"How is this even legal" "They're using illegal bats?" - Fans up in arms with Yankees' custom 'torpedo' bats after Brewers rout

Milwaukee Brewers v New York Yankees - Source: Getty — Fans up in arms with Yankees' custom 'torpedo' bats after Brewers rout - Source: Getty

The New York Yankees demolished the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday, smoking the visitors 20-9 as the Bronx Bombers hitters had a field day at Yankee Stadium.

The Yankees registered a franchise record nine home runs in the game with four of them coming in the first inning of the game. Yankees captain Aaron Judge led the charts with three home runs on the night, including a grand slam.

While the Yankees rout the Brewers to take the three-game series, fans weren't amused by the custom 'torpedo' bats used by several Yankees players during the contest. Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Anthony Volpe were seen using bats with more wood near the label.

"How is this even legal? Lol. They already have a little league park, and now they need fixed bats," wrote a fan.

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"So they’re using illegal bats?," wrote another fan.

"That explains the homeruns," alleged a fan.

"I thought tampering with the bat is cheating? That's clearly not regulation."

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While several fans were unhappy with the use of custom bats by Yankees players, others backed the Bronx Bombers, claiming it was within the MLB rules.

"Come on, stop with the clickbait and give more details. Only jazz and Volpe used them, and they're legal," wrote a fan.

"All within the regulations of a bat, nothing illegal about it."

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While fans were divided on the use of custom bats, Chris Kirschner of The Athletic reported that the custom bats used by Chisholm Jr. and Volpe didn't violate MLB rules.

Yankees broadcaster explains why the team used 'torpedo' bats against Brewers

Amid the outrage from MLB fans, veteran Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay explained what led to giving Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Anthony Volpe custom bats. He said during Saturday’s YES Network broadcast:

“The Yankee front office, the analytics department, did a study on Anthony Volpe and every single ball, it seemed like, he hit on the label. He didn’t hit any on the barrel. So they had bats made up where they moved a lot of the wood into the label so the harder part of the bat will actually strike the ball.”

It remains to be seen if other teams also employ custom bats, especially after watching Chisholm Jr. and Volpe go deep with the 'torpedo' bats against the Brewers on Saturday.

About the author

Chaitanya Prakash is an editor who covers US Sports at Sportskeeda. His first brush with sportswriting was in 2012 when the greatest football manager of all time, Sir Alex Ferguson, bid farewell to the beautiful game.

Although having started out professionally as a cricket writer in 2022, Chaitanya's curiosity and indiscriminate interest in all sports in general eventually introduced him to America's favorite pastime.

While Chaitanya's favorite player from the current crop is the dynamic Venezuelan Ronald Acuna Jr., his all-time favorite, however, is Pedro Martinez, for his self-belief and consistency. He also rates Jose Bautista's iconic bat flip in 2015 as his favorite moment in baseball history.

Chaitanya specializes in reporting on technical aspects of the game or analyzing patterns behind specific plays. He also likes pondering over players' self-assessments following the conclusion of a game as it helps him get an idea of how they think about the sport in general.

When not cheering for his favorites across sports, Chaitanya likes being transported to the past through a good war documentary or a historical documentary in general.

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Edited by Chaitanya Prakash