Biggest games, top newcomers, teams on the rise: What we’re excited to see in 2024
While Michigan fans are still basking in the glory of the Wolverines’ national championship, the rest of the college football world is left to look ahead to next season.
We’ve already gazed into a crystal ball for our Way-Too-Early Top 25 and Way-Too-Early All-America team. Now we’re looking more specifically at what we’re most excited to see once the teams take the field in 2024.
ESPN’s college football reporters weigh in on the games they’re most excited to see, the freshmen or transfers who could make a major impact and the teams they think might be ready to take a significant step forward.
What game on next season’s schedule are you most looking forward to?
Miami at Florida, Aug. 31
Though this in-state rivalry game may not have national championship implications right out of the gate, this is a huge game for both programs and head coaches. Mario Cristobal and Billy Napier each head into critical Year 3 seasons with fan bases that are eager for results. Interestingly enough, they have nearly identical records in their first two seasons — Cristobal 12-13 as the hometown hero tasked with bringing Miami back, Napier 11-14 facing the hardest schedule in the nation. What happens in this game will set the narrative and tone for what is to come at both schools. — Andrea Adelson
Texas at Michigan, Sept. 7
While the defending national champions will be undergoing a significant transition — most notably with Jim Harbaugh off to the NFL — Texas should be rocking and rolling heading into 2024 with a trip to Ann Arbor on the docket in Week 2, the programs’ first meeting since the 2005 Rose Bowl. With his team a play away from playing for the national title last season, Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers surely will be on many preseason Heisman lists, and the Wolverines get the early-season litmus test they haven’t dealt with in the past. — Blake Baumgartner
Georgia at Alabama, Sept. 28
Kalen DeBoer was already on the clock the minute the Alabama plane touched down in Tuscaloosa after he was announced as Nick Saban’s replacement. As the late Keith Jackson would say, “Whoa Nellie!” DeBoer understands exactly what he’s walking into, but it will get real (almost surreal) when Kirby Smart and Georgia come to town in Week 4. It will be only the fifth time in the past 20 years the two SEC powerhouses have played in the regular season. Five of their past six meetings have come in either the SEC championship game or the CFP National Championship game. Saban was 5-1 in those games, but will be watching from the stands in this one. — Chris Low
Ohio State at Oregon, Oct. 12
It’s probably no coincidence that the Buckeyes decided to go all in on the transfer portal shortly after rival Michigan ended its 26-year drought without a national title. By adding Alabama safety Caleb Downs, Kansas State quarterback Will Howard, Ole Miss tailback Quinshon Judkins and other impact players, the Buckeyes might be the team to beat in the newly expanded Big Ten. The Ducks will have something to say about it, however, after adding former Oklahoma starter Dillon Gabriel to replace record-setting quarterback Bo Nix. A long trip to Eugene won’t be easy for the Buckeyes, especially after facing Iowa’s stout defense the week before. — Mark Schlabach
Georgia at Texas, Oct. 19
Georgia likely will enter the season at No. 1 with an excellent chance to win its third national title in four seasons after claiming none between 1980 and 2021. A midseason trip to Austin will tell a lot, though, especially if Texas can build on its breakthrough 2023 season with quarterback Quinn Ewers back alongside several key transfer portal additions. The teams have met only once, at a neutral site in 1958 at Texas’ Memorial Stadium, but these types of clashes will be more common in the new-look SEC. — Adam Rittenberg
Florida State at Notre Dame, Nov. 9
This game will have playoff implications for both programs, but particularly Notre Dame, which can only earn a spot in the 12-team College Football Playoff through an at-large bid. (Only the five highest-ranked conference champions are guaranteed a spot.) The Irish could get a significant boost to their résumé if they can claim a win against the potential ACC champs. If FSU finishes as a one-loss or undefeated conference champion, a road win against a ranked Notre Dame team could boost its seeding in the 12-team field. — Heather Dinich
Michigan at Ohio State, Nov. 31
No one knows what this game will look like by the time it comes around. With Harbaugh gone, will offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore, who was the interim coach against Ohio State this past season for the Wolverines, be the head coach? We don’t know who Michigan’s replacement at quarterback will be for the outgoing J.J. McCarthy. We do know that Ohio State has loaded up in the transfer portal and added a lot of talent. This game is always interesting, but this season will have new storylines to watch and could have a ton of ramifications. — Tom VanHaaren
Utah at Oklahoma State, date TBD
Consider this one a placeholder. The Big 12 has long been a conference of tight games and wild finishes — I always joke that every game is decided by three points, and it’s only so much of a joke — and it just traded its two blue-blood programs for four teams that, with the right breaks this year, could be equal to everyone else, no better or worse. We could get even closer to “every game is decided by three points” becoming a reality, in other words. There might not be a national title contender in this conference, but it’s going to be a nonstop ride of fun games. — Bill Connelly
Which true freshman or transfer are you most excited to see?
Jeremiah Smith at Ohio State
With Marvin Harrison Jr. likely a top-five NFL draft selection come April after three very successful seasons in Columbus, there’s a significant void to fill at the wide receiver factory that exists at Ohio State. Enter five-star receiver Jeremiah Smith, the second-best receiver in the recruiting cycle. Smith (No. 7 overall in 2024) caught 90 passes for 1,389 yards and 19 touchdowns as a senior for Florida high school power Chaminade-Madonna Prep, and he should provide an immediate impact for Ryan Day and Kansas State import Will Howard. — Baumgartner
Dylan Raiola at Nebraska
The five-star quarterback from Buford, Georgia, stunned a lot of folks when he flipped from his longtime commitment to Georgia to sign with Nebraska, his father Dominic’s alma mater, shortly before national signing day. There is a strong family connection to the Cornhuskers; Raiola’s uncle Donovan is the team’s offensive line coach. Raiola was looking for immediate playing time as a freshman, and he might be able to find it with the Cornhuskers. In 2023, Nebraska ranked next-to-last in the Big Ten in passing (only Iowa was worse) with 135.9 yards per game. — Schlabach
Dillon Gabriel at Oregon
Quarterback free agency in college football has never been hotter. Oregon hit it just right with Bo Nix the past two seasons, and now it’s Gabriel’s turn to take his shot at piloting the Ducks’ offense. This will be Gabriel’s third stop after starting his career at UCF and playing the past two seasons at Oklahoma. There’s not much Gabriel hasn’t seen. He’s entering his sixth season of college football and has thrown 25 or more touchdown passes in four of his previous five seasons. He also rushed for 12 touchdowns a year ago. He has been tutored by Josh Heupel and Jeff Lebby and is the kind of experienced playmaker the Ducks need at quarterback as they transition to the Big Ten. — Low
DJ Uiagalelei at Florida State
It feels strange even typing DJU and Florida State in the same sentence, considering the path he has traveled to get to Tallahassee. One of the most highly touted quarterbacks in the nation out of high school, Uiagalelei started his career at Clemson, where he struggled for two seasons as the starter, then sought a fresh start at Oregon State. After a solid 2023 season, Uiagalelei decided to transfer once again — this time to Clemson’s ACC nemesis. Will he handle the pressure that comes with the spotlight at Florida State any better than he did at Clemson? Time will tell. Mark an X on Oct. 5 in your calendar; that’s the date Clemson comes to Doak Campbell Stadium. — Adelson
Caleb Downs at Ohio State
The Buckeyes were able to get Downs, who was arguably the best transfer player this offseason. He was the first true freshman at Alabama to lead the team in total tackles with 107. Coordinator Jim Knowles has improved this Ohio State defense in two seasons, but adding Downs will push the group up another level. Downs should be an instant impact player who could help Ohio State compete for a national championship when combined with everyone else the Buckeyes have returning on defense for the 2024 season. — VanHaaren
Malachi Nelson at Boise State
Nelson’s situation stands out for a number of reasons. Most No. 1 overall recruits, especially quarterbacks, would appear in more than one game and log more than three pass attempts in their freshman season. Should they choose to transfer, they often would pick a similar type of program or at least one in a power conference. But Nelson is headed to Boise State, which comes off a surprise Mountain West title run, returns key players such as running back Ashton Jeanty, and may be poised to reclaim its place as the nation’s elite Group of 5 program — just in time for the expanded CFP. Nelson’s evolution on the blue turf will be fascinating to watch. — Rittenberg
Cam Ward at Miami
I think I’m most excited about the uncertainty here — I have absolutely no idea what to expect from Ward, who was beautifully prolific at Incarnate Word, then tantalizing but inconsistent in two years at Washington State. Ward seemed to want to go pro, declaring for the draft but apparently not getting the draft grade he was looking for, and that could make him particularly hungry for a big year. He’s a pretty accurate passer with a scrambling streak. Can he unlock what has been a very frustrating Miami offense? Or will he frustrate too? — Connelly
What team are you most interested in seeing if it can take a big step forward?
The Rebels finished 11-2 with losses to Georgia and Alabama in 2023. So the big step here is trying to compete with those two and trying to get to the SEC championship game. The offense returns a ton of production, including quarterback Jaxson Dart. But the coaches have completely retooled the defense, which was the area that needed improvement. Lane Kiffin and Pete Golding added Texas A&M defensive tackle Walter Nolen, Florida edge Princely Umanmielen, Oklahoma safety Key Lawrence, Arkansas linebacker Chris Paul Jr., Indiana safety Louis Moore, Tennessee corner Brandon Turnage, Michigan corner Amorion Walker and Alabama corner Trey Amos. That team, with those additions, should be in line for another great season as one of the elite teams in the country. — VanHaaren
The Orange have won 10 games in a season exactly once in the past 22 years, going 10-3 under Dino Babers in 2018. Babers couldn’t sustain that success and was fired after his teams produced one winning season in the past five. The Orange took a gamble on former Georgia defensive backs coach Fran Brown, who is a top-notch recruiter but has never been a head coach. He landed former Ohio State starter Kyle McCord out of the transfer portal. The Orange don’t play ACC foes Clemson, Florida State or North Carolina during the regular season, and they play Virginia Tech, Miami, Stanford and Georgia Tech at home. There’s a chance for improvement in Brown’s first season. — Schlabach
Given what Jonathan Smith did at Oregon State and the decision to leave his alma mater to coach in the newly loaded Big Ten, it will be interesting to see if he can get Michigan State back on track after the Mel Tucker era ended in disgrace. The entire quarterback room transferred out following a tumultuous 4-8 campaign. Aidan Chiles joined Smith from Corvallis and should be given the keys to the Spartans’ offense after seeing limited time as DJ Uiagalelei’s backup (309 passing yards, 79 rushing yards and seven total TDs in nine games). The Spartans’ offense needs a jolt in the worst way after finishing 125th in FBS in total offense (289.3 YPG) and 96th nationally in passing (199.8 YPG). With in-state rival Michigan still reveling in its first national title since 1997, Michigan State can’t fall too far behind. Smith’s track record suggests he may be up for the task. — Baumgartner
It’s a credit to Kyle Whittingham and his entire Utah program that an 8-5 record is seen as a “down” season. But the Utes lost four conference games for the first time since 2017 and lost four of their last six games to end the season. That’s after winning back-to-back Pac-12 championships. As they transition to the Big 12 in 2024, don’t be surprised if the Utes are right there at the top challenging for the title. That’s significant, too, because the Big 12 champion gets an automatic berth into the new 12-team playoff, and potentially a top-four seed and a first-round bye. Some of the best news for Utah is that star quarterback Cam Rising will be back after missing all of last season with a knee injury, and the Utes have also filled some key holes in the transfer portal. — Low
It would seem as though the only direction to go is up for the Bears. Baylor struggled on both sides of the ball last year, but with the hire of proven offensive coordinator Jake Spavital — along with coach Dave Aranda returning to defensive playcalling duties — there should be noticeable improvements. The offensive line was extremely young last season, which should start to pay off soon. The pressure is on Aranda after a 3-9 finish last year that included just one win at home (vs. Long Island University). — Dinich
The Trojans were the nation’s most disappointing team in 2023, going from preseason No. 6 to five losses, two more than any previous Lincoln Riley-coached team. Riley now leads USC into the Big Ten, which will bring different challenges and opportunities. There will be less national hype around USC and its quarterback, Miller Moss, entering the fall, but the Trojans have a chance to be a more balanced and better team. The defense will be particularly interesting to watch after Riley overhauled the coaching staff, with the group now led by D’Anton Lynn. One way or another, Riley’s third USC team will set the trajectory for the program under his leadership. — Rittenberg
When quarterback Preston Stone got hurt late in the season, the Mustangs had won eight games in a row by an average score of 46-17. Thanks to a dramatically improved defense, they managed to beat Tulane on the road to win the AAC championship game without Stone, before finishing the season with a dreary performance in dreary conditions against Boston College in the Fenway Bowl. But with Stone back, and with head coach Rhett Lashlee thus far holding on to dynamite defensive coordinator Scott Symons (and adding another round of fun transfers), SMU enters the ACC with one of the highest ceilings in its new conference. — Connelly
The Hokies last played for an ACC championship in 2016, and last won a conference title in 2010 — a long streak considering the heyday of the program under Frank Beamer. This upcoming season could be their best chance to elevate the program back to Top 25 status and championship contender. Coming off a 7-6 season, Virginia Tech returns nearly every key offensive contributor off a team that got better as 2023 progressed. Quarterback Kyron Drones is a star in the making as a passer and rusher, while running back Bhayshul Tuten and top receivers Da’Quan Felton, Stephen Gosnell, Jaylin Lane and Ali Jennings are back. — Adelson
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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