Former Miami Marlins President Dave Samson discusses robot umpires and the controversy over ‘torpedo’ bats on ‘Varney & Co.’
As other sports have adapted to technology advancement, popular opinion and culture shifts, baseball has been a stalwart in tradition – one of which is the bats hitters use.
But in 2025, they’ve taken a new shape, literally – welcome to “torpedo” mania.
Baseball bats have been largely unchanged throughout the sport’s history. The wood has changed from ash to maple, but the shape has been the same. The thickest part of the bat, which per Major League Baseball rules is 2.61 inches, has always been at the end of the barrel. But the torpedo bat changes that. The thickest part of the bat moves slightly to the middle, giving the bat a pin-like shape.
Paul Goldschmidt of the New York Yankees wields a torpedo bat at Yankee Stadium in New York City. (Mike Stobe / Getty Images)
The point of that? It’s all about the sweet spot.
“It’s having all these data scientists that have studied where balls hit bats for our players in the major leagues,” said Kurt Ainsworth, a former major leaguer who co-founded Marucci Sports and serves as its CEO. “And they said, you’re not using the last 3 to 4 inches of the bat. You’re not having success there. So why not take some of that mass and move it into the hitting area and expand that hitting area? It makes all the sense in the world.“
Marucci is one of the official bats of MLB, along with Victus (Marucci purchased Victus in 2017). Together, they provide bats to a majority of the players in MLB. Those include Francisco Lindor, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Freddie Freeman – some of the best hitters in the league. After the New York Yankees hit 13 home runs over two games during opening weekend, with many of their players using torpedo-style bats, the requests flooded in.
Francisco Lindor of the New York Mets bats against the Athletics at Sutter Health Park on April 13, 2025, in Sacramento, California. (Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)
“We have about 55% of major league players using our bats right now. And I would say about half of them have called in the past week asking for a torpedo model of their bat,” said Ainsworth. “So I think you’re going to see us going from about 8% to 10% torpedoes, then potentially 50% of our players using torpedoes.”
The technology isn’t new – Lindor used the bat last season to very little fanfare. But after the Yankees’ barrage of home runs and Cincinnati Reds star Elly De La Cruz using the bat for the first time and having seven RBIs the very next day, all the chatter was about torpedo bats.
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“Now that you see the Yankees had that success, whether it’s a placebo effect or not, or now you’re looking at the data saying, ‘Whoa, my sweet spot’s getting bigger. My hitting area is getting bigger, maybe I’ll try that,'” said Ainsworth.
But the torpedo bat isn’t for everyone – some players tend to hit the ball closer to the end of the barrel. So Marucci invites the players to come to the Batting Performance Lab (BPL) in Baton Rouge to get hooked up to motion capture technology and analyze their swing, down to the millimeter.
“We’ll basically look at what they’re swinging at the current time, we will basically go all the way down as far as we can go in terms of both balance and weight, and then we’ll do the opposite,” said Micah Gibbs, director of the BPL. “[We’ll] just start to understand how the body changes when those things happen and just kind of dial in from there, optimize contact point on the bat, all those things, and basically try to build in the best bat possible.”
And build it they do. Marucci’s wood bat operation is all-American. Lumber is sourced from two mills in Appalachia and sent to Baton Rouge. Once there, the bat will pass through nearly two dozen craftsmens’ hands before it’s shipped off to MLB ballparks. Major leaguers can expect to have a custom-fit bat in their hands in about a week.
Marucci bats in the Tampa Bay Rays dugout during the game against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. (Tim Heitman / Getty Images)
Brett Laxton, the company’s master craftsman, spent two years in the major leagues and calls himself a traditionalist. But even he can’t deny the torpedo technology.
“I sure would hit the torpedo bat these days because I would want more barrel flying through the air. Especially the way the pitchers are pitching these days, going 100-some mph, curveball is 95,” said Laxton. “It’s like, give yourself a better chance.”
Baseball purists are scoffing at the new bat, questioning the legality of one like this.
“There’s always going to be the people that are anti-whatever the new technology is, no matter what the sport is,” said Gibbs. “We’re always trying to optimize performance and some people aren’t going to like it, and that’s fine. But I think that’s what makes it fun.”
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While the wood bat is taking up the headlines, most of Marucci’s revenue comes from youth sports. Namely, youth bats, which are mostly made from metal or composite materials.
Is a torpedo metal bat the logical next step? Yes, but not to the level one might think.
“It’s really hard when you get down to the kids because they need the whole bat. They’re not used to hitting on the sweet spot every time, but when you get these top-notch young players, you may be able to move it around a little bit and get there,” said Ainsworth. But, he adds, “I think you’re going to see us launch a metal torpedo bat. We’ve been working on it now for over six months in our lab here.”
One potential problem with the youth bats? Tariffs. While Marucci’s bat operation is entirely American-made, the metal bats and all its equipment, which includes gloves, shoes and apparel, is made overseas. And it’s not just a Marucci problem – nearly every sports company manufactures their goods overseas. Marucci is looking to pivot some of its operation back to the U.S.
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“We’ve spent… 50-plus years in the U.S. building factories overseas. So they’ve been doing it a long time,” said Ainsworth. “Their factories are first class. They’re making great products over there. So I think for us, it’s just going to take some time for the learning curve to get up to speed. And then, of course, things do cost more here. Labor costs a little bit more here as well. So it’s going to be a learning curve. It won’t happen overnight. But I think this is something that could be really good long term for the country.”
Kurt Ainsworth of the San Francisco Giants pitches against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on April 20, 2003, in Los Angeles. (Stephen Dunn/Getty Images / Getty Images)
While it’s still largely unknown who exactly is going to pay for the tariffs, Ainsworth doesn’t want to see the burden put on consumers.
“We want to make sure kids are playing the game and that’s the last thing we want to do is see kids not play,” said Ainsworth. “We don’t want to price out the market.”
But right now, it’s the torpedo bats that have folks talking. As more bats make their way into clubhouses, time will tell if it’s simply a fad or if it’s here to stay. Gibbs says any difference, no matter how small, will be enough to stay relevant.
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“We’re talking pretty small margins, I would say, especially at the MLB level,” he said. “But for those guys, that’s everything. Like one extra foul ball and one more squared-up ball could be the difference in that guy having a career year and just having his normal year.”
Ainsworth thinks it’s here to stay. He says he sees the future of bats as being much like golf clubs – you have a different club in your bag for every situation.
“I think you’re going to see this not become a fad,” said Ainsworth. “I think you’re going to see this stay for quite some time, and it’s going to continue to evolve, and it’ll be perfect bats for each player.”