Cruz, .222 for Rutschman), while Lindor currently has his 2nd worst average since joing the Mets.
In my opinion, these bats are more sizzle than steak. Who cares if you hit 10-15 more HRs than you’d normally would if your average drops by 50 points? Unless the players using them start making solid contact on a more consistent basis, torpedo bats will go the way of baggy, shin-length NBA shorts and the Wildcat offense.
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