On March 29, 2025, in a game between the New York Yankees and the Milwaukee Brewers of Major League Baseball (MLB), the Yankees scored a remarkable 20 runs off Brewers pitching! After the game, news was swirling on social media that the Yankees had used “torpedo bats,” which were pointed out by their broadcasters. Fans online were on both sides of the issue. Some said the Yankees were cheating with these customized bats, and some looked through the official MLB rulebook before saying anything online. Despite this batting advantage, the Yankees struck out 37 times in the following 3-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Although torpedo bats are legal according to the official rulebook, should they be? First, we have to ask ourselves, what exactly is a torpedo bat? Its name comes from its shape resembling a torpedo, and it is often customized depending on the hitter and where their “sweet spot” is on the bat. The Yankees and their analytics department looked at their players’ hitting data from previous years to determine where to put the thickest part of the bat.
However, teams still have to follow MLB rules relating to bat parameters when making the torpedo bats. The official rulebook states, “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 long. The bat shall be one piece of solid wood.”
In an interview with Bob Busser, a photographer and host of the “INN the Umpires Clubhouse” podcast, he says, “Hitters will take every advantage… so will pitchers.” Players and teams feel the need to alter baseball bats to gain a competitive advantage over pitchers and their complex repertoire.
This isn’t the first time bats have been controversial in Major League Baseball. Since 1983, there have been many famous incidents. On July 24, 1983, George Brett was called out and ejected after the umpires found too much pine tar on his bat after hitting what would have been a game-winning home run. Hitters use pine tar to get a better grip on the bat. The incident was later trademarked, “The Pine Tar Incident.”
In a July 31, 1996, game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Houston Astros, Chris Sabo was ejected after breaking what turned out to be a corked bat.
In a July 15, 1994, game between the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago White Sox, Albert Belle was also suspended for having a corked bat, and his bat was confiscated. The craziest part of the story was that his teammates broke into the umpire’s locker room to steal it back so the league wouldn’t review it.
Could this torpedo bat craze be a new ethics chapter in MLB’s long history? The news and discussion have died down in recent weeks, and many more teams are using the torpedo bat anyway. It’s no longer a Yankees monopoly, so this scandal doesn’t seem to be on the same level as many other ethical controversies in Major League Baseball history. If everyone’s using the bat around MLB, there’s a possibility that the average score of a game could elevate along with it.
