The Los Angeles Dodgers are off to a historic 8-0 start, and they’ve done it without using baseball’s newest obsession: the “torpedo” bat. However, the latest sensation to hit MLB didn’t have a good first impression in Los Angeles.
After the Yankees smashed 15 home runs in a single weekend—nine of them coming off the unique bats shaped like a bowling pin—interest is spreading fast across MLB. Dodgers hitting coaches Aaron Bates and Robert Van Scoyoc admitted to Fox Sports that they hadn’t seen the bats in person until the viral weekend but are intrigued.
Players like Max Muncy and Kiké Hernández expressed interest when seeing the potential, and other players are expected to order the bats to test them out.
Muncy was the first Dodger to give the torpedo bat a shot during Wednesday’s game against the Atlanta Braves, using it for his first two plate appearances. But after coming up empty both times, he quickly ditched it in favor of his usual bat.
That decision proved right as Muncy hit a game-tying two-run double, tying the game in the eighth. After the 6-5 comeback win over the Braves, Muncy spoke to the media to explain why he ditched the “torpedo” bat.
“I do think there was some good to using the torpedo bat, just in BP and everything,” Muncy said (h/t AP). “It might be something that I use as a practice bat and then go back to my bat for the game. It seemed to work that last at-bat.”
Los Angeles Dodgers third base Max Muncy (13) runs after hitting a two-run RBI at Dodger Stadium.
Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images
The “torpedo” bat moves the barrel’s mass closer to the handle—where many hitters naturally make contact—creating a potentially more significant sweet spot and more balanced swing.
With pitchers throwing harder than ever and data driving every at-bat, even the slightest advantage is worth exploring. “All the players want hits, so they’re going to do anything they can,” Van Scoyoc said.
The Yankees’ experiment may have turned into a league-wide revolution. Bat manufacturers like Marucci are now offering torpedo models, and stars like Francisco Lindor, Adley Rutschman, and Elly De La Cruz have already tried them—with De La Cruz smashing two homers and driving in seven runs the first time he used one.
For now, the Dodgers are riding their momentum the old-school way, considering they are off to a historic start this 2025 MLB season.
