image: The setup used to conduct a modal analysis on the specialized torpedo bats.
Credit: Dan Russell
PHILADELPHIA, May 13, 2026 — In the spring of 2025, baseball fans were treated to a surprise when the New York Yankees began the season with a unique style of bat. Termed “torpedo bats,” these new designs tapered slightly toward the end, so the widest points of the bats were closer to the “sweet spot” — the optimal place to hit to send the ball flying. In theory, this shape was more ergonomic, giving the Yankees an advantage at the plate.
But for all its fanfare, one question remains: Is the torpedo bat actually better?
Dan Russell from Pennsylvania State University will present his acoustic analysis of torpedo bats Wednesday, May 13, at 11:35 a.m. ET as part of the 190th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, running May 11-15.
Russell has spent decades using acoustic techniques to evaluate sporting equipment. He has studied golf clubs, tennis rackets, hockey sticks, table tennis paddles, and, of course, baseball bats. Over the course of his career, he has studied nearly every bat shape imaginable, including the unusual bottle bat, a 1920s era bat with a large barrel and thin handle that resembled a milk bottle.
To study the torpedo bats, Russell used a technique called modal analysis, which involves striking the bat with a special hammer and measuring both the impact force and the resulting vibrations. By striking and measuring at various points along the length of the bat, he can see how movement in each part of the bat affects every other part.
“The result is a collection of vibrational mode shapes, each with their own natural frequency — and those vibrational shapes allow us to define or locate the ‘sweet spot’ in the barrel, which affects the batted ball speed, and in the handle, which affects the sensation of ‘feel,’” said Russell.
This information is crucial, especially to amateur baseball players, who evaluate the performance of their bats primarily based on these vibrational modes.
“It turns out that the two most important things a player cares about are the way the bat sounds when it hits the ball and what it feels like during the impact,” said Russell. “Sound and feel are more important to the perception of quality than where the ball actually goes or how fast the ball is hit.”
Russell’s analysis shows that the torpedo bat shape does affect the location of the sweet spot, which likely impacts how the bat feels. However, whether that change translates into an actual advantage on the field is still an open question. Preliminary research Russell has conducted with colleagues from the University of Illinois and Washington State University suggests that a torpedo bat might add a few extra miles per hour to a hit ball, but this has yet to be confirmed.
“We hope to match our computer model and lab tests to available MLB field data from 2024 and 2025 for the players whose bats we have been testing to see if our testing and modeling can correlate to actual batted-ball speeds before and after they switched from standard to torpedo bats,” said Russell.
###
Main Meeting Website: https://acousticalsociety.org/philadelphia/
Technical Program: https://eppro01.ativ.me/web/planner.php?id=ASASPRING2026
ASA PRESS ROOM
In the coming weeks, ASA’s Press Room will be updated with newsworthy stories and the press conference schedule at https://acoustics.org/asa-press-room/.
LAY LANGUAGE PAPERS
ASA will also share dozens of lay language papers about topics covered at the conference. Lay language papers are summaries (300-500 words) of presentations written by scientists for a general audience. They will be accompanied by photos, audio, and video. Learn more at https://acoustics.org/lay-language-papers/.
PRESS REGISTRATION
ASA will grant free registration to the in-person conference at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown for credentialed and professional freelance journalists. If you are a reporter and would like to attend the meeting and/or press conferences, contact AIP Media Services at media@aip.org. For urgent requests, AIP staff can also help with setting up interviews and obtaining images, sound clips, or background information.
ABOUT THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
The Acoustical Society of America is the premier international scientific society in acoustics devoted to the science and technology of sound. Its 7,000 members worldwide represent a broad spectrum of the study of acoustics. ASA publications include The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (the world’s leading journal on acoustics), JASA Express Letters, Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics, Acoustics Today magazine, books, and standards on acoustics. The society also holds two major scientific meetings each year. See https://acousticalsociety.org/.
###