This is Sports at Large. I’m Milton Kent.
The 2025 baseball season is in its nascent stages. In the words of the great former Orioles announcer Chuck Thompson, the beer is barely cold and Miss Agnes has yet to go to war, but there’s already a raging controversy.
And leave it to our friends up north, the New York Yankees, to have started it.
Actually, the word controversy is a bit strong, since nothing illegal, immoral or even contrary to the rules of the national pastime occurred. But, as denizens of Charm City, we are constitutionally obligated to cast a skeptical glance at anything the Yankees do that seems potentially fishy.
It seems the Bronx Bombers had a little help doing their bombing in their opening series against Milwaukee.
In the second game of the season, the Yankees broke out the bats, clubbing the Brewers 20-9. New York pounded out nine home runs. Four of them came in the first inning and three on the first three pitches.
Those Yankee hitters were using bats that were fatter closer to the middle, the sweet spot as it were. The bats tend to resemble bowling pins, or torpedoes, the name they’ve been given more popularly.
The bat has its origins in the workings of Aaron Leanhardt, an MIT physicist who joined the Yankees organization three years ago in their minor league department.
Leanhardt moved up to the majors last year. He told the New York Times that he brought along his ideas about quote making the bat as heavy and as fat as possible in the area where you’re trying to do damage on the baseball unquote.
Shortstop Anthony Volpe was the first Yankee to try out the torpedo and his success spread to at least four teammates.
Oddly enough, Aaron Judge, the reigning American League Most Valuable Player, clubbed three home runs on that March day, including a grand slam, but none of them using a torpedo bat.
Not surprisingly, word of the bat’s success made its way out of New York and into other clubhouses. Cincinnati shortstop Elly De La Cruz has latched onto the torpedo.
So, too, has Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman, who has been using a modified version of the bat all season. His backup, former Yankee Gary Sanchez, is among a number of Birds to order the torpedo, according to the Baltimore Sun.
And it’s all legal. Baseball rules only require that a bat be a quote smooth, round stick unquote and be no longer than 42 inches and no more than 2.61 inches in diameter at its thickest point.
The torpedo bat meets all those requirements. And, frankly, it’s sorely needed.
Scoring in baseball has been on the decline for quite some time. The sport wisely got rid of the shift that was making it nearly impossible to get a ball through the infield.
So, full speed ahead with the torpedo. It’s just a shame the damn Yankees came up with it first.
And that’s how I see it for this week. You can reach us via email with your questions and comments at Sports at Large at gmail.com. And follow me on Threads, BlueSky and X at Sports at Large.
Until next week, for all of us here and for producer Lisa Morgan, I’m Milton Kent. Thanks for listening and enjoy the games
