BRIDGEWATER — Torpedo bats are a hot topic in baseball — but not only in the major leagues. Spencer Jones’ eyes glowed and his smile widened when asked about the polarizing bats, which a handful of Yankees used as the team tied the league record with 15 home runs in its first three games. Jone s, one of the Yankees’ top minor leaguers, got his hands on a torpedo bat near the end of spring training and has been swinging it for about a week. He plans to continue using it when the Double-A season begins Friday night. “I’m pretty excited about it,” Jones said Tuesday at the Somerset Patriots’ Media Day. “They showed me that my barrel diameter, like where my barrel was, it was like 20th percentile of barrel size of bats, so it’s like, ‘Why am I using a bat with a tiny barrel when I can maximize it?’ So it’s obvious for me to start using a bigger barrel.” The gist of the torpedo bat, which resembles a bowling pin, is that the barrel sits closer to the hitter’s hands than the end of the bat. This helps hitters who frequently hit balls on the label of traditional bats rather than the barrel. Jones said the transition is seamless because it feels no different to swing and actually can be less painful on contact. “There were some balls I felt like I got jammed, and it was a lot of barrel, so that’s a good feeling — the ones where it doesn’t hurt the hands as much,” Jones said of the early results with his new bat. “It’s actually off the barrel and flying.” Aaron Leanhardt, an MIT physicist and a former Yankees analyst who is now the Marlins’ field coordinator, has been accredited as the inventor. Torpedo bats started being designed in 2023 and circulated last year, but they are just now becoming a popular trend for hitters. Not everyone, of course, feels the need to use one. Aaron Judge told New York media that he prefers to continue swinging what has brought him MVP awards, and Somerset catcher/first baseman Rafael Flores also prefers to stick to his roots. “I’ve tried them before. I think I’m part of the group that just like, I’ve swung the same bat my whole career,” said Flores, the Yankees’ Minor League Position Player of the Year last season. “I’m not gonna really change. It’s just a feel thing for me.” Spencer Jones shows off his new ‘torpedo bat’ during batting practice Tuesday at TD Bank Ballpark. (Somerset Patriots Photo) Somerset manager Raul Dominguez likens the phenomenon to bats having unique grips, while others have a hole at the end to change the weight distribution. It’s all about the evolution of hitting and making analytical advances within the rules of play. While he doesn’t yet know which Patriots players will be using a torpedo bat during the season, a few were testing them out Tuesday during batting practice. “I hope those guys keep using those bats here after seeing what they’re doing in the big leagues.” Dominguez said with a laugh. Somerset hitting coach Mike Fransoso saw a torpedo bat for the first time in spring training. “It’s obviously interesting, and I think like everybody else, I myself was wondering why it took so long to figure it out and get to that point,” Fransoso said. “It makes a ton of sense, and I think obviously seeing guys use it in the big leagues now, I think it’s gonna become part of the game and more guys are gonna use them.” In an age where pitching has outpaced hitting in terms of technology, and strikeouts in baseball have been on the rise, there is a growing sentiment that torpedo bats could serve as an equalizer. Cam Schlittler, the Yankees’ Minor League Pitcher of the Year last season who will take the ball in Somerset’s opener Friday in Hartford, doesn’t believe that there needs to be a chess move from a pitcher’s point of view — at least as of now. “I don’t really know anything about it; it’s obviously it’s a big wave right now, but again, if I’m doing what I’m doing, I’m executing and putting it in the right spot, then (I) shouldn’t have any worries,” Schlittler said. All eyes this season will be on players who are looking to take their hitting to the next level with the redistributed bat mass, like Jones. The 23-year-old outfielder had a career-worst 36.8 percent strikeout last season in a full year in Double-A. So Jones also tightened his swing path during the offseason in order to improve his contact rate and, if all goes according to plan with positive results in Somerset, soon get a call-up to Triple-A. “He puts in the work every day, he made some changes to his swing which look really good, and I think he’s excited and we’re all excited to watch him get out there and compete this year,” Fransoso said. “He talked about how he felt like there was some extra moving parts in his swing that he was trying to get rid of, and so far he has and it’s looked really good. And we’re gonna continue to make him be the best version of himself and get him ready to play in the big leagues.” ...read more read less