Royals No. 1 Prospect Jac Caglianone Hints At Torpedo Bat Switch, Causes Stir
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Kansas City Royals top prospect Jac Caglianone could probably get in the box with a piece of plywood and hit home runs. Instead, he might soon be using the hottest piece of equipment in baseball.
Torpedo bats have been all the rage since the Major League Baseball season began, thanks in large part to the New York Yankees' offensive explosion on opening weekend. The new bat design, which moves the center off towards the hands and gives the barrel a torpedo shape, has since been a hot topic of discussion.
Not only are the bats completely legal, but they were already being used last season. They're just a lot more visible now, and when new players decide to put them in their hands, it's become a newsworthy event.
That group, as it turns out, may include Caglianone someday soon,
On Tuesday, Caglianone caused a stir when he reposted an Instagram story from bat company Victus Sports that showed three custom-made torpedo bats with his name lasered into the barrel.
Then, ironically enough, Caglianone crushed a 468-foot, 111-mile-per-hour home run later that evening with his usual bat model, also from Victus.
Clearly, Caglianone doesn't need to switch bats in any capacity based on the way he's been swinging the bat this year. He's clobbered two home runs over 460 feet in his last three games with a traditional barrel.
But every player's bat preferences are different, and some are more open to change than others. Caglianone, like most people around baseball, likely saw the entire sport buzzing about the new bat style and wanted to give it a go, because it's easy enough for a prospect of his caliber to get his hands on more lumber.
It's not as if using a torpedo barrel will suddenly expedite Caglianone's road to the big leagues. But if he finds it suits his swing, it could help make a subtle difference in his game over the course of a full season.
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Jackson Roberts is a former Division III All-Region DH who now writes and talks about sports for a living. A Bay Area native and a graduate of Swarthmore College and the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, Jackson makes his home in North Jersey. He grew up rooting for the Red Sox, Patriots, and Warriors, and he recently added the Devils to his sports fandom mosaic. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding "Kansas City Royals On SI," please reach out to Scott Neville: scott@wtfsports.org
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