Padres notes: Talking ‘torpedo’ bats, love for Jurickson Profar

Brandon Lockridge knows all about the torpedo-style bats that have kicked up quite the storm following the Yankees’ 15-homer barrage over the weekend. He swung them in the cages the previous two spring trainings after hearing MIT physicist-turned-Yankees-analyst Aaron Leanhardt’s presentations, but Lockridge was no more sold then than he was while watching his old friends go ham on the Brewers’ pitching staff.

“The bats were available to us,” said Lockridge, who was acquired from the Yankees last July. “Some guys liked them; some guys didn’t. I personally tried them that spring, but I had a (traditional) model that I used, that I liked and had success with. So I kind of stuck with my model.”

He added: “It’s interesting. I think you’re probably going to see a lot more guys swinging them with the success that those guys have had.”

Maybe.

The thing is, these bats have been in play for a bit.

Leanhardt’s idea was to move more wood — and mass — to where a hitter most makes contact. Aaron Judge hit three of the Yankees’ nine home runs on Saturday using the normal bat he always uses, while Anthony Volpe homered on Friday and Saturday using a bat that’s thicker in the middle, almost like a torpedo.

The bats meet MLB regulations — no more than 2.61 inches in diameter at the thickest part of the bat — but it’s the feel of a bat that matters to hitters, many of whom would be reticent for a change of any kind if what they’re doing is working.

“It would be something I would look at in the offseason, when I had a lot of time to swing it and look at the numbers,” Padres designated hitter Gavin Sheets said. “I wouldn’t throw it right into the games right now, but if there’s something to it that can benefit you, sure I’ll try it out. But I’m not making a phone call to Louisville to say I need it right now.

“Just swinging what I got and what I’m comfortable with.”

To Sheets’ knowledge, nobody on the Padres roster uses a torpedo bat and no one was rushing to order any.

Just a lot of wise-cracking like what Manny Machado had to say while mic’d up during ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball broadcast.

“I have no idea what they are,” Machado said, “but they should send a few over here if they are going to be hitting homers like that. Whoever’s making them, they can send a few over to Petco with this big ballpark.”

Count Jake Cronenworth among who are at least intellectually curious.

“I’d have to look at like contact data and everything,” he said. “If it’s similar, for example, if I hit the ball close to the barrel (now), there’d be no reason to change. … Unless you’re in a place where you’re hitting the ball in certain spots so much that it’s like maybe I should probably change.”

To Lockridge’s understanding, based on “Lenny’s” presentations, the torpedo-shaped bats do not add exit velocity; “it’s more of a contact thing,” he said, and that it’s likely geared toward certain hitters, almost in a way in which golfers have their clubs fitted.

Cronenworth pointed out that it’s not all that different than a hitter ordering a bat with their specific balance point — where the bat balances if you hold it up by a couple of fingers somewhere in the middle — preferences.

“There’s been versions of this bat that I’ve seen before,” Cronenworth said. “It just hasn’t been this drastic. I know players that get their balance point on the bat changed. … I know guys who have really long barrels. The weight is just in a different place. (The Yankees’ bats) are just very drastic. They’re making the barrel huge in diameter.”

But again, within MLB specs.

Which is all that matters to the pitchers who might face them soon. Shoot Jason Adam, who was traded from the Rays in the AL East to the Padres last July, might have already faced a torpedo bat. He might not have. It’s not really a concern.

“You still have to hit the ball,” Adam said. “It’s only a huge story because of how the Yankees offense went off. They are always trying to advance something. If they start going up there with tennis rackets, I might not love it.

“But it’s still really hard to hit a baseball.”

‘Love’ for Jurickson Profar

News broke moments before Padres manager Mike Shildt spoke with the media on Monday afternoon that former Padre All-Star Jurickson Profar was suspended 80 games without pay for testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance (Chorionic Gonadotrophin).

“I love Jurickson Profar no more or no less right now than I loved him an hour ago,” Shildt said. “I still love him. I don’t know the circumstances behind it, but I know the person that Pro is and I love the guy.”

Profar issued a statement through the player’s union, citing the number of tests he took throughout last year’s turnaround:

“I want to apologize to the entire Braves organization, my teammates and the fans. It is because of my deep love and respect for this game that I would never knowingly do anything to cheat it. I have been tested my entire career, including eight times last season alone, and have never tested positive. I would never willingly take a banned substance, but I take full responsibility and accept MLB’s decision.”

Profar signed a three-year, $42 million deal with the Braves over the offseason and made his debut last week at Petco Park, where he received a standing ovation from Padres fans. The 32-year-old Curacao native was, according to Wins Above Replacement, the worst position player in the majors when the Rockies released him late in 2023. He signed a minor league deal with the Padres and finished the year in the majors and then returned to the team the following spring on a $1 million prove-it contract.

Profar went on to pair 24 homers with an .839 OPS en route to starting in left field for the NL in the All-Star Game.

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