Ball-blasting 'torpedo bats' making waves across league

LOS ANGELES: New "torpedo" baseball bats are making waves across America's national pastime, triggering an explo-sion of home runs in the full first week of the Major League Baseball season.

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The New York Yankees blasted in MLB record-tying 15 home runs in their first three games of the season, in part due to the new bats, which have shifted the sweet spot of the barrel closer to the batter's hands.

The groundbreaking, customised new design has given extra home run power to batters — and added a new challenge for MLB pitchers.

“There’s more weight concentrated in the area where bats are most likely to make contact with pitched balls — six inches or so closer to the batter’s hands — so the bats conform to MLB impact point compared to more traditional bats.

“The concept makes so much sense. I know I’m bought in,” Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe told the MLB website. “The bigger you can get the barrel where you hit the ball, it makes sense to me.”