The Los Angeles Dodgers are 8-0 and have one of the best offenses in baseball. One of their hitters could increase his power numbers by hopping on baseball’s latest wave.
The New York Yankees became the talk of the town when they hit 15 home runs in their opening series against the Milwaukee Brewers. Jazz Chisholm Jr., Austin Wells, Paul Goldschmidt, Anthony Volpe and Cody Bellinger were all using what is being called the “torpedo bat,” and hit home runs in the series. The torpedo bats feature a bigger barrel and take wood from other parts of the bat. Bleacher Report’s Zachary D. Rymer suggested that Andy Pages make the switch to the torpedo bat.
“In all seriousness, don’t let the 13 homers Andy Pages hit in 116 games last season trick you into thinking he doesn’t have a swing made for power. He was in the 97th percentile with his sweet-spot rate, with 30.4 percent of his batted balls registering as fly balls,” wrote Rymer.
Even on his fly balls, though, the 24-year-old only averaged 91.9 mph in exit velo and 314 feet in distance,” he added. “Those were less Shohei Ohtani figures (99.0, 342) and more Mookie Betts figures (91.3, 314).”
Pages started all eight games for the Dodgers this season. He has not hit a home run this season. He has three hits and a .427 OPS. Elly De La Cruz hit two home runs in his first game using the torpedo bat. Pages could make the switch in hopes of seeing similar results.
Follow The Sporting News On WhatsApp
It will take a larger sample size to see how effective the torpedo bats are. However, the idea of adding more mass to the barrel to increase exit velocity seems like it is working. Giancarlo Stanton hit seven home runs in the last postseason while using the torpedo bat.
More MLB: Red Sox Rafael Devers addresses position change amid historic slump
