Star Phillies Reliever Shares His Fiery Take on New Torpedo Bats

As the baseball world can't get enough discussion of the new torpedo bats, this Philadelphia Phillies pitcher offered his two cents.

Feb 27, 2025; Clearwater, Florida, USA; Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Matt Strahm (25) throws a pitch against the New York Yankees during the third inning at BayCare Ballpark. | Dave Nelson-Imagn Images

Players, fans, analysts and managers all across Major League Baseball have either scrambled to give or been asked to share their take on the torpedo bat development that is sweeping the league.

After the New York Yankees hit 15 home runs in last weekend's series against the Milwaukee Brewers, questions about the degree of benefit the re-shaped bats provide have called the fairness of their usage into question.

The bats are within MLB's specified rules, and the league has emphasized that they are fully legal, but many feel as though changing the shape of the bat to make barrel contact easier violates the spirit of fairness even if it doesn't fly in the face of MLB rules.

You can count Philadelphia Phillies relief pitcher Matt Strahm among those ranks.

Strahm was asked for his thoughts on the issue by Anthony SanFilippo of OnPattison, and he said everything he needed to say while explicitly not sharing an opinion.

"If pitchers mattered in this game, maybe I'd have an opinion," Strahm told SanFilippo. "But we get  checked like criminals every time we walk off the mound, so I don't think our opinion matters anymore. I think they made that very clear. It's all about offense. So, yeah, let's make more offense."

Strahm is referencing the 2021 blanket crackdown on grip-enhancing materials that pitchers used to have better command over the ball.

Many pitchers used the combination of sunscreen and rosin to improve their feel and control, but others utilized much heavier, sticker materials like Spider Tack to boost their spin rates well beyond their normal marks.

The former had always been an accepted practice, even if it wasn't fully out in the open and known about by fans, but the latter spiraled into a massive scandal that resulted in suspensions and TSA-like patdowns for pitchers from umpires when they departed the mound on occasion.

In the end, they both got de facto outlawed, and pitchers who were using less performance-related means to grip the ball were forced to adjust.

While he was with the Tampa Bay Rays, star Tyler Glasnow cited the inability to use sunscreen and rosin as a likely cause for his UCL injury and subsequent Tommy John surgery.

"Batters have a whole on-deck circle of stuff so they can hold onto the bat," Strahm added. "I guarantee if we weren't getting checked like criminals, Jonathan India wouldn't be on the IL right now. I bet Emmanuel Clase controls that fastball a little better." 

It's easy to see where Strahm's frustration stems from, as he likely sees the league rush to defend an advantageous practice for hitters while members of his profession were treated unfairly in his eyes.

"What do these guys want to do," Strahm pondered. "Do you want to go up there and try to hit elite (stuff) or do you want to wonder if you are going to go home and see your wife tonight?"