At Least One MN Twins Player is Using Controversial New Torpedo Bat

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Ryan Jeffers, Minnesota Twins
Credit: Dave Nelson-Imagn Images

Baseball season is back, and while every franchise is excited, the Yankees have dominated the news. The Minnesota Twins are 0-4 and struggling, but beyond Twins Territory, a certain bat development has stolen the headlines.

The New York Yankees smashed nine home runs in game two of their opening series vs. Milwaukee, thrusting their new torpedo bats into the spotlight. A former MIT physicist, once with the Yankees, who’s now a Marlins field coordinator, collected data to redesign the bat by shifting the barrel’s location.

The torpedo bat shifts the densest part to the point of contact, aiming to help hitters consistently generate harder hits. Their Opening Day success fueled the story’s buzz, though they’re not the only team using this tool.

Ryan Jeffers trying out torpedo bat for Minnesota Twins

Seven Yankees, including Jazz Chisholm who hit one of his three season homers, used torpedo bats in their 20-9 win over the Brewers. Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers, the first Twin to test in-season, tried them during the opening series against St. Louis.

The Yankees gaudy score was quickly attributed to the new bat technology. But, that holds less weight now as the Milwaukee Brewers are 0-4 and have already allowed 47 runs. So, maybe it was sort of a coincidence. As for Ryan Jeffers, the Minnesota catcher is 2-for-10 to start the season and picked up just one hit in St. Louis with the torpedo bat. He has also struck out once and drawn a pair of walks.

At this juncture it doesn’t sound like Jeffers is committing to the technology long term. He tried out the bats during spring training, and clearly feels enough comfort to use them in regular season games. As indicated by his switching of bats when the Minnesota Twins played in St. Louis (see images above), he’s tinkering with a couple of different options.

Aaron Leanhardt, the creator of the torpedo bat, outlined the intention of the design in a recent interview with The Athletic.

“Where are you trying to hit the ball? Where are you trying to make contact? It’s just about making the bat as heavy and as fat as possible in the area where you’re trying to do damage on the baseball. They’re going to point to a location on the bat that is probably six or seven inches down from the tip of the bat. That’s where the sweet spot typically is. It’s just through those conversations where you think to yourself, why don’t we exchange how much wood we’re putting on the tip versus how much we’re putting in the sweet spot? That’s the original concept right there.

Just try to take all that excess weight and try to put it where you’re trying to hit the ball and then in exchange try to take the thinner diameter that used to be at the sweet spot and put that on the tip. The bat speed should stay the same,” he said. “Maybe the bat speed can even increase a little bit depending on how you want to redesign the bat. But ultimately you’re getting a fatter barrel, a heavier barrel at the sweet spot.”

The Athletic

That premise makes sense, and it’s one Jeffers is clearly leaning into. The Minnesota Twins catcher followed up his 133 OPS+ in 2023 with just a 103 OPS+ last season. His 21 home runs were a career-high, but he struggled overall and batted just .226/.300/.432.

Through the first 33 games last year Jeffers looked like an All-Star and had a 1.020 OPS. Across his final 89 games however, the downfall was noticeable. He batted just .196/.264/.359 (.623 OPS). Turning to a different bat technology could be part of the process to try and avoid a similar result this year.

Not all Twins are on board with torpedo bats

Just because some Yankees are using the new bats doesn’t mean everyone is. Aaron Judge leads baseball with four home runs through three games, and is still swinging traditional lumber. The Minnesota Twins don’t have a plethora of users either, and veteran Carlos Correa won’t be among them this year.

The veteran shortstop told the Star Tribune’s Bobby Nightengale that he is looking to take a more wait-and-see approach.

“I tried them awhile in spring training…I feel like we need a full year of data to see how they play. For me personally, the way I was hitting, I was really comfortable with my bats. So why change? Everyone breaking into you, you may have better contact because there’s more of the barrel there than in a normal bat. It doesn’t feel different when you swing it. It feels different when you make contact, though, because the barrel is in a different place.”

Star Tribune

Before Correa went down with his second bout of plantar fasciitis last year, when he owned a .310/.388/.517 slash line with 14 home runs. Nothing about the results seemed broken, so why fix the process. It’s an understandable suggestion.

Correa leans heavily into analytics and data when it comes to crafting his game. When he says that he wants to see a year of usage first, you can bet he will be evaluating all options. Then again, he is 0-for-12 to start the season with the Minnesota Twins. He is hitless through for games to open a season for the first time in his career (previously he had never begun a year hitless in the first three).

How well the torpedo bats will take off across Major League Baseball as a whole remains unclear. Right now, players and teams are inquiring about its new technology at a significant pace. In time that may slow, or we could reshape how manufacturers produce bats all the way down to the tee ball level.

Most new advancements, especially in baseball, are met with a relative amount of skepticism. Despite the Yankees initial barrage, there is probably a lower level of interest than the immediate reaction may suggest.

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