NEW YORK – At least a couple Milwaukee Brewers are eager to try the type of bat that has caused such a stir early this season.
With a handful of players using the “torpedo” bat that is thicker in the barrel and tapers toward the end, the New York Yankees socked 11 home runs in their first two game against the Brewers, including eight in a 20-9 beatdown Saturday at Yankee Stadium.
It’s believed Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger, Jazz Chisholm, Jr., Anthony Volpe and Austin Wells all use the bat, designed by an MIT physicist, while Aaron Judge has said he does not.
“I didn’t even notice them on opening day,” said Brewers first baseman Rhys Hoskins. “I just noticed it (Saturday). William (Contreras) was talking about it with me on the bench. I didn’t really understand what he was talking about until I saw some pictures afterwards.”
And almost immediately thereafter, Hoskins requested director of equipment Jason Shawger place an order for some. Getting comfortable enough with the bats to start swinging them in games will be another matter.
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“You’ve got to hit with it on the field. You’ve got to feel it out in the cage,” Hoskins said. “It sounded like the majority of the guys that were using it (with the Yankees), they’re also birch, and birch takes a little bit of time to break in. So, there’s that added element on top.
“So, a week, two weeks, it could feel good. ‘Let’s try it.’ There’s no harm in that.”
First baseman Jake Bauers, meanwhile, said he’s open to at least trying a torpedo barrel. Considering he hit a two-run homer to right in the fourth inning of Sunday’s game with a standard bat, perhaps he’ll hold off a while longer.
Shortstop Joey Ortiz said he’s fine with using what he’s always used – with the option, of course, to change his mind.
Manager Pat Murphy, who’s served on the advisory boards for a couple of bat companies during his time in baseball, also offered his take.
“There’s a lot of theory about a lot of equipment. It’s been going on for years,” he said. “Those changes, when players put them in their hands, decide to use them, usually they have some merit. You don’t have big-league hitters who have handled different types of bats their whole life making changes to different bats unless there’s some merit there. Especially when more than one do it.
“So, it’s something that has been talked about. These guys are studying ways to get an edge in every way possible. So if that becomes an edge, you’ll see more and more guys using them.”
The bats became even more of a talking point after the Yankees slugged four more homers – with Chisholm slugging a pair – in Sunday’s 12-3 bashing of the Brewers.
Closer Trevor Megill created something of a stir when he intimated to New York reporters prior to Sunday’s game that the bats provided Yankees hitters an unfair advantage.
Murphy, however, wasn’t hearing it.
“Why would they be annoyed if they’re legal?” he asked. “It’s a bat that’s legal. It’s not, like, some magical wood or anything else. It’s just built with the weight in a different spot. And it’s proven to be effective for the Yankees this weekend. I think there’s other things that were in play there. They’re really good hitters, and if pitchers want to get annoyed, then the hitters win.
“Maybe that’s the secret to hitting, is the bat. I’m here to tell you for sure, my old (expletive) will tell you this for sure: It ain’t the wand; it’s the magician.”
