
Biggest celebrity fans for all 16 Stanley Cup playoff teams
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2 years agoon
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adminIn honor of the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs, we’ve identified a starting lineup of celebrity fans for all 16 NHL teams in the postseason.
Here is how they stack up.
Atlantic Division
The roster: Steve Carell, John Krasinski, Conor McGregor, Bill Burr
This is easily the funniest collection of celebrity fans, which is no surprise given Boston’s legendary stand-up scene.
Carell is one of the better hockey players on this list. The Massachusetts native played at several levels and confirmed his rooting interests during the 2019 Stanley Cup Final. Speaking of “The Office,” Krasinski enlisted David Denman (who played Roy on the show) to troll co-star Jenna Fischer in a video from Game 7 of that year.
Massachusetts native Burr tweets about the Bruins regularly.
Congratulations to the Boston Bruins! 65-12-5!!!! Incredible season! Unfortunately, I missed most of it watching gecko’s garage. #BillyBandwagon #GoBruins!
— Bill Burr (@billburr) April 14, 2023
McGregor, one of the most famous MMA fighters, visited the Bruins locker room and dropped the puck at a game in 2019. That’s good enough, at the least, to be the enforcer on this squad.
The roster: Justin Bieber, Drake, Will Arnett, Mike Myers, Chris Hadfield
The Leafs have no shortage of celebrity fans. They also have the high-end edge on this list, with Bieber and Drake, two of the most famous human beings on the planet. Bieber has released tributes to the Leafs. Drake was once visited by Mats Sundin at one of his concerts in Stockholm.
Myers is one of the longest celebrity Leafs fans, naming characters in “Austin Powers” after former Leafs Doug Gilmour and Nikolai Borschevsky. “The Love Guru” includes the Leafs in the plot of the film.
Toronto native Arnett also makes the starting five because he’s hilarious and “Arrested Development” still rules.
Finally, we have astronaut Hadfield, the first Canadian to walk in space. He also dropped the puck at a Leafs game from space, perhaps the biggest flex in recorded history.
The roster: Dick Vitale, Hulk Hogan, Charles Barkley, Stephen King
One commonality among Lightning celeb fans is their positive reactions to Lightning coach Jon Cooper. Cooper has been shouted out by Barkley and Dickie V.
We’re not sure how King became a Lightning fan, but he flew his flag in a reply to actor Kim Coates’ tweet. As for the Hulkster, he’s been an icon on the Tampa sports scene for quite a while and displays his Lightning fandom proudly.
Metropolitan Division
The roster: Stephen Colbert, Petey Pablo, John Isner, Evander Holyfield
Former heavyweight boxing champion Holyfield makes the list because of this incredible Storm Surge:
North Carolina, come on and raise up! Pablo has to be included, thanks to his anthem being the goal song.
Tennis pro Isner makes the list as a fan and as one-time tennis coach for Martin Necas and Teuvo Teravainen. And Isner knows about multiple overtime sporting events, having participated in an 11-hour match at Wimbledon.
Colbert is a native of Charleston, South Carolina. Not only did he celebrate on “The Daily Show” when the Canes last won the Cup in 2006, but he had Canes emergency goalie David Ayres make an appearance on “The Late Show.”
The roster: Kevin Smith, Shaquille O’Neal, Patrick Warburton, Edge, Jay Weinberg
Smith is a natural fit since he regularly fashions hockey jerseys and loves to rep his Devils (including a Devils section at his Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash comic store in Red Bank, New Jersey, a must visit).
Wrestler Edge is an interesting one — he certainly reps his Leafs, having grown up outside of Toronto. However, he fell in love with the game, and goaltenders in particular, watching Chico Resch play for the Devils. He’s attended games repping the red, black and white, so he definitely makes the cut.
Warburton will forever be connected with “Puddy” from “Seinfeld” (“gotta support the team!”). It would be a miss if we don’t get Puddy drinking from the Stanley Cup if Jersey wins. O’Neal was born in Newark and certainly doesn’t hide his love for the Devils. Weinberg of Slipknot rounds out the list, bringing the head-nodding, heart-pounding beats.
The roster: Margot Robbie, Liam Neeson, Tim Robbins, Eli Manning
The Rangers also have no shortage of celebrity fans — my personal favorites are Rick Moranis and Michael J. Fox — but the ones listed above are regulars to MSG and often seen on the JumboTron cheering the team. Liam Neeson even reenacted his famous scene from “Taken” for the team.
East wild cards
The roster: Kevin Connolly, Ralph Macchio, Chloë Grace Moretz, Billy Joel
Connolly has done plenty with the Isles, from making a pick at the NHL draft to making an ESPN 30 for 30 film on John Spano’s infamous efforts to buy the team. He was the easiest pick on this list.
Long Island native Macchio — star of “Karate Kid” and “Cobra Kai” — has been spotted at Isles games and had an Isles bobblehead in his honor.
Fellow screen star Chloë Grace Moretz is also frequently spotted at games rocking an Isles jersey. She also trolled Caps fans on social media.
Open net never works caps..
— Chloë Grace Moretz (@ChloeGMoretz) April 16, 2015
Despite his famed sellout streak at Madison Square Garden, Joel is a Long Island native and has been around for the team’s big moments, including the announcement of UBS Arena and postseason games at the Coliseum. He also has had a bobblehead night dedicated to him.
The roster: Ariana Grande, Josh Gad, Lexi Thompson, Tua Tagovailoa
Grande has one of the best celebrity hockey origin stories. Well before she became a megastar, she rode the Zamboni as a kid at a Panthers game. She also has the dubious honor of being the first person struck by a puck in the stands at the Panthers arena. Her fandom didn’t waver, though.
Star of the stage and screen — and, importantly for a sport played on ice, the voice of “Olaf” in the “Frozen” movies — Gad is a South Florida native and counts the Panthers among his favorite teams.
One of the team’s newer celeb fans is Miami Dolphins quarterback Tagovailoa, who celebrated his birthday with the Panthers. Sticking in the realm of athletes, LPGA tour member Thompson has also attended Panthers games.
Central Division
The roster: John Elway, Larry Walker, Trey Parker
We’ve got some great former Colorado athletes on this list, including Broncos legend Elway, who has golfed with Avs GM Joe Sakic and wished the team well on social media. Baseball Hall of Famer and Rockies legend Walker once served as the Avs’ honorary emergency goaltender.
Perhaps the most passionate celebrity Avs fan is “South Park” co-creator Parker, who has featured the Avs in the series.
The roster: Pantera
Members of the group Pantera might be some of the best celebrity fans of any NHL team — their goal song, specifically written for the Stars, has endured for decades. The team also partied with Pantera after the 1999 Stanley Cup win.
The roster: Richard Dean Anderson, the Hanson brothers, Prince, Nick Swardson
We start with the original “MacGyver” himself, Anderson. MacGyver can solve any problem, with seemingly any objects at his disposal; that sounds like a useful trait in a hockey player. Anderson is also renowned as a ringer in celebrity hockey games.
Next up are the Hanson brothers, from the greatest hockey movie of all time, “Slap Shot.” The Carlson brothers, who portrayed Steve and Jeff Hanson, are from Minnesota, while the third brother, David Hanson, is from Cumberland, Wisconsin.
Prince makes the list posthumously, as he deserves to be on any rundown of famous Minnesotans.
Another famous Minnesotan is comedian Swardson, who has been vociferous on social media about his fandom.
Pacific Division
The roster: Bryce Harper, Lil’ Jon, Wayne Newton, Gordon Ramsay, Daniel Negreanu
There’s no shortage of celebrities in Vegas. But it starts with Philadelphia Phillies star Harper, a Vegas native and huge Golden Knights fan.
Then there’s Lil’ Jon, who has served as hype man at T-Mobile Arena, as has Newton. The pair even performed a collaboration for the Golden Knights, which is the most random but most Vegas thing in recent memory:
Ramsay has joined Lil’ Jon at VGK games, donning the Golden Knights threads, so we’ll include him here too.
Then there is Toronto native Negreanu, one of the greatest poker players and a Golden Knights season-ticket holder. He is a die-hard hockey fan and been vocal about having a team in Vegas long before the Golden Knights arrived.
The roster: Jordan Buhat, Brett Kissel, Todd McFarlane, Kurt Browning, Kevin Smith
Buhat is an actor on the show “Grown-ish,” a spinoff of the show “Black-ish.” He is an Edmonton native and a die-hard Oilers fan.
Famed comic book writer McFarlane, who worked on “The Amazing Spider-Man” and “Spawn,” among many other projects, once owned part of the Oilers, despite being a Calgary native.
Country singer and Alberta native Kissel had a famous moment when a faulty mic turned into a memorable anthem rendition by a packed house of Oilers fans.
We’ll also include Browning, who was one of Canada’s more prominent figure skaters. He was an honorary captain when the NHL appointed celebrity captaincies in 1991.
The roster: Taylor Swift, Will Ferrell, Snoop Dogg, Zac Efron, Channing Tatum
Of course, L.A. is going to have the most star power. Swift alone would have dominated this whole thing, but add Ferrell, perhaps the most vocal of the bunch, along with Snoop, who hilariously has done Kings commentary, Tatum, who’s been sighted at games, and Efron, and you have a starting five fit for Hollywood.
West wild cards
The roster: Chris Jericho, Doc Walker, Fred Penner, Neil Young, Burton Cummings
The obvious choice here is Jericho, who grew up in Winnipeg. His father, Ted Irvine, played in the NHL mostly for the Rangers, later skating for the Kings during their first three seasons in the NHL. Jericho is an avid Jets fan and this video of him doing hockey highlights (including his dad fighting Bobby Orr) is definitely worth a watch.
The Jets celebrity fan group includes people whom Canadians would know pretty well:
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Country music group Walker, who once wrote a parody song cutting up the Nashville Predators
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Children’s show star Penner, who every Canadian who grew up in the 1980s knows extremely well
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Singer and Winnipeg native Cummings
The legendary Young has deep roots in Winnipeg, particularly early in his career, which definitely qualifies him for this group … as does this video of him welcoming the Jets back to Winnipeg.
The roster: Sue Bird, Macklemore, Marshawn Lynch, Rainn Wilson
A strong group for the young Kraken. They’ve got Bird, one of the best athletes of her generation; Wilson, who played Dwight Schrute on “The Office,” and rapper Macklemore and Seahawks legend Lynch, who are both part-owners of the team.
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Jeff LegwoldApr 4, 2025, 12:41 PM ET
Close- Jeff Legwold covers the Denver Broncos at ESPN. He has covered the Broncos for more than 20 years and also assists with NFL draft coverage, joining ESPN in 2013. He has been a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Board of Selectors since 1999, too. Jeff previously covered the Pittsburgh Steelers, Buffalo Bills and Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans at previous stops prior to ESPN.
BOULDER, Colo. — A horde of NFL talent evaluators headed for the mountains Friday for the Colorado Showcase, where Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter was one of the big draws.
However, it was going to be a limited look at best as Hunter was not seen when players’ heights and weights were taken or for the jumps and 40-yard dash.
Hunter, who is expected to be a top-five selection in this year’s draft and is the No. 1 player on Mel Kiper Jr.’s Big Board, was initially not expected to participate in any on-field work, but Friday morning some scouts in attendance said they expected the two-way star to run routes as a receiver for quarterback Shedeur Sanders‘ throwing session.
Hunter did not work out at the scouting combine or Big 12 pro day but did meet with teams in Indianapolis. Sanders, one of the top quarterbacks on the board and Kiper’s No. 5 player overall, also did not work out at the combine.
Sanders’ brother, Colorado safety Shilo Sanders, measured in at 5-foot-11⅞, 196 pounds, but he did not participate in the jumps or bench press that opened the workout, citing a right shoulder injury.
The highly attended event — by scouts, coaches and personnel executives as well as fans packing small bleachers — had a festive atmosphere. Colorado coach Deion Sanders named it the “We Ain’t Hard 2 Find Showcase,” completed with a large lighted “showcase” sign next to the drills.
Hunter, who has said he wants to play offense and defense in the NFL, won the Chuck Bednarik (top defensive player) and Biletnikoff (top receiver) awards, in addition to the Heisman. He said whether he would primarily be a wide receiver or cornerback in the NFL “depended on the team that picks me.”
He had 96 catches for 1,258 yards and 15 touchdowns as a receiver last season to go with 35 tackles, 11 pass breakups and four interceptions at cornerback. In the Buffaloes’ regular-season finale against Oklahoma State, he became the only FBS player in the past 25 years with three scrimmage touchdowns on offense and an interception in the same game, according to ESPN Research.
Hunter played 1,380 total snaps in Colorado’s 12 regular-season games: 670 on offense, 686 on defense and 24 on special teams. He played 1,007 total snaps in 2023.
With all NFL eyes on the Colorado campus to see Sanders throw, one player who made the most of it was wide receiver Will Sheppard, who was not invited to the combine. Sheppard, who measured in at 6-2¼, 196 pounds, ran his 40s in 4.56 and 4.54 to go with a 40½-inch vertical jump and a 10-foot-11 in the broad jump.
Sports
‘It’s taken on a life of its own’: Inside the 48 hours torpedo bats launched into baseball lore
Published
3 hours agoon
April 4, 2025By
admin
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Buster OlneyApr 4, 2025, 12:00 PM ET
Close- Senior writer ESPN Magazine/ESPN.com
- Analyst/reporter ESPN television
- Author of “The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty”
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.
Said Yankees manager Aaron Boone: “It’s taken on a life of its own.”
0:36
Olney: ‘Torpedo’ bats could be catching the eye of MLB teams
Buster Olney reports on the Braves exploring the new “torpedo” bats the Yankees have been using and how other teams could explore it as well.
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.
Sports
What are torpedo bats? Are they legal? What to know about MLB’s hottest trend
Published
3 hours agoon
April 4, 2025By
admin
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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