LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The New York Yankees are making headlines after a season opening series blowout against the Milwaukee Brewers. The team found success with a new “torpedo” bat design, created by the team and Louisville Slugger.
The design, as Rick Redman, vice president of corporate communications for Hillerich & Bradsby, explained, has been in the works for about a year and a half. The Yankees’ recent wins put their hard work into the limelight.
“So it’s really hard to speculate that it was just the bat, but we’re here to help players have an edge at the plate and help them have success and that’s our intent and our goal,” Redman said.
Louisville Slugger is working with four Major League Baseball teams on torpedo bat designs. Other bat making companies are taking a swing at the style too. With all the recent attention company namesake, Bob Hillerich, said other teams are now interested too.
“There’s probably 11 different versions of the torpedo bat already out there,” Hillerich said. “The diameters are fairly similar but to keep the weights and the balances the same and to get the handle right for each player, those all have to be modified.”
But what makes this design special?
“If you can move that sweet spot, which is about the size of a silver dollar, it’s going to make a difference for the performance,” Hillerich explained.
The latest innovation in the always-innovating world of bat making.
Since its founding nearly a century and a half ago, the Hillerich & Bradsby Company has made over 4,000 bat designs. Staff there confirm this new design is in line with MLB rules.
