THE New York Yankees might have discovered the next biggest sports breakthrough.
The Yankees organization appears to have invented a new bat to get a leg up on their MLB competition.
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The new bats, which are being called “torpedo bats,” are an ingenious idea.
Team data officials look at where certain batters make contact with the ball the most and moved more wood to that point on the bat.
That means even if a batter doesn’t tend to barrel up balls, the new bat makes it happen for them anyway.
“The Yankee front office, the analytics department, did a study on [shortstop] Anthony Volpe and every single ball, it seemed like, he hit on the label,” Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay said.
“He didn’t hit any on the barrel. So they had bats made up where they moved a lot of the wood into the label so the harder part of the bat will actually strike the ball.”
This had quite an effect early in this baseball season, with the Yankees hitting a team record nine home runs in one game against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Infielders Anthony Volpe and Jazz Chisolm are the two players known to be using the bats so far.
The two players aren’t known for their power, but they’ve already combined for five home runs in three games.
While fans are split on whether or not the bats should be allowed, Major League Baseball has quickly cleared the air.
The bats are perfectly legal as they fall into the parameters of the rules regarding bat dimensions.
“The bat shall be a smooth, round stick not more than 2.61 inches in diameter at the thickest part and not more than 42 inches in length,” the MLB rulebook says.
“The bat shall be one piece of solid wood.”
Not only is it confirmed in the rulebook, but an MLB spokesperson also confirmed this to The Athletic.
Just because something is legal doesn’t mean it will stay that way though, and some players have already voiced their concerns about the “torpedo bats.”
Brewers closer Trevor Megill labeled the new invention as “bush league.”
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“I think it’s terrible…” he said via the New York Post.
“We’ll see what the data says. I’ve never seen anything like it before. I feel like it’s something used in slo-pitch softball.
“It’s genius: Put the mass all in one spot. It might be bush [league]. It might not be.
“But it’s the Yankees, so they’ll let it slide.”
It’s early in the season, so the jury is still out on the bats. However, if every team starts adopting this and offense gets out of control it is possible that MLB steps in and outlaws the new technology.