"I Think It's Terrible. It's The Yankees, So They'll Let It Slide" - Brewers Pitcher Trevor Megill Cried About The Yankees' Perfectly Legal Torpedo Bats Which Are Being Used All Over The League
The "new" torpedo bats are all the rave throughout Major League Baseball right now. Why? Because the day the Yankees broadcast booth decided to bring them up, the team dropped a 20 spot on the Brewers and blasted a franchise record nine home runs.
The whole world, outside of New York, typically waits patiently for something to jump the Yankees on. Any inkling that they're cheating in broad daylight promotes an action like a shark smelling a drop of blood from a mile away. In the blink of an eye it's a frenzy.
Quickly we found out all there is to know about the torpedo bats, which involves putting more weight to the sweet spot of where a specific hitter frequently contacts the ball with his bat. The main example used yesterday was Anthony Volpe, who was told in the offseason he was consistently getting jammed on his bat and missing barrels. They redesigned a bat for him to shift the weight towards that area in hopes he'd find better contact that way.
(Athletic) “They’re going to point to a location on the bat that is probably six or seven inches down from the tip of the bat,” he said. “That’s where the sweet spot typically is. It’s just through those conversations where you think to yourself, why don’t we exchange how much wood we’re putting on the tip versus how much we’re putting in the sweet spot? That’s the original concept right there. Just try to take all that excess weight and try to put it where you’re trying to hit the ball and then in exchange try to take the thinner diameter that used to be at the sweet spot and put that on the tip.”
I've got bad news for everyone who wants all of the Yankees thrown in Guantanamo, the bats are completely legal.
(Athletic) A Major League Baseball spokesman told The Athletic that the bats don’t break any rules. MLB Rule 3.02 states that a 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 bat shall be one piece of solid wood.” It also says that “experimental” bats can’t be used “until the manufacturer has secured approval from Major League Baseball of his design and methods of manufacture.”
And for anyone who thought the Yankees were the only team aware of this new method of bat, I have more bad news
He (former MIT physicist) Aaron Leanhardt got a kick out of seeing the social media fervor the bats caused Saturday. He said that while some players began to use them last season, “the entire industry kind of caught wind of it” and “it exploded in the offseason.”
I think it's pretty cool for a hitter to be able to personalize his bat within legal limits to fit their swing profile. You see it done in tennis and golf, so why can't the bat be personalized? Pitchers for as long as the game has been around have messed with the ball, spin rate, hell even something as simple as their catchers framing pitches and stealing strikes. The hitters have never had any sort of edge with anything. The one moment they get one you've got clowns like Trevor Megill crying their eyes out.
Now to be fair, I didn't predict Trevor Megill to be a smart person. Unfortunately he seems to have outed the Brewers as one of the organizations blind-sided by the torpedo bats. Cody Bellinger said he first tried out these type of bats with the Cubs LAST YEAR. Alex Cora admitted some of his guys have the bats too. Hey, maybe Devers should grab one and give it a try?
Come to think of it, I didn't hear a word about the torpedo bats and their horror when the Yankees beat the Brewers 4-2 on Opening Day. It took the 20 run outburst against Nestor Cortes to open everyone's eyes. Did anyone ever stop to think that Nestor threw meatball after meatball down the dick of the plate and caused that onslaught? Maybe the Brewers just stink? People just love to blow shit out of proportion and spew nonsense like Trevor Megill did today.
It's worth noting that Aaron Judge now has four homers this weekend against Milwaukee and is not using these bats.
By the way, yes he homered again today. Another no doubter. What a monster.
It's the torpedo bat! It's Yankee Stadium! Well, why did did the Brewers (a team with access to both things) get out-scored 36 to 14 this weekend? Boy these people so sad and pathetic. Trevor Megill, what a big bozo.
And again, there's a very good chance this weekend is a coincidence and some good Yankees hitters ran into some terrible Brewers pitching. Maybe it is a thing and this can help out certain hitters. That'd be cool! What we do know is that none of this is cheating, other teams have been using the bats, and not every hitter likes the bats.
P.S. It is worth noticing the juiced balls might be back. Very early to tell, but I kinda got this vibe off a few Opening Day homers this past Thursday.