‘Torpedo bat’ craze makes its way to LI high school baseball

A teammate yelled “barrel it up” from the bench. C.J. Alfano and his “torpedo bat” obliged.

The junior first baseman for St. Anthony’s drilled a line drive off the top of the right centerfield fence some 350 feet from the plate at the College Point Field Complex in Queens. 

Alfano turned on a 1-and-0 pitch and the ball left his new wooden “torpedo bat” in a hurry. The ball was destined for Ulmer Street before the top of the 20-foot outfield fence diverted its path from oncoming traffic.

No one was more surprised that the ball didn’t leave the yard than Alfano. He styled it out of the batter’s box, only to see the drive smash into the fence for the longest single of his varsity career and some fun jeering from teammates.

His first game experience with the grey 33-inch, 30.5-ounce “torpedo bat” was a good one.

“Yeah, I thought it was out,” he said with a laugh after St. Anthony’s 13-0 win over Holy Cross. “I didn’t even feel it come off the barrel — getting it right on the sweet spot. But I should have been busting it for an easy double.”

Alfano is the first player known to use the “torpedo bat” at the high school level on Long Island. The CHSAA is a wood-bat only league; public schools on LI have a choice, but the majority of teams use aluminum bats. 

The torpedo-shaped bat has become all the rage across Major League Baseball after the Yankees — with several starters using the bat — hit a franchise-record nine home runs in a 20-9 win over the Brewers on March 29. The Yankees’ 23 home runs in their first seven games is an MLB record. Elly De La Cruz of the Cincinnati Reds used a “torpedo bat” for the first time Monday and had a single, double and two home runs for a career-high seven RBIs.

The idea behind the “torpedo bat” takes a size format like 33 inches and 31 ounces and distributes the wood in a different geometric shape than the traditional form to ensure the fattest part of the bat (the sweet spot), is located where a player makes the most contact. The sweet spot cannot exceed 2.61 inches to stay within MLB regulations.

Alfano said his dad, Chris, ordered the bat from Tucci Lumber Bats in Norwalk, Connecticut and had it shipped in a day.

“I love the feel of the bat,” Alfano said. “And comfort is everything with a bat. It feels like a drop-5 composite bat with a ginormous barrel. I used it for the first time in practice on Friday. The sweet spot is larger and has a trampoline effect.”

“CJ is an excellent hitter with a lot of pop,” St. Anthony’s coach Paul Parsolano said. “He was the MVP of our championship run last year for a reason — he’s a big-time hitter. And if he feels even more comfortable with a torpedo bat in his hands then let’s go. He used it in practice on Friday and I could see the difference.”

A few of Alfano’s teammates also used the bat in practice.

“We had guys squaring it up in practice,” Parsolano said. “The exit velocity is different, at least plus three to five miles per hour. A father is buying some of them for the team.”

The Friars didn’t need them on Saturday. Anthony Carlo was a double shy of hitting for the cycle. The centerfielder went 4-for-4, including a three-run homer to key a nine-run first inning. Junior lefthander Mike Clare fired a one-hitter with 10 strikeouts for the shutout as St. Anthony’s (5-1) improved to 4-0 in league play. 

About Alfano’s home run that wasn’t: Parsolano described the long drive as a “missile.”

“Hey, I’d like to see him run hard there, but honestly I thought it was gone, too,” Parsolano said. “He absolutely crushed that pitch, and it got out there quickly. He’s been battling a knee injury and wearing a brace. The wet field conditions were not conducive to a hustle to second base type of play where he might be forced to slide on that knee. I’ll take the positive out of the drive and we’ll talk about running harder.”

Gregg Sarra is Newsday’s high school sports editor and has been on the beat since the mid-1980s.