They look pretty cool. Let’s see how long before they are banned.
how New York changed bats to optimize hitting on Saturday.
What if they’re playing on Sunday? Will they still work?
Or until they become the league standard.
The rules for bats say remarkably little. IIRC, it’s just “Maximum of 3 inches diameter, must be turned from a single piece of wood”. No further specifications on shape, nothing about the species of wood, nothing about the grain, etc.
(I looked into this after a thread here asking how far Superman could hit a baseball, and decided that with a solid three-inch cylinder of Eastern Hornbeam or the like, the bat would not be the limiting factor. Hydraulic press YouTube channels determined what the limit would be for the balls, which are much more strictly regulated.)
Sounds like it was specifically designed for one style of hitting:
“The Yankee front office, the analytics department, did a study on Anthony Volpe and every single ball, it seemed like, he hit on the label,” Kay said. “He didn’t hit any on the barrel. So they had bats made up where they moved a lot of the wood into the label so the harder part of the bat will actually strike the ball.”
So, I wouldn’t expect these to be universally adopted, but I’m guessing every other team is doing this analysis for their players tonight.
I’m willing to bet the Yankees’ bats have the attention of all the MLB teams, and each team is considering modifying their bats according to each hitter’s batting style.
They aren’t already customized to each batter’s style?
Not like this, they’re not. Typical bats have different lengths and weights and, while IANAE there are probably some other subtler differences like the thicknesses of the barrel and handle (e.g., how much they taper from end to end). But the bat shown and described in the article looks radically different, described to look more like a bowling pin than the typical bat is. It looks odd.
FTR: Only two of the 9 homers were hit with the new bats.
The bats are of course 100% approved by MLB. No bats can be used that they don’t approve.
BTW: Judge just hit another and he isn’t using the new bat.
MLB Rule 3.02 states:
(a) The bat shall be a smooth, round stick not more than 2.61 inches in diameter at the thickest part and not more than 42 inches in length. The bat shall be one piece of solid wood.
NOTE: No laminated or experimental bats shall be used in a professional game (either championship season or exhibition games) until the manufacturer has secured approval from the Rules Committee of his design and methods of manufacture.
(b) Cupped Bats. An indentation in the end of the bat up to 1 1/4 inches in depth is permitted and may be no wider than two inches and no less than one inch in diameter. The indentation must be curved with no foreign substance added.
(c) The bat handle, for not more than 18 inches from its end, may be covered or treated with any material or substance. Any such material or substance that extends past the 18-inch limitation shall cause the bat to be removed from the game.
Rule 3.02(c) Comment (Rule 1.10(c) Comment):
If pine tar extends past the 18-inch limitation, then the umpire, on his own initiative or if alerted by the opposing team, shall order the batter to use a different bat. The batter may use the bat later in the game only if the excess substance is removed. If no Rule 3.02(c) (Rule 1.10(c)) on that play does not nullify any action or play on the field and no protests of such play shall be allowed.
(d) No colored bat may be used in a professional game unless approved by the Rules Committee.
So in summary, this was much ado about nothing.
The bats were designed specifically for those two guys based on the fact they were not making contact a bit further up the bat the way you normally want to.
Other teams will very rapidly adopt these for the correct players. I don’t see anything wrong with it any more than I do players choosing bats of different weights.
FTR part 2: Jazz Chisholm hit 2 today and 3 in 3 games. He is one of the ones using the new bats. Considering he’s not really a power hitter, it seems to be helping him, even if just as a successful placebo.
It would be easy to correct if the bats are too good- just add a rule that the diameter of the bat shall not decrease from its fattest point to the end of the bat. If a ton of players start using these bats and baseball reverts to the “home run or strikeout” ways of a few years back, look for a change to be made.
“Reverts?” It was like that last year. MLB batting average of just .243 but more than a homer per team per game.
It’s really strange this didn’t happen a long time ago. The appearance of the bat is odd, but the concept makes perfect sense: the bat is thickest where the hitter regularly makes contact and the rest is tapered. Now you have a bat that’s lighter where the extra weight is superfluous. I don’t think they’re miracle bats, though. Milwaukee pitchers were tossing a lot of meatballs this weekend.
Anthony Volpe was only making contact on the label last season? He must have been vibrating like a tuning fork.
I think the shift ban made the game much more watchable since batters apparently can’t learn to hit 'em where they ain’t. Used to be each team had at least a couple .300 hitters, no more. But at the very least we’re seeing some traffic on the bases other than home run trots.
I was always taught to have the trademark facing up so that you’re hitting edge grain and not face grain. Hitting face grain results in busted bats. One of my friends deliberately tried to hit the trademark and I always cringed every time he borrowed a bat.
Will these be banned?
I see Aaron Judge just kept his bat since he is hitting 40+ home runs a year at least. Smart move not to change.
The Yankees actually examined tape to physically see where guys were making contact on the bat. The weird bats are only being used by a small number of players who struggled to make contact on the barrel. Makes sense.
I don’t see a problem with this. All teams should try it. It won’t just result in home runs, it’ll increase batting average.
I wonder, if the goal is to save weight (and more importantly, moment of inertia) by making the part that isn’t used narrower, would it be even better to just cut the bat short entirely past the part that makes contact, instead of tapering it? There’s no rule against a short bat.
Nobody wants the shortest bat in the dugout.
Oh come on, everybody knows it all about the power in the swing.