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Toronto Blue Jays player uses controversial new MLB bat

Adam Laskaris
Adam Laskaris
|
Mar 31 2025, 6:44 pm
Toronto Blue Jays player uses controversial new MLB bat
Nathan Ray Seebeck/Imagn Images

If you’re looking closely at the Toronto Blue Jays at the plate this season, you might end up noticing a subtle change for one of their players.

Much of the MLB discourse around the opening weekend of the league this year had to do with a sudden change of equipment unlike anything the sport has ever seen.

Davis Schneider was the lone Blue Jays player to debut with the new “torpedo” bat, which centres more of its weight around the barrel of the wood. Though it appears misshapen in comparison to a traditional bat, the thinking behind the concept is to put as much weight in the area where baseball players traditionally strike the ball the most. The bat was designed by MIT physicist Aaron Leanhardt and is produced by the B45 Baseball brand.

Schneider spoke this weekend with Blue Jays Nation’s Mitch Bannon about his choice behind the new bat, which garnered extra interest around the league with a 20-9 New York Yankees win on Saturday that included several players using the torpedo bats.

“I think it’s blowing up a little more because the Yankees just hit nine home runs,” Schneider said. “But I feel like a lot of people are going to use it, honestly… It’s a big ass barrel. And I like big barrels.”

Schneider’s teammate Ernie Clement has also tinkered with the bat, per Bannon, but has yet to try it out in a game.

Though the former Vancouver Canadians slugger became a fan favourite during his rookie season in 2023, Schneider could use some extra help at the plate, given his performance last year.

He hit .191 with 13 home runs and 46 runs batted in during 135 games last year for the Blue Jays. Given that the MLB can be ruthless at cutting players, perhaps finding his stroke with the “torpedo” bat might just be the thing that keeps Schneider around the team.

The MLB so far has yet to bar any players from using the new bats. But as we’ve seen in other sports — such as swimming with polyurethane and neoprene suits, hockey regulating major curves out of the NHL stick, and the infamous “Broomgate” in curling — equipment innovations sometimes eventually get overturned.

Perhaps Schneider and the rest of the league will one day return to a rounder product, but for now, we’re intrigued to see what exactly he can do with the new stick.

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