Torpedo bats have been the talk of the 2025 MLB season for a week now, and the hitting innovation is still making waves in the business.
We asked our MLB reporters to speak with players and coaches to find out if they believe the bowling pin-shaped bat craze is here to stay, how much it actually benefits hitters, and whether they believe it should be allowed in the majors.
Here’s what baseball insiders had to say about the trend that’s taking the sport by storm.
When did you first hear about torpedo bats?
Andrew Benintendi, OF for Chicago White Sox: I’d never heard of it. I’ve been using the same bat for nine years, so I suppose I’ll remain with it. It’s rather fascinating. This makes sense. If that works for a male, that’s great. If it doesn’t, stick with what you have.
Robert Van Scoyoc, hitting coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers: I have heard about bat fitting. We do bat fitting and everything that. I haven’t heard anything about it explicitly. When I first learned about [torpedo bats], everyone else was already aware of it.
Ryan O’Hearn, first baseman, Baltimore Orioles: (Orioles assistant general manager and former NASA engineer) Sig Mejdal deserves recognition. Sig has been using the torpedo bat for a long time. He’s been encouraging guys to explore with and use it. He’ll send them out, along with everyone else. He sent several throughout the offseason.
He first sent me the regular torpedo bat, followed by a modified model that would better fit my batted ball data. He’s been all over this. I believe I first heard about it from Sig around the end of ’23. He then made them available. I took blood pressure with it. I was unsure because it felt odd. Not horrible, just different. I felt like I was striking balls and feeling vibrations at the end, which I didn’t particularly enjoy.
Dansby Swanson, shortstop, Chicago Cubs: This is the offseason. It’s just catching on. People have used it previously. It’s not that new.
Adam Ottavino, the seasoned reliever: Last year, I noticed that certain players had different-shaped bats. I believe [Francisco Lindor] had one. And, to be honest, I didn’t think much of it because there has been a lot of experimenting with bat models since I’ve been in the major leagues. There are so many bat models. Even unique handles, such large knobs. Several hockey puck knobs. And there are triangular knobs. So I didn’t think much about it. I didn’t quite get what they were going for.
Nolan Schanuel, first baseman, Los Angeles Angels I learned about it during spring training this year. Chuckie Robinson owned a bat. We weren’t really serious about it, you know. He took it out, and we were like, “Uh, that’s kind of strange.” But the science behind it makes perfect sense. I didn’t think about it from that perspective until the science came out and explained why it would help certain people’s swings.
[Robinson] had never used it. I’m not sure if he had it the year before, but for some reason he did. And we were just like, “That’s a weird-looking bat.” I didn’t think much of it until Opening Day, when you saw all these players swinging during the regular season.
Martin Maldonado, catcher, San Diego Padres: I know nothing about it save what I read on Twitter.
