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Bartolo Colon Asked Perfect Question in Response to MLB's Viral Torpedo Bats

Tim Capurso

Colon swinging the bat during a 2015 game.
Colon swinging the bat during a 2015 game. / Brad Penner-Imagn Images
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All this talk about torpedo bats has left former American League Cy Young Award winner Bartolo Colon wondering.

The bats, which feature a barrel, or fatter part of the bat, closer to the handle resulting in a tapered end, went viral after several New York Yankees players used the lumber as the team belted a record-tying 15 home runs in the season's first three games. Since that point, MLB players and teams have been scrambling to get their hands on the bats in an effort to see if they truly do boost a hitter's performance.

To that end, Colon, in a highly-amusing tweet, questioned whether the innovative lumber might have the same effect on his own limited, but infamous, work at the dish.

Colon, who played all 21 of his MLB seasons during a time when there was no designated hitter in the National League, occasionally had the chance to grab a bat and take some hacks.

In 326 career plate appearances, Colon struck out 166 times and collected just 25 hits. But one of those hits was a home run for the New York Mets, which Colon belted at the age of 42, making him the oldest player to hit a first career home run in MLB history.

Could there have been more moments like this if Colon was armed with a torpedo bat? We'll unfortunately never know.

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Tim Capurso
TIM CAPURSO

Tim Capurso is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Prior to joining SI in November 2023, he wrote for RotoBaller and ClutchPoints, where he was the lead editor for MLB, college football and NFL coverage. A lifelong Yankees and Giants fan, Capurso grew up just outside New York City and now lives near Philadelphia. When he's not writing, he enjoys reading, exercising and spending time with his family, including his three-legged cat Willow, who, unfortunately, is an Eagles fan.

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