Joe Starkey: Quit whining about torpedo bats and tush pushes. Use them. Praise them. Stifle them.

Joe Starkey, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Apr 3, 2025

Published in Baseball

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PITTSBURGH — Bring it on. That's what I say. That's what everybody should be saying about a pair of hot-button sports innovations: torpedo bats and tush pushes.

Instead, we have naysayers.

Innovation always attracts naysayers.

I believe it was either Albert Einstein or Albert Pujols who said, "Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds."

I'll go with Pujols, who didn't need a torpedo bat to sink pitchers. Lots of other guys, however, could probably use one. The entire Pirates roster could use one, which is why I was heartened to see the following headline in Thursday's Post-Gazette: "Torpedo bats have caused a stir in MLB, and Pirates want their hands on them."

The Pirates' flea-market lineup can use all the help it can get. If somebody finds a way to bring picnic benches to the plate, the Pirates should try that, too.

We have a minuscule sample size on torpedo bats, but this much seems obvious: Like performance-enhancing drugs, they can't turn a non-hitter into a good hitter, but they can surely help. And what's the harm in trying?

The basic idea is to figure out where you make the most outs — for some, it's around the label — and move the meat of the bat to that area. If it stays within measurement guidelines, it's perfectly legal.

The great spirit here is one Aaron Leanhardt, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology physicist who invented the torpedo bat while working in the Yankees organization. It became a story when the Yankees — who visit PNC Park this weekend — smashed 15 home runs in their opening series against the Milwaukee Brewers, nine with torpedo bats.

Obviously, some pitchers are upset. They have no right to be. They can walk into a laboratory these days and design a new pitch overnight. Why shouldn't hitters use advanced technology to strike back?

"I think it's terrible," Brewers reliever Trevor Megill told the New York Post. "I've never seen anything like it. I feel like it's something used in slow-pitch softball. It's genius: Put the mass all in one spot. It might be bush (league). It might not be. But it's the Yankees, so they'll let it slide."

Actually, it's becoming a bunch of teams. A few days ago, it was Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz, who in his first game using a torpedo bat smashed two home runs and drove in seven runs.

Only time will render a fair verdict, but it's hard not to notice those kinds of numbers. I'll bet MLB commissioner Rob Manfred is thrilled. He should be. Offense sells.

Now to the tush push, and to the fact that 16 teams — including the Steelers — voted to ban it but did not succeed (another vote will happen this spring). I'm thinking those votes were born of jealousy of the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, who have perfected the play.

Some teams cited health concerns, which are non-existent. Others cited a field-goal block rule where you can't push from behind. What does that have to do with a ball carrier? Haven't these people seen running backs at the goal line in a rugby scrum with teammates propelling them from behind? What's the difference between that and the tush push?

The bottom line is that teams either cannot stop it or cannot emulate it, or both. And that brings to mind another legendary quote, from either Barnes Wallis or Levi Wallace, I can't remember which: "There is a natural opposition among men to anything they have not thought of themselves."

Yes, and I would imagine the opposition becomes especially intense among men who are embarrassingly incompetent at the very skill the innovator has developed. Consider the Steelers' short-yardage offense. Artie Smith & Co. converted barely half of their attempts on third down and three yards or less. The Steelers also were one of the worst fourth-down teams in the NFL.

The tush push is basically two players pushing the quarterback up the middle for a first down. How hard can that be, if you have a strong quarterback, a good center and big guys doing the pushing?

The Steelers had those ingredients — a supreme athlete quarterback in Justin Fields, a good center in Zach Frazier and anybody you want to do the pushing (they could have chosen Darnell "Mt." Washington as one) — and yet came up small in so many big short-yardage situations.

I think of the Bengals stuffing Russell Wilson on third-and-1 and Jaylen Warren on fourth-and-1 in the regular season finale. I think of Mike Tomlin punting on fourth-and-1 later in that game and also punting on a fourth-and-1 early in the playoff loss to Baltimore when it was clear the Steelers weren't going to be able to stop the Ravens and needed points. Gee, if only he had an unstoppable play. I also think of Fields and Warren getting stuffed in the dreadful Thursday night loss in Cleveland.

What are we doing here? Line up your 6-foot-3, 230-pound quarterback behind your all-rookie center and have two players smash into him from behind. The allegedly big, bad Steelers sort of, kind of, tried the tush push at times, but it never looked right.

And now they want to deprive a stronger, tougher team from converting those kinds of plays?

That seems sad.