Torpedo bats have taken the baseball world by storm this season, and it seems like the fad is just getting started. It began with the New York Yankees and a few of their hitters. As it spread to other Yankees players, the rest of the league caught on.
Now, the reports coming out indicate that hitters like Giancarlo Stanton and Jose Trevino have used the torpedo bats for the last year or so.
Trevino brought the style of bat over from the Yankees to his new team, the Cincinnati Reds, and he might have ruined baseball when he introduced the ultra-talented Elly De La Cruz to this new piece of hitting technology.
De La Cruz tried the bat out during batting practice ahead of the series opener against the Texas Rangers on Monday. After enjoying the way the bat felt, he used it in the game and the results were tremendous.
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Elly De La Cruz's breakout torpedo bat game could force Shohei Ohtani to adapt
During De La Cruz's first game with the torpedo bat, he smoked 5 batted balls with exit velocities over 99 MPH, four of which were 100+. He finished the day 4-of-5 with a single, double, two home runs, seven RBIs, four runs scored, and a stolen base. Not bad for the first time he's used this bat.
Obviously, he can't hit like this every game, but if it's at all indicative of how he's going to perform in the future, Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani is going to have some real competition for the National League MVP award.
In order to steal the MVP from Ohtani, a player is going to need to be excellent on defense and on the base paths. De La Cruz checks both those boxes. He'll also need to post slugging and OPS numbers near the top of the league, with home run numbers near 30 or 40 homers. With the torpedo bat, De La Cruz has the potential to do just this.
There's even potential that Ohtani begins to use this piece of technology in the future. Ohtani could be forced to adapt if he wants to survive at the top of the National League. With De La Cruz playing like that, using the torpedo bat could be Ohtani's key to staying atop the league.