Since the New York Yankees clubbed a franchise-record nine home runs against the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday, the baseball world has taken notice of the uniquely shaped ‘torpedo’ bats that several players were using in the game.
While the bats are legal and aren’t exactly brand new, the Yankees’ slugfest drew attention to baseball’s evolving technology and its widespread use across the league.
‘I feel like it’s a little overplayed,’ Hall of Fame pitcher CC Sabathia told USA TODAY Sports. ‘The bats are three years old. I’ve been working in the Yankees organization. … When we did the presentation a couple of years ago, I didn’t think anything of it.’
Sabathia pointed at the Brewers’ pitching as the obvious factor rather than the bats, considering Milwaukee gave up 47 runs in its first four games.
‘The bats had nothing to do with it, it was really their pitching,’ Sabathia said.
The Yankees hit four home runs in the first inning off Brewers starter Nestor Cortes on Saturday, starting with three consecutive homers on three pitches. Their nine home runs broke the franchise record of eight and was one short of the MLB record, 10 homers in a single game accomplished by the Toronto Blue Jays in 1987.
After the 20-9 loss, Brewers pitcher Trevor Megill ripped into the bats, referring to them as ‘terrible,’ and suggested that if they were illegal, MLB would let it slide because ‘it’s the Yankees.’
Sabathia considered that comment sour grapes.
‘There was a lot of excuses going on from the guys with the Brewers, but they were throwing balls right down the middle,’ said Sabathia, who will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York this summer.
‘I think that I could have probably got a hit the day that Nestor was pitching, when they hit the nine homers.’
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