Torpedo Bats and More Provide Optimism for Yankees Offense in 2025
The New York Yankees put up 36 runs in the three-game sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers to open the 2025 season, and although the ‘torpedo bats’ have garnered a ton of attention, there are many promising signs on offense when digging deeper.
First off, Aaron Judge showed that he is still Aaron Judge, which is the most important component for the Yankees in 2025
He is using his normal bat, unlike Anthony Volpe, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Cody Bellinger, Paul Goldschmidt, and Austin Wells, who are using the torpedo bats.
The bats have been a hot topic around baseball, as the Yankees are not the only team using them.
However, New York is utilizing data to potentially help players.
For the Yankees, the torpedo bats are personalized for each player and essentially have more wood in the place in which that player most often makes contact. We will find out how impactful this change is throughout the season.
Still, there are more reasons to be optimistic about the Yankees’ lineup.
PHOTO: Charles LeClaire/Imagn Images
We will focus on four players, with one of them not using the torpedo bat. Bellinger, Volpe, and Chisholm are three, and the third is rookie Jasson Dominguez. There are two specific areas to touch on. One is bat speed, and the other is plate discipline.
Regarding bat speed, we will touch on Bellinger, Volpe, and Chisholm. So far this season, Bellinger and Volpe have increased their bat speed significantly. Bellinger up to 71.4 mph from 69 mph, and Volpe up to 71.8 mph from 69.3 mph, according to Rates & Barrels. A higher bat speed can lead to harder-hit balls, leading to better results. The good news is that it usually does not take a big sample size to see if a player’s bat speed has actually changed. Hopefully, these changes will sustain Bellinger and Volpe.
Bellinger hit his first home run as a Yankee on Saturday, and his bat speed on that was 72.7 mph, up from his 2024 average of 69. Volpe’s bat speed on his Saturday home run was 73.6 mph.
Chisholm’s bat speed on his home runs comes into the picture as well. His average bat speed in 2024 was 72 mph. He swung at 76.8 mph for his home run on Saturday and 73.6 mph for his second home run on Sunday. The most staggering number was for his first home run on Sunday, in which he swung 79.7 mph.
To put things in perspective, if Chisholm were to average that bat speed, he would have been second to only Giancarlo Stanton in all of MLB in 2024
We have seen Bellinger swing harder throughout spring, looking to pull the ball and take aim at the short porch, which should help his numbers in comparison to his production with the Chicago Cubs. We have seen Chisholm benefit from this approach in his short time as a Yankee as well. Pulling the ball in the air is a recipe for success for most hitters, but especially so for Bellinger and Chisholm in the Bronx.
Then we get to Volpe. The increased bat speed is not new for him, as that was a component to his successful playoff run, in which he slashed .286/.407.408. The key for him going into 2025 was sustaining the approach he had in the playoffs. Increased bat speed was a component of that, and throughout spring training and in the early going this season, it seems Volpe has kept that up, despite saying that the increase was not intentional last October.
The other factor, and perhaps more important for Volpe, is plate discipline, which is where we will touch on Dominguez as well. Volpe showed great plate discipline throughout October, and it is possible that simply making better swing decisions is what led to the bat speed increase. After posting chase rates of 28.7% and 29.3% in his first two seasons, Volpe’s chase rate against the Brewers was 19%. Of course, this is an extremely small sample size, but it is a continuation of that recipe for success that he found in the postseason. This will need to sustain for Volpe to improve offensively in year three.
Dominguez was one of the quietest bats in the Yankees’ lineup in the opening series. Still, he showed promising signs as well, especially when considering that he is historically weaker from the right side, and he batted from that side a considerable amount. One of Dominguez’s calling cards as a prospect was plate discipline, which was paired with his ability to hit the ball hard.
Dominguez has a 28.1% chase rate so far, which is about league average, so there is no red flag in that regard, especially with it being just three games. The good sign is that he is taking his walks, which is consistent with his minor league track record. The reason is that the expectation is that he posts a solid on-base percentage if he lives up to expectations.
It is early, and the Yankees will face tougher pitching moving forward, especially with Corbin Burnes taking the mound for the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday.
But the early signs are good for the Yankees’ offense in 2025.
PHOTO: Charles LeClaire/Imagn Images
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Categorized:Yankees