Science confirms torpedo bat works as well as regular bat

The finding

A new lab study finds what skeptics suspected: the so‑called torpedo bat produces essentially the same hitting power as a traditional maple bat. Researchers from Washington State University, University of Illinois and Penn State used duplicate maple models and careful instrumentation — an air cannon, light gates and high‑speed cameras — to measure the ball‑bat coefficient of restitution. The result? Nearly identical performance, with the only clear difference being the torpedo’s sweet spot sitting about a half‑inch farther from the bat tip.

The test, in plain English

The team carved two standard MLB‑style maple bats and two torpedo‑shaped variants that matched swing weight, then fired baseballs at stationary bats to see how much energy bounced back. “It was actually pretty phenomenal how close they were,” said Lloyd Smith of WSU’s Sports Science Laboratory. Wood is wood, he added — a neat, blunt end to months of online hand‑wringing over whether a shape tweak could flip the physics of hitting.

Why fans fussed — and why they can calm down

It has been reported that the torpedo design went viral after the New York Yankees used a torpedo bat in spring 2025 and the team hit a season‑highlight nine homers in one game. Hype grew fast: was this a new secret weapon, a cheap edge? The lab work suggests not. If swing weight is the same, the distance a batter can hit the ball won’t suddenly jump — the sweet spot moves a little, not the laws of motion.

So what now? The paper’s authors will present their methods at the International Sports Engineering Association conference in Pullman this June. The emotional beat: fans and tinkering inventors chasing a quick fix will be disappointed, but baseball purists can breathe easy — no magic bat, no sudden revolution, just another round in the long ash‑vs‑maple debate.

Sources: wsu.edu, Hacker News