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kagami 🎩
@kagami
"torpedo" bats are catching a lot of headlines for innovating a new bat style. mass is concentrated at the barrel to increase exit velocity which likely leads to better outcomes (i.e. more hard hit, barreled flyouts turn into hrs) something that's overshadowed in this discussion is how hitters are consistently innovating/tweaking approaches with technology. changing launch angles, using trajekt, optimizing swing paths, new hitting development regimes (see: red sox minor league dev). this is all to counteract how pitchers optimize for spin rates and stuff. the torpedo bat is just the most prominent since everyone sees the bats and the yankees hr surge is catching attention. but while the bat style may improve specific results (hard-hit, barreled balls with optimal trajectory), it does still require players to barrel the ball. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/44477141/mlb-2025-torpedo-bowling-pin-bats-new-york-yankees-taking-baseball
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kagami 🎩
@kagami
statistically speaking: - 15%+ barrel rate = elite - 10-15% barrel rate = good - 6-9% barrel rate = average optimal launch angle = 25-35 degrees so, even with a torpedo bat where the barrel is placed where the batter typically hits the ball, we're talking about affecting less than 15+% of outcomes. considering that launch angle also needs to be within 25-35 degrees, we're talking about an ever smaller subset of batted barreled balls. this also excludes weather and other conditions like elevation.
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