The key storylines for TCU-Kansas, Texas A&M-Alabama and the rest of Week 6’s biggest games
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ESPN staff
With the Red River Rivalry and No. 1 Alabama hosting Texas A&M both taking place this weekend, naturally College GameDay is heading to Lawrence, Kansas, on Saturday.
In what would have seemed like a misprint just a few weeks ago, the No. 19 Jayhawks welcome in not only GameDay but the freshly ranked TCU Horned Frogs. The game features two of the most exciting stories of the season to date, and while many eyes will be on Oklahoma-Texas in Dallas, the matchup gives the Big 12 a second marquee game in early October.
Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher and Alabama’s Nick Saban will finally meet after a long offseason of trading words — both nice and not-so-nice — but only Alabama comes into the game ranked. Tennessee travels to LSU in its latest SEC test, while out west UCLA faces Pac-12 defending champion Utah in a litmus test of its own.
This week’s slate is loaded with important games as conference play kicks into high gear. Here are the key storylines for the weekend ahead.
No. 17 TCU Horned Frogs at No. 19 Kansas Jayhawks (Saturday, noon ET, FS1)
TCU was picked to finish seventh in the Big 12 preseason media poll; Kansas was picked to finish 10th. So it makes perfect sense that both teams are undefeated headed into their matchup Saturday — with College GameDay headed to Lawrence, Kansas, for the first time.
It is stories like this that remind us all why we love college football so much.
“There’s probably a moment you’ve got to pinch yourself a little bit,” Kansas coach Lance Leipold said at his weekly news conference. “It says something about TCU as well — to get this type of matchup is probably surprising to a lot of people around the country, but it should be a great game.”
This is the first top-20 matchup in Lawrence since Oct. 25, 2008, when No. 19 Kansas hosted No. 8 Texas Tech. Kansas is 5-0 for the first time since 2009; meanwhile, Sonny Dykes is the first coach to win his first four games at TCU since Francis Schmidt in 1929.
Kansas receiver Luke Grimm described the atmosphere throughout the week in Lawrence as one that has “a lot of hype behind it.” He has about 30 friends and family members making the drive to the game from Raymore, Missouri.
“A lot of people are getting on board the KU football train,” he told ESPN.com in a phone interview. “It feels really good to be the change that is happening right now and putting a footprint in KU football history. We all believed we could do it, and the fact that we are right now is really fun to see.”
This game pits two of the best offenses in the country. TCU, off its 55-24 upset over Oklahoma last week, averages 549.5 yards per game, No. 2 in the nation, behind quarterback Max Duggan. On the other side, quarterback Jalon Daniels has the Jayhawks averaging 41.6 points per game — No. 12 in the nation. The quarterback matchup is one of the most intriguing in the game.
But so is the fact both these schools are undefeated right now, when not many gave them a chance to be in this spot.
“It’s nice to have a packed stadium, and a lot of noise whenever you make a play or one of your brothers makes a play, and you see them light up with joy when you hear those screams and yells for you,” Grimm said. “It’s nice to show we’re building a great football team here.” — Andrea Adelson
No. 8 Tennessee Volunteers at No. 25 LSU Tigers (Saturday, noon ET, ESPN/ESPN app)
As disappointing as Brian Kelly’s LSU debut was in a dysfunctional season-opening 24-23 loss to Florida State in the Superdome, the Tigers have rebounded nicely.
And while nobody is predicting that LSU is going to challenge for the SEC West crown in Kelly’s first season, the Tigers have a chance to go to 3-0 in the SEC on Saturday if they can knock off the favored Vols. That’s the kind of start in league play that anybody on the Bayou would have taken after seeing the Tigers commit a slew of mistakes in the opener, then storm back from a two-touchdown deficit in the fourth quarter, only to have the extra point blocked with no time remaining.
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel echoed this week what most of the league is probably thinking, that LSU is “getting better and better,” which means the Vols could be getting the best version of the Kelly-led Tigers yet.
Kelly has seen his team learning to play together and finding ways to win despite some of its self-inflicted issues and limitations. LSU is still not overly dynamic offensively, which is a huge concern against a Tennessee team tied for second nationally in scoring offense (48.5 points per game). The Vols’ fast-paced tempo and explosiveness tend to wear teams down. They already have 16 plays from scrimmage of 30 yards or longer in just four games.
“It comes down to one-on-one matchups. We have to be fundamentally sound,” Kelly said.
The Tigers could use a big game out of star outside linebacker BJ Ojulari, who will be the most disruptive edge defender the Vols have faced this season. The 6-foot-3, 250-pound junior has 4.5 tackles for loss, including 3.5 sacks, and five quarterback pressures in just three games. Freshman Harold Perkins Jr. is equally disruptive from his outside linebacker spot.
Putting pressure on Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker is difficult because he’s always a threat to take off and run and also gets rid of the ball quickly. Since taking over as the Vols’ starting quarterback in Week 3 last season, Hooker has accounted for 45 touchdowns, completed 69% of his passes and thrown just two interceptions.
The Vols were off last week, and the timing couldn’t have been better. Receiver Cedric Tillman underwent ankle surgery the week before the Florida game and is iffy for this game. Also, Hooker banged up his shoulder in the Florida win.
This will be Tennessee’s first SEC road game of the season, and even though it’s not “Saturday night at Tiger Stadium,” LSU has been hard to beat in the 11 a.m. Central time home games. Since 2000, the Tigers are 8-0 in games starting prior to noon.
The last time Tennessee was favored in its first five games was 2016, when the Vols started out 5-0 but lost their next three games and fell to Vanderbilt at the end of the season to squander an opportunity to play in the Sugar Bowl.
As big as the Florida win was two weeks ago (the Vols had lost 16 of the past 17 meetings in the series), Heupel has repeated a familiar theme.
“You’re only as good as your next one in this game,” he said. — Chris Low
Texas Longhorns vs. Oklahoma Sooners at the Cotton Bowl, Dallas (Saturday, noon ET, ABC/ESPN app)
Texas and Oklahoma are heading into this year’s feud at the Cotton Bowl unranked for the first time since 1998. Yet when two teams have played for 117 years, that doesn’t seem to matter. There are no guarantees in the Red River Rivalry.
Sure, Oklahoma is 3-2 and has given up a total of 96 points in consecutive defensive meltdowns against Kansas State and TCU. Sure, Texas is 3-2 and lost to Texas Tech in its most recent trip away from Austin. But when the buses roll through the State Fair of Texas with fans screaming at them, all that falls by the wayside.
The Sooners are 10-3 against the Longhorns since 2010, but the Longhorns are a touchdown favorite according to Caesars Sportsbook.
Neither team is hinting who will start at quarterback. Oklahoma’s Dillon Gabriel is in concussion protocol after taking a blow to the head on a late hit on a slide against TCU. Texas starter Quinn Ewers is still recovering from a clavicle sprain suffered against Alabama, though Hudson Card had his best outing as a Longhorn against West Virginia last weekend, going 21-of-27 for 303 yards and three touchdowns.
Oklahoma is allowing 198.2 rushing yards per game, which is a concern facing Texas running back Bijan Robinson, who has gone over the 100-yard mark in each of the past three games, is averaging 5.9 yards per carry and has scored at least one touchdown in each of the Longhorns’ first five games this year.
Last year, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian got a rude welcome to the rivalry as the Sooners, down 28-7 after the first quarter, rallied to score 48 over the next three, including 25 in the fourth alone, to win 55-48. He said this week he was ready for another go-round.
“Last time I checked this morning when I walked in our building, the Golden Hat wasn’t there,” Sarkisian said. “We’ve got plenty to get ourselves prepared for.”
Oklahoma coach Brent Venables, meanwhile, is hoping his Sooners will keep it steady and treat this game like any other.
“Hopefully we’re not more excited to play this one than somebody else,” he said.
Here’s guessing the fans — and probably the players — feel a little differently. — Dave Wilson
No. 11 Utah Utes at No. 18 UCLA Bruins (Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET, Fox)
As fifth-year quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson will gladly inform you — since he said he reads and keeps up with what people are saying about his team — not many people expected the Bruins to be here: 5-0 for the first time since 2013 after taking down Washington and headed into what’s now a crucial matchup with the defending Pac-12 champion at home.
“Guys I think have tasted what success feels like now and now we’re hungry for it, we’re trying to be addicted to winning,” Thompson-Robinson said at practice this week. “So I think that’s where we’re going right now. We know what it takes.”
What it has taken, at least in the case of the dual-threat quarterback who ignited the Rose Bowl with 368 total yards and four touchdowns (three in the air, one on the ground) last Friday, is five long years for him and coach Chip Kelly to turn continuity into a strength, especially with the unit that is protecting him.
“They’ve meshed really well, there’s a lot of continuity there,” Kelly said of the offensive line, which added transfer Raiqwon O’Neal from Rutgers in the offseason. “Everybody played for us last year with the exception of Raiqwon, and you’re plugging in a kid who had 30 starts in the Big Ten so his transition has been really natural.”
The addition of transfers like wide receiver Jake Bobo from Duke (363 receiving yards and three touchdowns so far) have helped elevate UCLA on both sides of the ball, but the process that Kelly and DTR have been going through since they both arrived in Westwood five years ago is finally starting to pay true dividends.
“You can see him getting better and better. He’s playing his best football right now from my vantage point,” Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said of DTR on Monday. “Chip [Kelly] has done a great job of developing him and, not that he wasn’t really good before, but he’s really taken his game to another level. He seems to be very poised, makes plays, takes care of the ball, and he’s a dual threat, which is the biggest issue for us.”
This week, the Bruins and DTR are not sneaking up on anybody, including the Utes, who present their toughest matchup yet. And now that UCLA has a ranking next to its name, Kelly, for his part, has been keen on not allowing the team to take that as a moral victory.
“You don’t get a trophy, you don’t get something handed to you, you gotta go back to work,” Kelly said. “We know we beat Washington last week because of our preparation during the week. We know if we’re going to beat Utah, it’s going to be because of our preparation during the week. Things don’t just happen to you; hope isn’t a strategy.” — Paolo Uggetti
Texas A&M Aggies at No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide (Saturday, 8 p.m. ET, CBS)
Believe it or not, the defining matchup of No. 1 Alabama vs. Texas A&M will not be the head coaches. Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher had their war of words during the offseason, but they’ve since walked it back.
Fisher went from calling Saban a “narcissist” in May to telling reporters Monday that Saban is a “tremendous coach” that “people say he’s arguably one of the best ever or the best ever.” Saban, for his part, has repeatedly said he has “no issues or problems with Jimbo.”
So that’s settled, at least publicly, and we can move on to what will actually determine the outcome of the game: the quarterbacks.
Both starters — Alabama’s Bryce Young and Texas A&M’s Max Johnson — are considered day-to-day as they deal with injuries.
Young, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, sprained the AC joint in his shoulder during last Saturday’s win at Arkansas. And while there’s no expectation the injury will have any long-term impact, there’s some question about how quickly he’ll get back to 100 percent.
On Wednesday, Saban alluded to how careful they’re being, saying, “No decision is going to be made until [Young] decides and we decide from a medical staff standpoint whether he can go out there and functionally do his job.”
The fact that backup Jalen Milroe played so well, throwing for 65 yards and a touchdown and running for 91 yards and a score, gives Alabama some breathing room if it wants to be cautious with Young.
Texas A&M, which fell out of the top 25 after losing at Mississippi State, might not be so lucky, though. If Johnson, who injured his hand, can’t play, the Aggies would have to turn to either Haynes King or Conner Weigman.
King, who threw a pair of interceptions against Mississippi State, has been a turnover machine this season. Weigman, on the other hand, is a complete unknown. The former No. 1-ranked pocket passer is only a freshman and has yet to attempt a pass in college. — Alex Scarborough
The opening weekend of the 2025 MLB season was taken over by a surprise star — torpedo bats.
The bowling pin-shaped bats became the talk of the sport after the Yankees’ home run onslaught on the first Saturday of the season put it in the spotlight and the buzz hasn’t slowed since.
What exactly is a torpedo bat? How does it help hitters? And how is it legal? Let’s dig in.
Read: An MIT-educated professor, the Yankees and the bat that could be changing baseball
What is a torpedo bat and why is it different from a traditional MLB bat?
The idea of the torpedo bat is to take a size format — say, 34 inches and 32 ounces — and distribute the wood in a different geometric shape than the traditional form to ensure the fattest part of the bat is located where the player makes the most contact. Standard bats taper toward an end cap that is as thick diametrically as the sweet spot of the barrel. The torpedo bat moves some of the mass on the end of the bat about 6 to 7 inches lower, giving it a bowling-pin shape, with a much thinner end.
How does it help hitters?
The benefits for those who like swinging with it — and not everyone who has swung it likes it — are two-fold. Both are rooted in logic and physics. The first is that distributing more mass to the area of most frequent contact aligns with players’ swing patterns and provides greater impact when bat strikes ball. Players are perpetually seeking ways to barrel more balls, and while swings that connect on the end of the bat and toward the handle probably will have worse performance than with a traditional bat, that’s a tradeoff they’re willing to make for the additional slug. And as hitters know, slug is what pays.
The second benefit, in theory, is increased bat speed. Imagine a sledgehammer and a broomstick that both weigh 32 ounces. The sledgehammer’s weight is almost all at the end, whereas the broomstick’s is distributed evenly. Which is easier to swing fast? The broomstick, of course, because shape of the sledgehammer takes more strength and effort to move. By shedding some of the weight off the end of the torpedo bat and moving it toward the middle, hitters have found it swings very similarly to a traditional model but with slightly faster bat velocity.
Why did it become such a big story so early in the 2025 MLB season?
Because the New York Yankees hit nine home runs in a game Saturday and Michael Kay, their play-by-play announcer, pointed out that some of them came from hitters using a new bat shape. The fascination was immediate. While baseball, as an industry, has implemented forward-thinking rules in recent seasons, the modification to something so fundamental and known as the shape of a bat registered as bizarre. The initial response from many who saw it: How is this legal?
OK. How is this legal?
Major League Baseball’s bat regulations are relatively permissive. Currently, the rules allow for a maximum barrel diameter of 2.61 inches, a maximum length of 42 inches and a smooth and round shape. The lack of restrictions allows MLB’s authorized bat manufacturers to toy with bat geometry and for the results to still fall within the regulations.
Who came up with the idea of using them?
The notion of a bowling-pin-style bat has kicked around baseball for years. Some bat manufacturers made smaller versions as training tools. But the version that’s now infiltrating baseball goes back two years when a then-Yankees coach named Aaron Leanhardt started asking hitters how they should counteract the giant leaps in recent years made by pitchers.
When Yankees players responded that bigger barrels would help, Leanhardt — an MIT-educated former Michigan physics professor who left academia to work in the sports industry — recognized that as long as bats stayed within MLB parameters, he could change their geometry to make them a reality. Leanhardt, who left the Yankees to serve as major league field coordinator for the Miami Marlins over the winter, worked with bat manufacturers throughout the 2023 and 2024 seasons to make that a reality.
When did it first appear in MLB games?
It’s unclear specifically when. But Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton used a torpedo bat last year and went on a home run-hitting rampage in October that helped send the Yankees to the World Series. New York Mets star Francisco Lindor also used a torpedo-style bat last year and went on to finish second in National League MVP voting.
Who are some of the other notable early users of torpedo bats?
In addition to Stanton and Lindor, Yankees hitters Anthony Volpe, Austin Wells, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt have used torpedoes to great success. Others who have used them in games include Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero, Minnesota’s Ryan Jeffers and Toronto’s Davis Schneider. And that’s just the beginning. Hundreds more players are expected to test out torpedoes — and perhaps use them in games — in the coming weeks.
How is this different from a corked bat?
Corking bats involves drilling a hole at the end of the bat, filling it in and capping it. The use of altered bats allows players to swing faster because the material with which they replace the wood — whether it’s cork, superballs or another material — is lighter. Any sort of bat adulteration is illegal and, if found, results in suspension.
Could a rule be changed to ban them?
Could it happen? Sure. Leagues and governing bodies have put restrictions on equipment they believe fundamentally altered fairness. Stick curvature is limited in hockey. Full-body swimsuits made of polyurethane and neoprene are banned by World Aquatics. But officials at MLB have acknowledged that the game’s pendulum has swung significantly toward pitching in recent years, and if an offensive revolution comes about because of torpedo bats — and that is far from a guarantee — it could bring about more balance to the game. If that pendulum swings too far, MLB could alter its bat regulations, something it has done multiple times already this century.
So the torpedo bat is here to stay?
Absolutely. Bat manufacturers are cranking them out and shipping them to interested players with great urgency. Just how widely the torpedo bat is adopted is the question that will play out over the rest of the season. But it has piqued the curiosity of nearly every hitter in the big leagues, and just as pitchers toy with new pitches to see if they can marginally improve themselves, hitters will do the same with bats.
Comfort is paramount with a bat, so hitters will test them during batting practice and in cage sessions before unleashing them during the game. As time goes on, players will find specific shapes that are most comfortable to them and best suit their swing during bat-fitting sessions — similar to how golfers seek custom clubs. But make no mistake: This is an almost-overnight alteration of the game, and “traditional or torpedo” is a question every big leaguer going forward will ask himself.
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‘It’s taken on a life of its own’: Inside the 48 hours torpedo bats launched into baseball lore
At 1:54 ET on Saturday afternoon, New York Yankees play-by-play man Michael Kay lit the fuse on what will be remembered as either one of the most metamorphic conversations in baseball history or one of its strangest.
During spring training, someone in the organization had mentioned to Kay that the team’s analytics department had counseled players on where pitches tended to strike their bats, and with subsequent buy-in from some of the players, bats had been designed around that information. In the hours before the Yankees’ home game against the Brewers that day, Kay told the YES Network production staff about this, alerting them so they could look for an opportunity to highlight the equipment.
After the Yankees clubbed four homers in the first inning, a camera zoomed in on Jazz Chisholm Jr.‘s bat in the second inning. “You see the shape of Chisholm’s bat…” Kay said on air. “It’s got a big barrel on it,” Paul O’Neill responded, before Kay went on to describe the analysis behind the bat shaped like a torpedo.
Chisholm singled to left field, and after Anthony Volpe worked the count against former teammate Nestor Cortes to a full count, Volpe belted a home run to right field using the same kind of bat. A reporter watching the game texted Kay: Didn’t he hit the meat part of the bat you were talking about — just inside where the label normally is?
Yep, Kay responded. Within an hour of Kay’s commentary, the video of Chisholm’s bat and Kay’s exchange with O’Neill was posted on multiple platforms of social media, amplified over and over. What happened over the next 48 hours was what you get when you mix the power of social media and the desperation of a generation of beleaguered hitters. Batting averages are at a historic low, strikeout rates at a historic high, and on a sunny spring day in the Bronx, here were the Yankees blasting baseballs into the seats with what seemed to be a strangely shaped magic bat.
An oasis of offense had formed on the horizon, and hitters — from big leaguers to Little Leaguers, including at least one member of Congress — paddled toward it furiously. Acres of trees will be felled and shaped to feed the thirst for this new style of bats. Last weekend, one bat salesman asked his boss, “What the heck have we done?”
Jared Smith, CEO of bat-maker Victus, said, “I’ve been making bats for 15, 16 years. … This is the most talked-about thing in the industry since I started. And I hope we can make better-performing bats that work for players.”
According to Bobby Hillerich, the vice president of production at Hillerich & Bradsby, his company — which is based in Louisville, Kentucky, and makes Louisville Slugger bats — had produced 20 versions of the torpedo bat as of this past Saturday, and in less than a week, that number has tripled as players and teams continually call in their orders.
Even though Saturday marked its launch into the mainstream, this shape of bat has actually been around for a while. Hillerich & Bradsby had its first contact with a team about the style in 2021 and had nondisclosure agreements with four teams as the bat evolved; back then, it was referred to as the “bowling pin” bat. The Cubs’ Nico Hoerner was the first major leaguer to try it — and apparently wasn’t comfortable with it. Cody Bellinger tried it when he was with the Cubs before joining the Yankees during the offseason.
Before Atlanta took the field Sunday night, Braves catcher Drake Baldwin recalled trying one in the Arizona Fall League last year (noting that his first impression was that it “looked weird”). Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor used it in 2024, in a year in which he would finish second in the NL MVP voting; Lindor’s was a little different from Volpe’s version, with a cup hollowed out at the end of the bat. Giancarlo Stanton swung one throughout his playoff surge last fall, but no one in the media noticed, perhaps because of how the pitch-black color of Stanton’s bat camouflaged the shape.
Minnesota manager Rocco Baldelli saw one in the Twins’ dugout during spring training and picked it up, his attention drawn to the unusual shape. “What the hell is this thing?” he asked, wondering aloud whether the design was legal. When he was assured it was, he put it back down.
Baldelli’s experience reflected the way hitters have used and assessed bats since the advent of baseball: They’ll pick up bats and see how they feel, their interest fueled by the specter of success. Tony Gwynn won eight batting titles, and many teammates and opposing hitters — Barry Bonds among them — asked whether they could inspect his bats. The torpedo bat’s arrival was simply the latest version of that long-held search for the optimal tool.
On Opening Day, eight teams had some version of the torpedo bat within their stock, according to one major league source. But with video of the Yankees’ home runs being hit off unusual bats saturating social media Saturday afternoon, the phone of Kevin Uhrhan, pro bat sales rep for Louisville Slugger, blew up with requests for torpedo bats. James Rowson, the hitting coach of the Yankees, began to get text inquiries — about 100, he later estimated. Everyone wanted to know about the bat; everyone wanted to get their own.
In San Diego, Braves players asked about the bats, and by Sunday morning, equipment manager Calvin Minasian called in the team’s order. By the middle of the week, all 30 teams had asked for the bats. “Every team started trying to get orders in,” Hillerich said. “We’re trying to scramble to get wood. And then it was: How fast can we get this to retail?”
Victus produces the bats Chisholm and Volpe are using and has made them available for retail. Three senior players, all in their 70s, stopped by the Victus store to ask about the torpedoes. A member of Congress who plays baseball reached out to Louisville Slugger.
The Cincinnati Reds contacted Hillerich & Bradsby, saying, “We need you in Cincinnati on Monday ASAP,” and soon after, Uhrhan and pro bat production manager Brian Hillerich, Bobby’s brother, made the 90-minute drive from the company’s factory in Louisville with test bats.
Reds star Elly De La Cruz tried a few, decided on a favorite and used it for a career performance that night.
“You can think in New York, maybe there was wind,” Bobby Hillerich said. “Elly hits two home runs and gets seven RBIs. That just took it to a whole new level.”
A few days after the Yankees’ explosion, Aaron Leanhardt, who had led New York’s effort to customize its bats as a minor league hitting coordinator before being hired by the Marlins as their field coordinator, was in the middle of a horseshoe of reporters, explaining the background. “There are a lot more cameras here today than I’m used to,” he said, laughing.
Stanton spoke with reporters about the simple concept behind the bat: build a design for where a hitter is most likely to make contact. “You wonder why no one has thought of it before, for sure,” Stanton said. “I didn’t know if it was, like, a rule-based thing of why they were shaped like that.”
Over and over, MLB officials assured those asking: Yes, the bats are legal and meet the sport’s equipment specifications. Trevor Megill, the Brewers’ closer, complained about the bats, calling them like “something used in slow-pitch softball,” but privately, baseball officials were thrilled by the possibility of seeing offense goosed, something they had been attempting through rule change in recent years.
“It’s all the rage right now, given what transpired over the weekend,” said Jeremy Zoll, assistant general manager of the Twins. “I’m sure more and more guys are going to experiment with it as a result, just to see if it’s something they like.”
That personal preference is a factor for which some front office types believe the mass orders of the bats don’t account: The Yankees’ recommendations to each hitter were based on months of past data of how that player tended to strike the ball. This was not about a one-size-fits all bat; it was about precise bat measurements that reflected an individual player’s swing.
“I had never heard of it. I’ve used the same bat for nine years, so I think I’ll stick with that,” White Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi said. “It’s pretty interesting. It makes sense. If it works for a guy, good for him. If it doesn’t, stick with what you got.”
As longtime player Eric Hosmer explained on the “Baseball Tonight” podcast, the process is a lot like what players can do in golf: look for clubs customized for a player’s particular swing. And, he added, hitting coaches might begin to think more about which bat might be most effective against particular pitchers. If a pitcher tends to throw inside, a torpedo bat could be more effective; if a pitcher is more effective outside, maybe a larger barrel would be more appropriate.
That’s the key, according to an agent representing a player who ordered a bat: “You need years of hitting data in the big leagues to dial it in and hopefully get a better result. He’s still tinkering with it; he may not even use it in a game. … I think of it like switching your irons in golf to blades: It will feel a little different and take some adjusting, and it may even change your swing subtly.”
Two days after the home run explosion, Boone said, “You’re just trying to just get what you can on the margins, move the needle a little bit. And that’s really all you’re going to do. I don’t think this is some revelation to where we’re going to be — it’s not related to the weekend that we had, for example. I don’t think it’s that. Maybe in some cases, for some players it may help them incrementally. That’s how I view it.”
“I’m kind of starting to smile at it a little more … a lot of things that aren’t real.”
Said the player agent: “It’s not an aluminum bat with plutonium in it like everyone is making it out to be.”
Reliever Adam Ottavino watched this all play out, with his 15 years of experience. “It’s the Yankees and they scored a million runs in the first few games, and it’s cool to hate the Yankees and it’s cool to look for the bogeyman,” Ottavino said, “and that’s what some people are going to do, and [you] can’t really stop that. But there’s also a lot of misinformation and noneducation on it too.”
Major league baseball mostly evolves at a glacial pace. For example, the sport is well into the second century of complaints about the surface of the ball and the debate over financial disparity among teams. From time to time, however, baseball has its eclipses, moments that command full attention and inspire change. On a “Sunday Night Baseball” game on May 18, 2008, an umpire’s botched home run call at Yankee Stadium compelled MLB to implement the first instant replay. Buster Posey’s ankle was shattered in a home plate collision in May 2011, imperiling the career of the young star, and new rules about that type of play were rewritten.
The torpedo bat eruption could turn out to be transformative, a time when the industry became aware how a core piece of equipment has been taken for granted and aware that bats could be more precisely designed to augment the ability of each hitter. Or this could all turn out to be a wild overreaction to an outlier day of home runs against a pitching staff having a really bad day.
On Thursday, Cortes — who had been hammered for five homers over two innings in Yankee Stadium — shut out the Reds for six innings.
In Baltimore, Bregman, who had tried the torpedo bat earlier this week, reverted to his usual stock and had three hits against the Orioles, including a home run. Afterward, Bregman said, “It’s the hitter. Not the bat.”
This story was also reported by Jeff Passan, Jorge Castillo, Jesse Rogers and Kiley McDaniel.
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