I agree with most experts that the “torpedo bat” is pretty much a sales gimmick that may sell a ton of bats but will have very little effect on baseball hitting performance!!
Hitters make their outs two ways in baseball. They are either too fast or too slow. MLB hitters make their outs on fastballs by swinging and missing because they fired too late or they got jammed and hit the ball between the sweet spot and their hands. They make their outs on breaking pitches, changeups and low/outside pitches by swinging too quickly over the ball or by hitting the ball off the end or bottom of the bat.
The first thing that the scientists that never played the game failed to take into consideration was swings and misses. They didn’t consider the thousands of strikeouts where the hitter swung and missed or got called out because they were looking in but got a breaking pitch away or they were looking out and got a riser up and in or a two seamer down and in.
By looking only at where the hitter “contacted” the ball, of course they will conclude adding mass below the sweet spot will help the hitter hit the inside fastball harder. What they didn’t consider is that with all the data available added to the ever-improving control of MLB secondary pitches, pitchers will simply throw more off- speed pitches and increase the already alarming strikeout rate!
Simply put, if the lump (mass increase) is below the sweet spot, throw the hitter off- speed away, and if the lump (mass increase) is above the sweet spot, throw heat inside and you will generally strike hitters out or break their torpedo bats!
For true effectiveness the lump in the torpedo bat should move above or below the sweet spot based on knowing what pitch was coming. If you knew what was coming you wouldn’t need a torpedo bat! That’s basically the game within the game and all the lumps do is complicate matters by varying the speed of the swing. Right now, that is the only thing that should be a constant for a hitter. Knowing when to load and controlling one’s weight while striding is what allows pro hitters to take the same swing on fast or slow pitches.
It’s too bad no one has ever invented bats that will teach hitters how to hit both in and out with the same bat!! COMING SOON!
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