Longtime San Francisco Giants Broadcaster Weighs in on Torpedo Bats Controversy

This legendary San Francisco Giants broadcaster has voiced his opinion on MLB's latest innovation.

Jun 24, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; Mike Krukow speaks during a tribute to Willie Mays before the game between the San Francisco Giants and the Chicago Cubs at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images / Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images

Torpedo bats have dominated sports conversations this week, and the latest commentator to weigh in on the debate has been longtime San Francisco Giants' broadcaster Mike Krukow.

Per Alex Simon of SFGate, Krukow was asked about the new bats during his Monday appearance on the Bay Area "Murph and Markus" morning talk show, and the former big league pitcher made and interesting comparison to a bat popularized in the early 2000's by a former Giants' legend.

“Remember when they had the maple wood bats when Bonds was using them and everyone saw Bonds hitting the ball a third of the way across McCovey Cove,” Krukow said. “Well, everybody wanted one, they wanted the harder bat. And if you’ve ever picked up a maple wood bat opposed to a white ash bat and you’ve ever hit with the two, there’s no comparison. And right away, the maple wood bat was an overnight success. They couldn’t get enough maple wood. They couldn’t find enough maple wood. It’s happening now.”

Team's are certainly starting to hop on the trend, with new orders coming in from all over the league. While the torpedo bat is certainly gaining steam, Kurkow doesn't think that it will offer a massive advantage for hitters.

“If you can pitch, it doesn’t matter. They can go up there with a griddle. Go up there and take a frying pan up there and give it your best. It doesn’t matter, really. What’s hitting? Hitting’s timing. And what’s pitching? It’s upsetting timing. If you can upset the timer, I don’t care what kind of bat he’s got up there, you can get a guy out.”

While the underlying realities of both hitting and pitching will always remain constant, it is extremely interesting to see how something so simple has consumed the discourse around the sport. With more and more players slated to start using the hot new torpedo bats, the debate surrounding their benefits and drawbacks is only going to grow.

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