NFT Lenny and the New Rage in Baseball Bats

[Shoelessjoe]

If the moderators feel this should go to the Front Porch, please move it.

Apparently, an MIT physicist named "Lenny," who works in the Yankees' analytics department, has designed a new bat that is being called a torpedo bat for their shortstop Anthony Volpe. He was hitting the ball down on the bat where the label is, so they moved the bat's thickness down to where the label is and reduced the thickness at the top of the bat.

My question is, did our Lenny come out of retirement, and is he now working for the Yankees in their analytics department? Is he secretly an MIT physicist?

[President Rick]

sounds like the traditional softball bat's shape.

[MightyGiants]

Looks a little like a bowling pin

[MightyGiants]

MLB reactions to Yankees' 'torpedo bats' range from 'it's terrible' to 'they should send a few over here'

https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/article/mlb-reactions-to-yankees-torpedo-bats-range-from-its-terrible-to-they-should-send-a-few-over-here-044054221.html

[Gmo11]

So...it's a little over blown due to the Yankees feasting on Brewers horrific pitching, but the logic is sound.  Make the part of the bat that hits the ball harder.  Seems so simple and obvious.  And it might help certain guys, specifically Volpe, but only 4 Yankees are using them right now and Judge isn't one. 

The Red Sox used them in spring training and didn't like them enough to bring them to the regular season, Bellinger used one with the Cubs last year, Lindor has been using one all season and doesn't have so much as a hit yet.  They used them opening day where they only scored 4 runs, and only 3 hits I believe came off a torpedo bat. If Volope hits 50HRs this year then yea, maybe the bats are doing something, but I'm not betting on that, especially since it's not having much of an effect to any of the other players/teams around the league that are also using them.

[MightyGiants]

So...it's a little over blown due to the Yankees feasting on Brewers horrific pitching, but the logic is sound.  Make the part of the bat that hits the ball harder.  Seems so simple and obvious.  And it might help certain guys, specifically Volpe, but only 4 Yankees are using them right now and Judge isn't one. 

The Red Sox used them in spring training and didn't like them enough to bring them to the regular season, Bellinger used one with the Cubs last year, Lindor has been using one all season and doesn't have so much as a hit yet.  They used them opening day where they only scored 4 runs, and only 3 hits I believe came off a torpedo bat. If Volope hits 50HRs this year then yea, maybe the bats are doing something, but I'm not betting on that, especially since it's not having much of an effect to any of the other players/teams around the league that are also using them.

One thing I remember in my college days.  I was in an engineering class on steam production.  The professor said if you could make boilers 1/2 a percent more efficient, you would become rich.


I think this is what you are seeing with these bats.  They do provide a small percentage of improvement. That can make a significant difference over a season, but the bats are not magic they won't bump your batting average up a 100 points. 

[Jolly Blue Giant]

Many of the teams in MLB use them, and the Cubs and Twins use the most...yet their batters who use them haven't shown a significant difference...yet! Nearly every player in baseball has been able to use them, and even tried them, and almost all of them opt to keep their original bat

From a pure physic's standpoint, it makes sense to shift weight and mass to a hitter's sweet spot. Using high speed cameras over a long period of time, it can reveal where the batter hits the ball most frequently with his style of swing. Most players are not that consistent in where the bat hits the ball within an inch, so it makes little difference. So if it hits the sweet spot, it provides a little more power, and if it doesn't, it then takes power off the hit

Also, one thing I've noticed is when the ball is hit towards the end of the bat, instead of a blooper hit for a dump single, the angle of the bat surface is more likely to turn the hit into a foul ball, rather than a "Texas Leaguer" hit. That could be an advantage or disadvantage, depending on how one looks at it. Regardless, it's a twist that I'm sure will be talked about for the entire season. If those players using the torpedo bat show an obvious increase in BA and HRs, I'm sure most players will opt to use it. As of now, not enough data to prove anything. The first three games by the Yanks are flukes, and it's only a matter of time before they go into their regular hitting slump and lose low scoring games. Been a fan too long to think this HR onslaught will continue

[LennG]

If this 'Lenny' would do anything to help the hated Yankees, he should die 1000 long deaths.

              

[Jolly Blue Giant]

If this 'Lenny' would do anything to help the hated Yankees, he should die 1000 long deaths.

              

LOL

I'm a Yankee fan since the mid-50s because my father hated the Yankees, but followed baseball. He didn't really have a team he followed, just didn't like the Yankees because they...in his opinion..."won too much". We were dairy farmers and only got games on the radio, so my father would have me listen to every game as he milked the cows and come back and tell him whenever the Yanks were doing badly. After a couple years, I knew every Yankee player as if they were my own kin. That led to my falling in love with the team...even when they were an embarrassment to the game and frequently went on long periods of dwelling in the cellar. I remember before Steinbrenner bought the team, the Yankees had to pay radio stations (at least the one I listened to) to broadcast their s..t show. I hung in there and they came back to elite status for a while, but like everything in baseball, they regressed, came back, regressed, wash and repeat. Such is the game, where if a hitter fails 60% of the time, he goes to the HOF, and pitchers with an ERA over .500 and where the right side of the won-loss column is always higher than the left, make 10 million dollars+ a year. What a racket!

Regardless, as a Yankee fan, the first three games of this season were the best three games in a row I've ever watched in my long tenured fandom of the team. I'm also old enough to know it's a long season and these games mean little, because injuries and slumps change everything in the blink of an eye. My very close girlfriend for 24 years is a die-hard Dodgers' fan and hates my Yanks (only because her "Daddy was a Brooklyn Dodger's fan") and refuses to call my team anything other than the "Yank mees"...lol. My best friend, as well as my son who lives in Wisconsin and is an avid Brewers' fan, and several of my grandchildren are all Mets fans who hate the Yankees, so I have to 'hide my glee' and not talk about the first three games of the season and pretend I didn't see the games or even heard about them. So, with all that said, I do feel bad for my Mets', Dodgers, and Red Sox friends, but secretly I say, "suck it, my Yanks are on fire"

[LennG]

LOL

I'm a Yankee fan since the mid-50s because my father hated the Yankees, but followed baseball. He didn't really have a team he followed, just didn't like the Yankees because they...in his opinion..."won too much". We were dairy farmers and only got games on the radio, so my father would have me listen to every game as he milked the cows and come back and tell him whenever the Yanks were doing badly. After a couple years, I knew every Yankee player as if they were my own kin. That led to my falling in love with the team...even when they were an embarrassment to the game and frequently went on long periods of dwelling in the cellar. I remember before Steinbrenner bought the team, the Yankees had to pay radio stations (at least the one I listened to) to broadcast their s..t show. I hung in there and they came back to elite status for a while, but like everything in baseball, they regressed, came back, regressed, wash and repeat. Such is the game, where if a hitter fails 60% of the time, he goes to the HOF, and pitchers with an ERA over .500 and where the right side of the won-loss column is always higher than the left, make 10 million dollars+ a year. What a racket!

Regardless, as a Yankee fan, the first three games of this season were the best three games in a row I've ever watched in my long tenured fandom of the team. I'm also old enough to know it's a long season and these games mean little, because injuries and slumps change everything in the blink of an eye. My very close girlfriend for 24 years is a die-hard Dodgers' fan and hates my Yanks (only because her "Daddy was a Brooklyn Dodger's fan") and refuses to call my team anything other than the "Yank mees"...lol. My best friend, as well as my son who lives in Wisconsin and is an avid Brewers' fan, and several of my grandchildren are all Mets fans who hate the Yankees, so I have to 'hide my glee' and not talk about the first three games of the season and pretend I didn't see the games or even heard about them. So, with all that said, I do feel bad for my Mets', Dodgers, and Red Sox friends, but secretly I say, "suck it, my Yanks are on fire"

 I 'liked' your post only because I know you and your desires.

That said, as I have said so many times, I also grew up a 'Brooklyn Bum. ' There wasn't another 11-year-old who knew more about my Dodgers than myself. It literally broke my heart when that bastard Walter O'Malley (make I piss on his grave one day), took my beloved 'Bums' and relocated them to who really cares. I have since met many Yankee fans who told me that the Dodgers and Giants left, so they became a Yankee fan. I still tell them that they were NEVER truly Dodger fans if they could EVER root for the Yankees. it was ingrained in your soul to hate the Yankees, as I do to this day.

[Jolly Blue Giant]

I 'liked' your post only because I know you and your desires.

That said, as I have said so many times, I also grew up a 'Brooklyn Bum. ' There wasn't another 11-year-old who knew more about my Dodgers than myself. It literally broke my heart when that bastard Walter O'Malley (make I piss on his grave one day), took my beloved 'Bums' and relocated them to who really cares. I have since met many Yankee fans who told me that the Dodgers and Giants left, so they became a Yankee fan. I still tell them that they were NEVER truly Dodger fans if they could EVER root for the Yankees. it was ingrained in your soul to hate the Yankees, as I do to this day.

I read in the NY rags, that they wanted to have a parade and thousands took to the street for an all day celebration when the news came down that O'Malley had died, with the most common line was, "may he rot in hell". I'm quite aware of the ill feelings from New Yorkers who lost the Dodgers. I have always appreciated other teams (except the Red Sox their fans are a..h.les) and I can enjoy a game between just about any two teams, as I enjoy watching players play the game at an extraordinary level of play. Personally, I thought I would one day reach the majors, but never got past playing college ball (rotated between SS and 2nd)...not to mention, I got married and that threw a monkey wrench into any plans I had for myself

I do not root against the Mets and every year, hope they do great. I'm glad they got a world-class stadium and an owner who isn't afraid to spend what it takes to have an elite team (which as a Yankee fan, know that is easier said than done). If it comes down to a subway series though, I have no choice but to root for the Yanks. It's in my blood and I can't get rid of it...nor do I want to, lol

Even my best friend "Bob", who is an avid (sometimes "rabid") Mets fan and will call me at 1:00 in the morning to tell me the Yankees got beat in some west coast game. Yet, he admires Aaron Judge and can't take his eyes off the TV whenever Judge steps into the batter's box. Bob watched a life story on Judge and found out he was incredibly humble, kind, never gets angry, loves his country, and a really decent person all around - a class act. He was adopted by parents who he loves and now takes care of them (not exactly the Colin Kaepernick type, who hates the parents who adopted him, raised him, and cheered him on every step of the way through his sports career). Nor is Judge anything like Ty Cobb who went into the audience to beat up a handicapped fan...lol. As a Yankee fan, I am well aware of how lucky we are that the team drafted Judge and stuck with him instead of trading him for an old washed up pitcher or something else...as Gettleman (I think it was him) who said he was offered a hot dog and a warm beer for one of our prized Giants