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

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

#151

Post by [deleted] »

ramesh31 wrote: post #123
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…

I genuinely can't understand the thought process of a Yankees fan. If it's just a tradition thing, then sure whatever. But someone who watches them play and goes "yeah that's my team" is just mindblowing. They'll have a batting lineup that costs more than the opponents entire field, knowing full well they are all just hired guns who will be gone the moment the contract is up, and then you watch them in the playoffs a…

[deleted]

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

#152

Post by janalsncm »

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…

To be fair, a pitching machine is pretty unnatural compared to a human pitcher (can’t see when it’s about to launch) and they are typically closer than 60 feet.

On the other hand, a real MLB pitcher is not just throwing fastballs down the middle.

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

#153

Post by tedunangst »

adzm wrote: post #107
SkyPuncher wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If only the Yankees get access to this, the rest of the league will simply vote to outlaw it. You see something similar going on in football, right now, with a play known as the "tush push". It's not a particularly complex play, but for some reason the Philadelphia Eagles can pull it off astoundingly better than anyone else in the league. In response, several teams are petitioning rules to outlaw it. All it takes is…

> the "tush push". It's not a particularly complex play, but for some reason the Philadelphia Eagles can pull it off astoundingly better than anyone else in the league I looked this up and am still unclear why only the Eagles seem to be able to perform this maneuver effectively, other than having an exceptionally strong person at the front?

Contrary to popular belief, it requires a fair bit of practice to get right, which is why you see hater GMs saying oh, yeah, it's so simple we could do it if we wanted, but then they try it in a game after one practice and it fails. The Eagles spent several years practicing it, so now they're that far behind.

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

#154

Post by janalsncm »

mjrpes wrote: post #139
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…

> it really freaking hurts and throws off subsequent swings. Totally ignorant about baseball, but would wearing thick padded gloves help? Do major leaguers build up calluses to help?

Gloves help, calluses don’t. It’s also a lot worse in the cold.

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

#155

Post by kevinventullo »

demosthanos wrote: post #131
next_xibalba wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is so silly. I would love to watch a sport where all the athletes are on cutting edge, dangerously experimental PEDs and all the equipment is engineered to the very limits of nature. We draw oddly arbitrary lines what is and isn’t ok in sports.

The line isn't purely arbitrary, it's a reflection of the reality of what most people expect from sports: we want them to be a contest of human skill on the part of the athlete, not just the amount of money someone is willing to spend on the team. We also want underdogs to have a chance, which is very hard without some sort of limits. You could probably accomplish something similar by strictly capping spending per te…

On the discussion at hand, is there reason to believe this new bat shape will be too expensive for other teams to copy?

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

#156

Post by nradov »

jorvi wrote: post #105
fishpen0 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If every player ends up with a bat custom tailored to their swing this will get very interesting.

Every sport hits this sort of threshold where they ban optimization. Swimming did it with 'sharkskin' suits and long distance running with Nike's Alphafly and Vaporfly shoes. Maybe that's where advanced baseball bats will end up eventually.

Nike Alphafly and Vaporfly shoes are still allowed in sanctioned races but there is a 40mm limit on sole thickness (stack height).

https://www.therunningweek.com/post/carbon-plate-running-sho...

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

#157

Post by meroes »

ARandumGuy wrote: post #67
happyopossum wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

While home runs are exciting, there are limits to that. For several years the MLB has been dealing with "three true outcomes", where a large percentage of at bats end in either a strikeout, walk, or home run. While this can be exciting for individual at bats, it becomes pretty boring if it's too common. This is because it invalidates every role except the pitcher and batter, and removes a lot of strategy from the gam…

I don't quite get what the difference is between now and when Sosa, Bonds, and McGuire were hitting homers, where apparently homers are monotonous. Are we pretending that wasn’t peak baseball? I mean I find the whole infield outside of maybe a triple play more boring than all or nothing home run, intentional walk, and strikeout. There are no grand slams without base hits true, but without the home runs base hits are boring.

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

#159

Post by janalsncm »

whycome wrote: post #134

Are we entering the F1 stage of baseball and other sports? I bet there’s room for optimization with gloves and shoes and uniforms. I’m surprised teams haven’t made use of mobile recovery units when visiting away teams (instead of hotels). And there’s still gotta be ways to work around fatigue related to travel and time zone changes. I’m still surprised how basic and limited home team locker rooms can be. There are pr…

They’ve been Moneyballing the game for a while with analytics to the point that the MLB had to ban certain defensive techniques. (Analytics says he always hits it there, so put a bunch of defensive players there.)

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

#160

Post by LegionMammal978 »

m463 wrote: post #158

given the rules (solid wood, max 2.61" and 42")... I wonder if they couldn't have non-round profiles. Might be able to steer the ball, like a golf driver or add spin like some sort of racket.

From the rulebook [0]:

> The bat shall be a smooth, round stick not more than 2.61 inches in diameter at the thickest part and not more than 42 inches in length. The bat shall be one piece of solid wood.

[0] https://mktg.mlbstatic.com/mlb/official-information/2025-off...

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