Is it the bat or the confidence that a bat that looks like a torpedo gives?
Anthony Volpe is not yet sure, but after hitting two circuits in his first two games of the season with the new bat that a former Yankees analyst helped to create, the stop stop changes anything.
Volpe is one of the five Yankees that use the new Torpille bat, in which more wood (and therefore mass) is closer to the bat label than the typical barrel. The new dimensions do not violate the official rules of the Major Baseball League or the regulation of bat providers, and they are not for everyone – like Aaron Judge, who indicated on Sunday morning that he had little interest in trying it.
But the first yields were promising.
“So far, everything is fine,” said Volpe on Sunday morning. “It’s cool to look and the concept makes it so much meaning. I know I am bought. The more you can have a barrel where you are going to hit the ball makes sense for me.
“It’s probably just a placebo,” added Volpe with a smile. “A large part of the increase in your bat and you see how large the barrel is. But it’s exciting. I think that 0.001 per cent mentally that can give you trust.”
Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Cody Bellinger are among the other Yankees who use the Torpille bat. Bellinger said the Cubs were swinging with him in stick training last season, but never used him in a match because he didn’t feel good yet and the Yankees seem to have had more advances with her.
“I think the advantage for me is that I personally like weight distribution,” said Bellinger. “The weight is closer to my hands, so I have the impression that it is lighter in a way. So, for me, it is the biggest advantage. And then, the bigger the ideal point, the greater the margin of error.”
Volpe echoes this feeling.
“We were all talking about and say that if it can help you want a season, it bought you another land or if it helps you, you might as well try it,” said Volpe. “It’s the same thing, see where it’s okay.”
But not everyone wanted to try it.
“What I have done in the past two seasons has been talking about himself,” said the judge. “Why try to change something if you have something working?”
The original idea behind the bat, according to the former minor league of the Yankees, Kevin Smith, is Aaron Leanhardt, a former MIT physicist who was analyst of the major league of the club last season and was a coordinator of the minor league in the organization before that. Leanhardt has left Yankees this offseason for a promotion to become the field coordinator of the Marlins, but his work is always felt in the Bronx.
“I know Lenny worked very hard on it,” said Volpe.
New bats became viral on Saturday during the Brewers Yankees 20-9 ambush in which they have reached a new Home Run franchise record, with the broadcaster of the Yes Michael Kay network explaining the new development on the air.
“I am sure that there is part of our clubhouse and our team that wanted it to be a secret, but it was always going to be out,” said Volpe.
“Everything is in the regulations,” said Bellinger. “They had insured that even before the season begins, knowing that with the appearance of these bats, it was probably going to go out at some point.”
