ESPN recently spoke to Bobby Hillerich, vice president of production at Hillerich & Bradsby which makes Louisville Slugger bats, about the surge of torpedo bats this season. He admitted that all 30 MLB teams had requested the bats by the middle of this week, after the Yankees' nine home run game last Saturday against the Milwaukee Brewers.

MIT physicist Aaron Leanhardt has been credited with creating the torpedo bats. Leanhardt previously served as a hitting analyst with the Yankees before he joined the Miami Marlins as a field coordinator in the offseason.

Torpedo bats drew attention over the weekend when the New York Yankees hit a team-record nine homers in one game.

ARLINGTON - Joc Pederson became the first Ranger to deploy a torpedo bat. Result: Initial failure to launch. Pederson, a self-described bat lover, got a few bats on Friday from the Sam Bat and Tucci companies, gave them a whirl in batting practice and took it into the game against Tampa Bay.

The new bats caused excitement when New York Yankees hitters clobbered home runs with them opening weekend, and that has some Portland players eager to give the torpedo bat some swings.

There have been two companies that have filed with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Importer Michael Hauptman's Just Happy LLC filed for three trademarks, desiring to put "Torpedo Bat" and or "Torpedo Barrel Bat" on bats and "Torpedo Bat" on clothing and apparel, including apparel, baseball gloves, bat bags and glove bags.

Now back to the torpedo bat. It's designed so that the wider part of the bat IS the sweet spot. Since it’s wider, it's easier to hit the ball. Since that part is the sweet spot, it gives the ball a higher speed. Higher speed means the ball will travel farther. Adios pelota!