One bat, everybody knows the rules.
Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy unleashed a fiery two-minute rant on X Sunday night, blasting the Yankees’ controversial Torpedo bats.
The bats have sparked debate across Major League Baseball, especially after the Yankees smashed a franchise-record nine home runs in a blowout win over the Brewers on Saturday. Portnoy couldn’t resist weighing in after the Bronx Bombers followed up with four more homers on Sunday to complete the sweep.
“The Yankees brought in an MIT physicist to redesign their bats—essentially shifting wood from the handle and label to the sweet spot, making it larger,” Portnoy ranted. “They did this because Anthony Volpe sucks—he kept getting jammed and sawed off. So they’re like, ‘How do we fix this? Let’s just create the Torpedo Bat, where even if you make contact on the handle and get sawed off, it’s still a home run.’”
Portnoy also pointed to Jazz Chisholm Jr. as another beneficiary of the Torpedo Bat—Chisholm crushed two homers on Sunday against the Brewers. He even accused Aaron Judge of using the bat, despite Judge’s insistence that he wasn’t.
The Barstool founder said that it was cheating and that it should not be allowed by MLB.
Major League Baseball has stated that the bats comply with league rules and Bat Supplier Regulations.
However, Portnoy doubled down, comparing them to corked bats and arguing that they unfairly boost underperforming players.
Emergency Press Conference – The Yankees Torpedo bat needs to be banned before it ruins baseball @stoolpresidente pic.twitter.com/04w5Zz1s50
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) March 30, 2025
Major League Baseball has stated that the bats comply with league rules and Bat Supplier Regulations.
However, Portnoy doubled down, comparing them to corked bats and arguing that they unfairly boost underperforming players.
“If you get jammed and it still ends up a home run, that doesn’t mean you suddenly got better—it just means some MIT geek, some physicist, is ruining 100 or 200 years of baseball,” Portnoy ranted. “If MLB doesn’t step in and ban this Torpedo Bat, every team is going to start using it. Games will end up 100-98, and we’ll see 3,000 home runs a season.”
A die-hard Boston sports fan, Portnoy delivered his rant while sporting a Red Sox cap—though he insisted at the end that his take was “unbiased.”
“The torpedo bat doesn’t make a difference!”
– All Yankee fans pic.twitter.com/CmbvUbJL7T
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) March 30, 2025
He also accused the Bronx Bombers of having a “long history of cheating and shady tactics,” calling this just the latest example.
Portnoy isn’t the only one frustrated with the new bats.
Brewers closer Trevor Megill echoed the sentiment, telling The Post’s Dan Martin that the bats are “terrible.”
