Torpedo Bats

Demand for viral ‘torpedo’ baseball bats explodes

A 70-year-old man who plays in an area senior hardball league popped into Victus Sports this week because he needed bats for the new season. Plus he just had to take some cuts with baseball’s latest fad and see for himself if there really was some wizardry in the wallop off a torpedo bat.

Ed Costantini, of Newtown Square, thought the hype surrounding the torpedo since it exploded into the baseball consciousness was a “hoax.” But after dozens of swings in the cage, where he said the balance was better, the ball sounded more crisp off the bat, the left-handed hitter ordered four custom-crafted torpedo bats at $150 a pop on the spot.

More than just All-Stars want a crack at the torpedo — a striking design in which wood is moved lower down the barrel after the label and shapes the end a little like a bowling pin — and Costantini’s purchase highlighted the surge of interest in baseball’s shiny new toy outside the majors.

There’s not enough data yet to truly know how much oomph — or hits and homers — a torpedo bat may help some hitters. Cincinnati’s Elly De La Cruz picked one up for the first time Monday and had a single, double and two home runs for a career-high seven RBIs.

Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, who hit an AL-record 62 homers in 2022 and 58 last year en route to his second AL MVP award, declined to try the new bat, asking, “Why try to change something?” Phillies All-Star shortstop Trea Turner said the hoopla was “blown out of proportion.”

“You’ve still got to hit the ball,” Turner said.

Turner, though, said he was open to trying the torpedo.

“The concept seems so simple. For it to take this long is wild.”

No matter. The bat is here today and not going anywhere — except perhaps flying off the shelves. 

“For bats to be the hot topic in sports is cool.”