Twins Catcher Had Perfect Explanation for Why His Bowling Pin Torpedo Bat Should Exist

Andy Nesbitt | Mar 31, 2025

Ryan Jeffers explained why these new bats should remain legal. / @tlschwerz

The Yankees turned the baseball world upside down over the weekend when they crushed 13 home runs in two games against the Milwaukee Brewers. The display of power wasn't the biggest takeaway, however. Instead, it was the new torpedo bats some of their hitters used that now has everyone talking about what could be one of the biggest changes the sport has ever seen.

Minnesota Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers is using one of those new bats, with his being labeled a bowling pin style. He made a good point while talking with ESPN's Jeff Passan, saying pitchers have new weapons each season, so why can't hitters?

"There's new pitches getting invented every year," said Jeffers, who went 1-for-8 in the first three games of the season. "We're just swinging the same broomstick we've swung for the last 100 years."

He added: "The bat is such a unique tool. You look at the history of the game, and they used to swing telephone poles. Now you try to optimize it, and it feels like some branches are starting to fall for us on the hitting side of things."

The rule book states this about bats: "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." These new bats have just moved more wood down slightly below the barrel.

So if you can make legal tweaks to a bat, like players and teams are starting to do, it seems like there shouldn't be a problem with making sure these things remain legal.

We'll have to wait and see if that remains to be true, or if pitchers won't have to worry about these bats anymore.

---

More MLB on Sports Illustrated

feed