MLB says Yankees’ new “torpedo bats” are legal and likely coming • Hacker News Board

Re: MLB says Yankees’ new “torpedo bats” are legal and likely coming

#71

Post by xhkkffbf » Mon, Mar 31, 2025, 4:48 PM UTC

dontTREATonme wrote: post #65

jparishy wrote: post #14

I think it's quite cool (disclaimer: I am indeed a dirty Yankees fan) Hitting is really hard. If you feel up to it, and can find a public batting cage near you that has a fast pitch machine (usually maxes out 75-85mph which is 20+ mph less than your typical MLB fastball), give it a shot. When you hit the ball away from the sweet spot, especially on the parts closer to your hands, it really freaking hurts and throws o…

> Brewer's pitching is injured, and the starter that day was a Yankee last year and the team is intimately familiar with his game. Is this one of those situations where the Yankees are even still paying part of his salary?

I don't know, but those situations exist and they might be more problematic than baseball is willing to admit. The pitcher may get more from the Yankees than the Brewers. So the pitcher may have more incentive to make sure the Yankees don't go bankrupt. Hmmm.

Re: MLB says Yankees’ new “torpedo bats” are legal and likely coming

#72

Post by vessenes » Mon, Mar 31, 2025, 4:48 PM UTC

krustyburger wrote: post #43

cf100clunk wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Let’s give it at least a few hundred at-bats per player using it. Indeed, and lets also test against other ''new'' bat designs and materials i.e. graphene, carbon fibre, etc. so that we can hopefully ban them pre-emptively if they show improvements that are statistically above the latest trends in human effort and talent.

Contrary to the implication of the comment you’re replying to, MLB has always mandated bats be made of solid wood. Aluminum bats have never been allowed and have never been used. Bats made of other materials like the ones you mention would also not be allowed. This new “torpedo” bat is made of solid wood, just in a new shape.

Thanks for the clarification. https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/1freiuv/recalling... this April fool’s video will give fun nostalgia. I guess the most accurate thing to say is that MLB at least thought about it for a second, long enough to get Jose Canseco to pretend it was happening.

Re: MLB says Yankees’ new “torpedo bats” are legal and likely coming

#73

Post by barkerja » Mon, Mar 31, 2025, 4:51 PM UTC

happyopossum wrote: post #35

kaycebasques wrote: post #12

If only the Yankees get access to it (e.g. they patented it and won't let other teams use it) then I could see it as an unfair advantage. In most other areas of America life, though, this innovation would be allowed or even celebrated. I imagine it will go the way of the brilliant strategic innovation a few years back of shifting defenders heavily depending on the batter's statistical hitting patterns. It'll get bann…

> If home runs happen all the time, they lose their excitement. TV ratings show otherwise - in every instance so far, HRs put butts in seats, and defense makes people change the channel. TV and ballpark analytics show this to be true. The common thought is that's why the league ignored abuse during the steroid era so much. edit - This is also the driving force behind multiple 'juiced ball' conspiracy theories.

Yes, because home runs still are not that regular of an occurrence. So they're still "special".

But if they become a lot more commonplace, then the allure will depreciate over time.

Re: MLB says Yankees’ new “torpedo bats” are legal and likely coming

#74

Post by blankx32 » Mon, Mar 31, 2025, 4:52 PM UTC

ronnier wrote: post #5

wifipunk wrote: post #3

Matching their franchise record for HRs in a game in only 4 innings is wild!

Note that Aaron Judge hit 3 of those home runs (including a grand slam) and he did not use a torpedo bat.

Also note that Judge is a machine

Re: MLB says Yankees’ new “torpedo bats” are legal and likely coming

#75

Post by assimpleaspossi » Mon, Mar 31, 2025, 4:52 PM UTC

My first thought is that there must be something very wrong about this. They have moved the skill of hitting from the player to the "skill" of the bat. I am surprised MLB allowed it. I don't see it too far different than corking the bat.

Re: MLB says Yankees’ new “torpedo bats” are legal and likely coming

#76

Post by lastofthemojito » Mon, Mar 31, 2025, 4:53 PM UTC

pigbearpig wrote: post #62

Two players used the bats. I'm not a Yankees fan, but all these articles are making it seem like the bats are the reason. That does not explain why the rest of the lineup went off. Perhaps poor pitching is the better explanation. Too much is being made of these bats. Also, golf club technology basically does the same thing. Everything is about making a bigger sweet spot. Oversize drivers and irons didn't seem to ruin…

> Two players used the bats

I'm not convinced how much of the offensive onslaught was due to the bats either, but all of the sources I've heard/read have indicated that 5 players in the Yankees starting lineup have been using the bats:

https://apnews.com/article/torpedo-bats-yankees-6ac6c797ea93...

https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/article/which-mlb-players-are-u...

Re: MLB says Yankees’ new “torpedo bats” are legal and likely coming

#77

Post by kjkjadksj » Mon, Mar 31, 2025, 4:54 PM UTC

pigbearpig wrote: post #62

Two players used the bats. I'm not a Yankees fan, but all these articles are making it seem like the bats are the reason. That does not explain why the rest of the lineup went off. Perhaps poor pitching is the better explanation. Too much is being made of these bats. Also, golf club technology basically does the same thing. Everything is about making a bigger sweet spot. Oversize drivers and irons didn't seem to ruin…

My baseball head friends think the yankees stole signs for this game.

Re: MLB says Yankees’ new “torpedo bats” are legal and likely coming

#78

Post by lapetitejort » Mon, Mar 31, 2025, 4:57 PM UTC

gadders wrote: post #60

islewis wrote: post #22

I've always wondered what the technological development of F1 would look like in other sports. This feels pretty close.

The Aluminium Cricket bat was controversial in the 70's: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ComBathttps://en.wikipedia.org... I guess other (banned) examples would be the LZR swim suits ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LZR_Racer ) and the Nike Vaporfly ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nike_Vaporfly_and_Tokyo_2020_O... ) I think I am also right in saying that you can buy a road bike that is better than the ones permitted in…

> I think I am also right in saying that you can buy a road bike that is better than the ones permitted in the Tour de France.

Recumbent bikes have been banned since 1934[0]! Remarkable machines. I'd love to ride one in a civilized location one day.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recumbent_bicycle

Re: MLB says Yankees’ new “torpedo bats” are legal and likely coming

#79

Post by kjkjadksj » Mon, Mar 31, 2025, 4:57 PM UTC

assimpleaspossi wrote: post #75

My first thought is that there must be something very wrong about this. They have moved the skill of hitting from the player to the "skill" of the bat. I am surprised MLB allowed it. I don't see it too far different than corking the bat.

Pretty typical for pro sports especially golf or swimming. The batmaker is probably pleased all the competitive amateurs are going to replace the bat in the closet with the premium bat shape and I’m sure they worked closely with MLB officials on this. No one polices this type of collusion.

Re: MLB says Yankees’ new “torpedo bats” are legal and likely coming

#80

Post by ARandumGuy » Mon, Mar 31, 2025, 5:00 PM UTC

islewis wrote: post #22

I've always wondered what the technological development of F1 would look like in other sports. This feels pretty close.

It's actually fairly common. Other sibling comments have a lot of examples, but one I'd like to focus on is the swimsuit arms race in competitive swimming. It really got started with Speedo's LZR Racer suit at the 2008 Olympics, where 98% of swimming medals were won by someone wearing one of these suits.

However, there were serious issues with cost and accessibility. These suits cost a lot of money to develop and manufacture, which was passed on to the swim teams. The LZR Racer could cost $550 per suit, with each suit only lasting a handful of races before requiring replacement. This gave a huge advantage to wealthy teams and swimmers with good sponsorship deals, and talented swimmers without a lot of financial resources were left in the dust.

Then there's the basic question of "what skills do we want to measure and reward in this sport?" With swimming, it got to the point where races were won not in the pool, but in the R&D department of swimwear companies. The swimming organizing bodies felt that swimming competitions should be focused on the athletic ability of individual swimmers instead, so advanced swimsuits were banned.

Don't get me wrong, I like F1 a lot, and part of that is the cool cutting-edge technology the teams develop. But for most sports, heavy technological development doesn't lead to more exciting competition, it just adds barriers to entry.