APPLETON, Wis. — After the New York Yankees scored 36 runs and hit 15 home runs in a three-game sweep over the Milwaukee Brewers to open the season, torpedo bats became the newest trend in Major League Baseball.
This comes after a handful of Yankees players had made the switch to this bat design. Bat makers all around the country began receiving requests for the bats with the funny looking barrel.
Jeff Wagner creates handmade custom bats for people all around the world. For the past 26 years, he has taught himself the ins and outs of bat making. He said one of his favorite things about the job is the smell of the wood.
“When you have a real nice piece of wood, and it turns out good,” said Wagner. “That's the best part there.”
Wagner said he has received many requests and questions about the new torpedo bats. He has done his own research and found that each bat is unique to each hitter. The difference is that the torpedo model has the mass weighted closer to the barrel which creates a larger “sweet spot” to hit the baseball. Wagner said working on something new, always excites him.
“You can see how the sweeter spot is bigger here, it's quite a bit bigger,” said Wagner. “And then it tapers down for less weight, so, whenever you swing, it should be able to swing it quicker.”
Longtime customer and baseball coach John Hendrick helps teach the sport of baseball. He recently purchased a torpedo bat from Wagner to use in his men’s leagues. Hendrick said after trying it out, it’s not for him.
“The physics behind it, the idea behind it, makes a ton of sense. Put the wood where you are going to make contact,” said Hendrick. “For me, I’m already swinging the bat [where] the wood is at the end, anyway. So, that’s where I tend to make my contact.”
Wagner is a one man show. He owns the business, takes the orders and makes the bats. He also gives those that purchases a bat a tour of his collection of sports memorabilia. Wagner said all the effort is worth it.
“After all these years, it's still fun to go out there and just make the bats and it's real relaxing. It's real relaxing. I just go out there and I put the radio on and just make the bat and sand. When you're sanding it, you could fall asleep doing that back and forth.”
Wagner said he will continue to make bats for local schools, men’s wood bat leagues and for keepsakes.
