To push the boundaries of the sport, break records, and further engage the audience, every aspect must be maximized, from the athletes' bodies to the tools they use in games. Football boots, basketball sneakers, technology in jerseys... And now, all eyes in the United States are on baseball and the new innovative design of a bat called Torpedo that has revolutionized the first week of the country's and the world's major competition, the Major League Baseball.
The concept of baseball is simple: a player, known as a pitcher, throws a ball to the batter of the opposing team, who must hit it as far as possible. In this action, beyond the strength, elasticity, and talent of both athletes, the bat and the ball are the extra elements. The ball has little room for evolution, but experts, particularly one who belonged to the New York Yankees, have discovered that a change in the bat's design has transformed the hitting statistics of several batters, who have set hitting records in the early games of the season.
What does this revolutionary change consist of? Normally, players' bats increase in diameter from the handle to the end, with the most mass at the end. Throughout the over 100 years of baseball's existence, and with some exceptions, this has been the case. Colors or handle types may have changed, but the idea of increasing weight and mass from less to more in the bat has always been there. Until now.
Last year, Aaron 'Lenny' Leanhardt, an analyst for the Yankees, a graduate in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan, and a physics doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, invented the Torpedo bat. The idea was born three years ago after some player comments. He studied the hitting style of his batters and noticed that most hit the ball from the middle of the bat, not the end, so he decided to try something quite simple: if they hit from the middle, why not add more mass in that area? Thus, the Torpedo was born, named for its shape and because anything sounding military appeals to Americans.
The Torpedo is legal, its validity confirmed by the league itself. It remains "a single piece of solid, smooth, round wood," as mandated by article 3.02 of MLB (Major League Baseball) rules. It weighs the same as the previous model, between 900 grams and one kilogram, and does not exceed the maximum limits of 6.6 centimeters in diameter and 106 centimeters in maximum length (professional bats measure between 85 and 90 centimeters). What changes is the area with more weight and wood.
"It's simply about making the bat as heavy and thick as possible in the area where you usually hit the baseball most of the time," Leanhardt recently explained, the most famous person in the league right now. "It's a project that took two years to come to fruition," he emphasized.
'Lenny's' idea, who during the offseason left the Yankees and became the field coordinator for the Miami Marlins, has positioned the Yankees as the team with the most home runs in the first week. They have accumulated 19 in just five games, reaching a record-breaking nine in a single game against the Milwaukee Brewers, the fourth of the season. That day, they broke the record for home runs in the first four days of competition. They have the best base-to-hit ratio, and their average home runs per game is 3.80. To give you an idea, the Dodgers, second in this category, have 2.25, and the Cardinals, third, have 1.83. In other words, the Yankees hit twice as many home runs each night as most league franchises.
The records are gradually spreading throughout the league, where the Torpedo is being tested. Some resist, content with their numbers using the previous model, but for others, it's a revolution. "It's starting to be used throughout the league," stated Cody Asche, the hitting coach for the Baltimore Orioles. "It's incredible, although we'll see what the data says. I've never seen anything like it," said Trevor Megill, a pitcher for the Brewers.
So far, the statistics are proving Leanhardt right. The Torpedo could revolutionize baseball, and it seems only a matter of time before the new device becomes common practice for all teams.