Earlier this season, the New York Yankees began using a new form of hitting technology that's been dubbed the torpedo bat. This style of bat has the hardest and densest part of the wood moved down a bit so that the hitter can see an increase in barrels and exit velocity. In the short time that the bat has been public knowledge, it's dominated baseball's headlines with incredible results.
Players like Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Anthony Volpe are off to the best starts of their career. Junior Caminero of the Tampa Bay Rays has used the bat in his rookie campaign. Cincinnati Reds superstar Elly De La Cruz debuted the bat earlier this week and promptly slugged two home runs in an exciting performance.
Teams all around the league are stealing this idea from the Yankees, so it should come as no surprise that the Houston Astros have jumped on the bandwagon to steal another advantage however they can.
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Astros announce plan to introduce torpedo bats next weekend
Earlier this week, Astros manager Joe Espada announced that Houston had an order for the torpedo bats put in and that they would begin experimenting with them by next weekend. This is a huge development for an offense that's struggled tremendously this season unless your name is Jose Altuve.
In the absence of superstar Kyle Tucker, the Astros lineup hasn't performed well. Altuve is slashing .391/.440/.522 with an OPS near 1.000, but the team as a whole is struggling. Houston's team slash line is .178/.270/.222 with two home runs and two doubles in 180 at bats. The lack of extra-base hits and a batting average of under .200 means Houston needs to change something. They could try wiffle ball bats at this point if they could help Houston post a team OPS over .500.
The team will likely see a boost from Yordan Alvarez and Christian Walker in the near future, torpedo bats or not, because this duo is playing well below their career averages.
Either way, the implementation of the torpedo bats in this lineup can't hurt. Houston needs a boost and if these bats work for a few of their players, it'll be a win.